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Government gets something right

I’m still recovering from the shock of discovering that government has done something sensible for once.

They have increased taxi fares for short journeys and reduced them for long journeys, as The Standard reported on Wednesday:

Passengers who take short- or medium-distance trips – about 80 percent of the total number – will pay on average about 7.8 percent more while those traveling distances in excess of 12 kilometers could save up to 20 percent.

This adjustment follows one in February, when the government raised the flagfall from HK$15 to HK$16.  The new flagfall, effective on November 30, will be HK$18 while the incremental charge will increase from HK$1.40 to HK$1.50 up to a distance of 9 kilometers, when the total fare reaches HK$70.50.  After 9km, the incremental charge will be only HK$1.

In real terms, a trip of 4km will cost HK$33 against the current HK$30.

How bizarre that they can write this story without actually mentioning that the flagfall covers the first 2km, and the “incremental charge” is per 200m.  Oh, and on longer journeys you can save more than 20% (though not much more).  Ho hum…

It makes sense to re-structure the fares because so-called “gangs” offer discounts on longer journeys – though technically they are breaking the law by doing this.  If taxi drivers are willing to offer discounts on longer journeys, it makes perfect sense for the government to take this into account.

Will people who currently use taxis for short journeys really stop using them because they have to pay a few dollars extra?  I doubt it.   

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3 responses to “Government gets something right”

  1. fumier avatar
    fumier

    But how is encouraging people to take taxis instead of other public transport for long journeys (by making them cheaper) a good thing?
    The only sensible part of the changes is to have made the incremental charge an amount which means that the final fare will always be a multiple of $0.50, instead of the current increment which means you have for many years had the pocketing of up to $0.80 by the cabbies as they round the fare up. At least now you only have to have a single coin, a 50c piece, handy in order to obtain exact change in round dollars. Given that, as you report, 80% of rides are for short journeys, this rounding has amounted to a built-in unofficial tip of a few per cent.
    A simple and effective reform would be to work out the distance to be covered by HK$1 instead of the price per fixed incremental distance, and make that the incremental distance. Lo and behold – you have fares in round dollars, and the passenger receives a service (distance travelled) much closer to what he pays for, especially as he now only pays in advance (i.e. when the incremental charge clocks up for your next so many yards) for a shorter distance than before.

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  2. Ulaca avatar
    Ulaca

    You’re wasted in your current job, old boy. Get on the blower to the TD.

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  3. fumier avatar
    fumier

    Or the SCuMPost – at least the TD feels obliged to respond to published criticism.

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