Five new fleets of taxis totalling 3,500 vehicles will be coming onto the streets in the next few months. Apart from their nasty liveries (one fleet is day-glo pink) and silly names (eg Syncab), there’s nothing especially noteworthy about the new cabs. They will accept Octopus and other non-cash payment; the cars are modern and comfortable; the drivers are probably not senile psychopaths with severe spatial awareness deficit. In other words, they’re nothing like the existing taxis.
At least, that’s what we’re supposed to say. I am in a minority of about one in 6 million here, but I don’t have any problems with the current much-maligned taxi services. The drivers are usually vaguely pleasant, or at least not overly surly. They get me to where I’m going, give or take 50 yards or so. Nothing horrible ever happens.
When I hear someone rant about their latest nightmarish experience, I lean forward and solemnly say: “There are no bad taxi drivers, only bad taxi passengers.” It does not always go down well.
It might help that I rarely take a taxi more than, say, once a month. And perhaps, subconsciously, the horror stories nudge me towards a bus, tram or train.
A series of lectures from last year’s Hong Kong History Day at Bristol University, covering town halls, Kai Tak, local museums and much more. Including post-WW2 public health posters.
Fitch Ratings commentary on the Hong Kong government’s budget…
The government’s operating balance, which excludes capital account transactions, is still projected to return to surplus in FY26, unchanged from last year’s projection. This partly reflects a new plan to transfer HKD62 billion (around 1.8% of GDP) from six endowment funds that were previously established outside the government’s accounts back on to the government’s books in FY25. We do not believe this will provide a sustainable boost to revenue in the longer term.
Other revenue-enhancing measures, such as raising the air passenger departure tax, were small in scale, while a cut in stamp duty for low-value properties, designed to support property buyers, will reduce revenues modestly. The government opted to leave most major tax-revenue sources, like salaries and profit taxes, largely unchanged. Instead, consolidation will focus on constraining operating expenditure.
There’s so much weirdness out there, and I wonder how historians in the future will explain this. For crypto-scam-Trump nerds only, a long piece from Molly White’s newsletter on how the US President is rewarding his donors from the fake-money ‘industry’ by talking up magic beans (including creation of a ‘strategic reserve’ of digital nothingness). Starring North Korean-backed thieves. Plus lots of other crypto stuff…
…it would be wild for the SEC to crack down on memecoins shortly after the president launched his own in the current political environment where Trump is bringing formerly independent agencies to heel. Yet it is still somewhat remarkable that the agency is washing its hands of one of the most fraud-ridden, manipulated sectors of the cryptocurrency world.
…Now that the industry has obtained the friendliest possible regulatory environment in the US, they’ve lost their go-to excuse when someone asks why, 16 years in, crypto has yet to fulfill the many lofty promises of reinventing the financial system or “democratizing wealth” or creating a fairer internet or whatever else the entrepreneur in front of you might have latched upon. This should be interesting to watch.
These “new” taxis are not additional… they’re just retiring the old Toyota Crowns, which were at the end of their life anyway, and replacing them with vehicles from this century. Don’t worry, the great HK taxi experience will endure. You’ll still get ripped off leaving LKF late at night, or as soon as it starts to drizzle slightly. The value of the existing licences will remain high, and don’t ever ask who owns them – certainly not the dribbling driver with the 5 mobile phones blocking his view.
I’ve been using Uber since it became available. The only mystery is why our HK puppet gov. hasn’t cracked down on Uber more, because it works well, and that’s just not encouraged in HK these days.
What? Was “CyberCab” taken??
“ the drivers are probably not senile psychopaths with severe spatial awareness deficit”
‘Probably’ tasked with a lot of heavy lifting, there.
I haven’t had a bad taxi experience in at least two years… coincidentally I’ve not taken a taxi other than via Uber in the same time period …
Mr. Hemlock,
You & I share the same benign view regarding HK taxi drivers. For the most part they’re alright. Occasionally there’s a very good one, and occasionally there’s a pretty bad one, but overall they’re hardworking people just trying to make a living. The renal specialists who deliver kidney-jarring rides are definitely a well-represented minority, but then the local culture beats on all mechanical objects like that.
The negative reviews of the taxi experience echo many of the negative restaurant reviews in Open Rice. The most frequent complaint is that the servers didn’t immediately recognise how important the reviewer was as s/he entered the premises, and didn’t come quickly enough after s/he snapped her fingers for service. The entitled complainers often leave the food review until last. Expecting a witty cabbie with a golden smile is really asking for too much.
The worst aspect of the taxi experience are the vehicles themselves, but the old workhorses with the terrible seats in back and the transversal running down the middle are being replaced fairly rapidly with the newer, more comfortable models, and that’s a big improvement already.
The new models are also less susceptible to the drivers’ ridiculous habit of thinking they know about automotive gear technology than the world-class engineers at Toyota who build transmissions for a living, but in a city where individualism and free expression are being beaten down all around, let them have their fun for a little while yet.
Our taxi drivers should be designated “Living Human Treasures, persons who possess to a very high degree the knowledge and skills required for performing or re‐creating specific elements of the intangible cultural heritage.”
In an era of driverless vehicles, pervasive surveliance, extinction of human interaction, etc, our taxis have the potential to be a MEGA Tourist Attraction by providing an immersive experience that is being gradually eliminated elsewhere.
Personally, I don’t have anything against HK cabbies but NOTHING beats a Japan taxi experience (Taipei isn’t too shabby either).
Twat….
If you are leaving LKF at night, you should be cheated by any taxi driver willing to give you a ride. That is basic Darwinism at work! What do you think Joe Blow?
These days I tend to use Uber Taxi, as you’re more likely to get a decent cab and the driver has a route to guide him if necessary. I have also been trying to be more patient with taxi drivers (and indeed the world) and it does pay off. Also, the way taxis are organised here shafts the drivers (and was explicitly designed to) so even the rubbish ones deserve some sympathy.
@Poor Man: You said it. Personally, I haven’t been there for, like, 15 years. From what I hear, it’s a sad place where they spike your drinks and do funny things with your credit card although the Chinese streethookers are doing a roaring trade.
TBH if one is out too late for the MTR and staying Island side I recommend the 11 bus, it lightens the next day hangover considerably.
I think many taxi drivers are frustrated because people simply don’t carry cash. Imagine being in a business where people want to use your service but you don’t have the means to accept their money. I have heard rumours about why the taxi companies won’t put Octopus meters in their cabs but they can’t possibly be true.
@twatly
TBF to the taxi driver, if you’re leaving LKF late night, you’ve just voluntarily spent the entire night being ripped off.
So why single out the driver among the host of folk correctly identifying you as an obvious mug with more money than sense?
In my 20 years in HK, I never had a bad taxi experience. As for Uber, you think the taxi cartel owners treat drivers like shit, well, the Uber bosses say, “Hold my beer.” Crap pay, with some clawed back, miserable hours and pressure to take on long (and therefore unsafe) shifts, you pay for vehicle maintenance, etc. The gig economy is one of the more sadistic inventions of neoliberalism.
As for the orange fuhrer’s new fascination with crypto-scams, as a US citizen in exile in that benighted land, one of the dozens of things that infuriates me currently is these vampires taking my tax dollars and handing them over to David Sacks and his ilk. If they were dying of untreated ebola, I’d book a seat at a safe distance so I could watch.