Taxi drivers in Kai Tak ‘feel cheated’ by govt as tourists favor buses

Taxi drivers felt that the government cheated them as they headed to the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on Saturday in the hope of helping to alleviate the transport demand but found most of the passengers opted for the additional bus routes and shuttle bus services. 

Spectrum of the Seas returned to Hong Kong today, and some 4,500 passengers onboard were arranged to leave the cruise in phases around 7 am. 

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and Commissioner for Tourism Vivian Sum Fong-kwang went to the terminal to welcome the tourists and inspect the situation. 

Following the previous week's chaotic commute arrangements, the government opened three shuttle bus lines traveling to Admiralty MTR station, the Peak Tram terminus in Central and Mong Kok. A fourth line will stop at West Kowloon Cultural District and Kowloon Station. 

Two special bus routes, 20R to Tsim Sha Tsui and 25R to Kwun Tong MTR station, were also opened today. Many were satisfied with the authorities’ arrangements this time, with many more commute options available now. 

Yet, taxi drivers encouraged by the government to pick up passengers at the terminal were not so happy. 

One of the drivers, Chan, waited for at least an hour. “I heard the government said there will be many passengers, so I came, but it turned out many of them took the bus.” 

Chan said he spoke to many of his colleagues, and they all said they wouldn’t come to the terminal again to pick up passengers. Chan expected he would have to wait for two hours before having passengers onboard. 

Another cabby, also named Chan, said he could have had a lot of passengers at these hours, and the HK$50 coupon by authorities won’t be able to cover his losses. 

Driver Lau said he arrived at the terminal at 7.30 am, and it still was not his turn as of 9 am. He also stressed he wouldn’t be coming the next time. 

Minibuses didn’t see a lot of customers either, as staffers said they had only 23 passengers in two hours in the morning. 

Tourism minister Yeung only said it took a lot of work to ensure that cabbies could get hired at once. 

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