Uber vs taxis: Hong Kong is stuck in a transport debate from 10 years ago

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu led a high-level delegation to Sichuan recently to discuss the transfer of two giant pandas given to Hong Kong as part of the 27th handover anniversary celebration. He vowed to bring them to the city by National Day on October 1. While it would be nice to have two new pandas to enhance the attractions of Ocean Park and bring some smiles to visitors’ faces, a more urgent trip should be arranged to Wuhan, where the deployment of driverless taxis foretells a transport future that could completely reshape Hong Kong’s taxi vs Uber discussion. This discussion is already 10 years old. Since Uber entered Hong Kong in 2014, the government has had trouble resolving the tensions with the traditional taxi industry, due to the city’s inability to come up with a legal framework to regulate ride-hailing platforms. The result is that Uber drivers largely operate illegally. Government inaction over the years has exacerbated the problem. The number of registered Uber drivers has increased to over 200,000 while the price of an urban taxi licence has fallen from nearly HK$7 million in 2014 to less than HK$3 million (US$384,000) today. The correlation is unmistakable. There are over 18,000 cabs on the road with 46,000 taxi drivers. Taxi owners suffer when their licences lose value; taxi drivers complain when they lose business. Taxi drivers who own their vehicle suffer at both ends. It should come as no surprise that they took matters into their hands. In May, there was a public outcry when some taxi drivers posed as passengers to catch Uber drivers in the act and report them to the police. Some Hongkongers supported the taxi drivers but others criticise traditional taxi services for lacking quality and e-payment options, arguing that ride-hailing services offer a convenient and efficient alternative. After quieting down the uproar, the government promised to release its regulatory proposal on ride-hailing services. This highly anticipated paper was released on July 8. Unfortunately, against the latest transport developments in mainland China – with its driverless taxis – and elsewhere, the government’s plan is doubly inadequate. For one, the government continues to kick the can down the road. In the paper, the Transport and Logistics Bureau said the Transport Department would conduct a study first. This study is expected to commence later this year and be completed within 12 months. That means the ride-hailing service regulatory issue will not even be addressed at least until the second half of 2025 and such services will remain illegal at least until then. The other concern is that the direction of the study risks Hong Kong falling further behind. The study will be focused on commuter needs, which will be the foundation for the details of the regulatory mechanism, such as the type and number of vehicles to be allowed and the licensing requirements for the platforms and drivers. The study will also assess the impact of premium taxis, which are to be launched next year. On the surface, it all sounds reasonable. But even if the government is able to roll out its ride-hailing regulatory framework next year based on the proposed study, it will only solve a problem of the previous decade. The issue here is that, as the outlined study shows, the government is failing to anticipate the new challenges arising from the latest developments in the taxi trade, namely, driverless taxis, also called robotaxis. And these challenges will be even thornier, as seen in Wuhan. Wuhan has invested heavily in, and is a national pioneer in opening its urban areas to, robotaxi services, calling itself “the world’s largest autonomous-driving operation service region”. It has a fleet of more than 500 robotaxis operated by Baidu’s Apollo Go service and the company expects to expand this service to 100 cities by the end of this decade. But human drivers are upset by these robotaxis and have petitioned Wuhan’s transport authority to limit their use, accusing robotaxis of taking their jobs. Another problem of a different kind was highlighted by an accident involving a robotaxi. It was a minor collision between a robotaxi and an electric scooter which ran a red light. The scooter driver did not suffer serious injuries and the police is investigating the case. How the Wuhan authorities respond to the situation and the outcome of the police investigation could be an invaluable lesson for anyone thinking about the future of cities. I hope that Hong Kong’s government officials are among them, because the world is changing faster than their proposed study and policy planning. While Baidu is pushing robotaxis, Xpeng’s flying car has made its maiden flight in Beijing and a helicopter taxi service has become available in Shenzhen. Putting these developments together, flying robotaxi services are likely to be available in China in the not-too-distant future. The US is heading in a similar direction; Alphabet and General Motors operate robotaxis, and Tesla plans to join them later this year. If Hong Kong government officials start reacting now to these new transport trends, they may come out on top of a steep learning curve after some strenuous effort. Or, if they stay put, the same way they did with Uber, the city will have less of a claim as a world-class city in another decade. April Zhang is the founder of MSL Master and the author of the Mandarin Express textbook series and the Chinese Reading and Writing textbook series

Uber vs taxis: Hong Kong is stuck in a transport debate from 10 years ago

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The government must start reacting to new trends, such as the challenge of robotaxis and flying cars, or risk Hong Kong falling further behind

The government must start reacting to new trends, such as the challenge of robotaxis and flying cars, or risk Hong Kong falling further behind