Ordinary Gweilo

Our new friend Fat Phil from Expat@Large seems surprised that he has come across the same taxi driver for a second time in 6 years when there are so many taxis here. Yes there are, but the drivers tend to stick to particular areas so it’s not that unlikely, especially over that period of time.

He moans that this particular driver is a wannabe Michael Schumacher, which is a risk you always take when you jump into a taxi. Having someone else drive means that you have to put up with their style of driving, and those of us who are drivers usually feel that other people are too passive or too aggressive, too slow or too fast, or simply just not such good drivers as we are. I suspect that if I spent my working day driving in Hong Kong I’d probably turn into some sort of maniac, especially if my earnings depended upon completing each journey as quickly as possible so as to pick up more passengers (as is the case with taxi and minibus drivers). So we probably ought to grateful that most taxi drivers are fairly restrained!

Where I agree with E@L (as he styles himself) is that it makes very little sense to own a car in Hong Kong.

Basic expat rule: don’t bus, don’t train, don’t shop. Otherwise you’re interfering in someone else’s economic miracle. You have a maid, if you have a car you have a driver, and if no car, you take a taxi everywhere. Strewth, why not? There’s nowhere you could ever need to go that’s more than $HK120 away from Wanchai! How long would it take to pay for a car at that rate, not to mention parking, which would be 5 times your maid’s salary. That $HK120 will even get you to Sai Kung to play golf. Airport Express train? No way; why would you when a Mercedes limo is only $HK400 or so.

Well, I am certainly not living the expat lifestyle because I would never think of paying HK$400 for a limo to the airport – a taxi to the nearest Airport Express station is much cheaper and probably faster.

However, I do agree that parking is the real nasty in Hong Kong. The prices of cars here are slightly lower than in the UK, and much lower than Singapore with its assorted taxes on new cars, but parking is always expensive. You might get an hour or two free if you spend a certain amount in some shopping centres, but otherwise you always have to pay. Unless you own a parking space or one is included with your property rental you will also have to pay a monthly fee to keep your car somewhere overnight. It’s not just the cost, because if you allow for the time it takes to park your car, find the shroff office, and possibly queue up to pay, a taxi is almost always quicker.

Basically, owning a car is a luxury in Hong Kong – not unaffordable, but expensive and non-essential – and that is one reason why I think that government policy ought to be more tilted towards public transport. Build less roads and spend more on improving public transport!