Five companies issued with Taxi Fleet Licence to improve industry standards

Five out of 15 applications were approved for the "Taxi Fleet Licence," involving over 3,500 taxis, aiming to enhance passenger confidence in the industry.

In a move to address the long-standing issues plaguing the taxi industry, the government introduced the taxi fleet system to improve service quality and industry dynamics.

Three urban fleets and two mixed fleets, with a fleet size of 300 to 1,000 taxis each, have been issued the new Licences. They are Big Boss Taxi Company Limited, CMG Fleet Management Limited, Sino Development (International) Company Limited, SynCab Service Limited and Tai Wo Management Limited.

The fleets are required to complete the gearing-up work and commence services within one year, while the feet licenses have a five-year validity period.

Commissioner for Transport Angela Lee Chung-yan said the five fleets will deploy about 1,500 new vehicles in total as fleet taxis at the time of service commencement, accounting for over 40 percent of the total number of fleet taxis.

The vehicle age of the remaining fleet taxis will not exceed three years, she added.

The fleets will also provide wheelchair-accessible and premium taxi services in phases to cater to the diverse travel needs and promote green transport.

"We have seen a very enthusiastic response from the industry regarding the new taxi fleet system," Lee noted.

The five taxi fleets will provide appropriate training to fleet drivers and monitor their driving behavior and service performance. Safety devices, including the GPS, dash camera, and driver monitoring system will be installed to ensure driving safety.

All taxi fleets will provide online hailing services as well as multiple electronic payment means.

Taxi fleets are required to provide customer service hotlines and electronic communication channels for passengers to rate driver services. A complaint-handling mechanism will also be set up.