Foul-mouthed, picky taxi drivers offer visitors poor first impression

Why was I not so surprised to watch a video earlier this month, which has gone viral on the internet, about a Hong Kong taxi driver who appears to be waving a crowbar and threatening two passengers (the female passenger uses a walker) in the back seat, demanding they get out of his car, as they accused the driver of taking detours, according to market information.

I have lived in Hong Kong for more than nine years and, judging from my own experience, I think it is fair to say a large number of taxi drivers in the city are not very nice. When you take a taxi, more often than not, you won't feel that you are enjoying the service provided by the driver. They will choose which way to go and which cross-harbor tunnel they will take. Well, they would ask you, but in a very intimidating way that you would only say "OK".

Occasionally they will say abusive words to other drivers for cutting in front of them or driving too slowly.

And it is an open secret in Hong Kong that taxi drivers are really "picky". Anyone who has hailed a taxi on Hong Kong Island must have noticed certain drivers won't go to the New Territories or Kowloon, while others would rather pick up passengers going to the New Territories, so it is pure luck whether a taxi will take you or reject you.

Just when I thought the way that Hong Kong taxi drivers treat their passengers is "normal", I went to Singapore for the first time on a business trip in August. I stayed there for two days and traveled to multiple locations by taxi, I found the taxi drivers in Singapore are very nice, at least very polite.

They all speak English, some are also fluent in Cantonese or Mandarin; they will greet you when you board the car and help you with your luggage. You can pay your taxi fares with cash, credit card or even through Alipay. The taxi fares in Singapore are also cheaper than in Hong Kong. The minimum fare, including the first kilometer, is as low as S$3 to S$3.40 ($2.20 to $2.50, or HK$17.40 to HK$19.80).

When I needed a ride from a remote location where I don't see any taxi driving by, it is very easy to use Uber. One full-time Uber driver in Singapore told me Uber is very popular in their country, and there is no big fare difference between Uber and taxis.

The Uber driver stressed that Uber and another ride-hailing service provider Grab in Singapore are all legal but the drivers must attend a 10-hour course provided by the government and apply for the Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational License (PDVL).

I don't know why Singapore taxi drivers are nicer than their peers in Hong Kong; maybe part of the reason is that competing with Uber and Grab drivers compels them to provide better services.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, police have arrested 21 drivers for illegal car-hiring in the city in May. And starting from Aug 21, Uber has raised its Hong Kong minimum fares 80 percent, so minimum fees for UberX and UberASSIST rides will be HK$45, which is too expensive compared with the HK$24 minimum taxi fare.

I understand that the taxi drivers are under enormous pressure in Hong Kong, mainly because that they are not paid enough and they might have invested millions in order to get a taxi license in the city.

But taxi drivers are "business cards" of a city; they offer the "first impression" of Hong Kong to many guests coming from all around the world. If a taxi driver waving a crowbar at his passengers is still not a wake-up call to the city, then nothing is.

Whether it is to help improve the quality of local taxi services and thus raise the revenues of taxi drivers and operators, or to benefit the passengers, car-hailing services should be legalized in the city.

(HK Edition 09/18/2017 page8)