Ordinary Gweilo

Once again the government seems to have made a mess of something that really shouldn't have be so difficult

Two weeks ago, the fare structure for urban taxis was revised, making short journeys more expensive and longer journeys cheaper.  However, the fares for New Territories taxis were left unchanged, whereas normally they are kept in line with each other (NT taxis being a little cheaper).

This means that for longer journeys (notably from the airport) it is currently cheaper to take a red (urban) taxi.  

The Transport Department were apparently handing out leaflets at the airport showing the fare comparison, highlighting the fact that red taxis would be cheaper for some destinations.  Which is true, and it seems fair to let passengers know about it.

However, the green taxi drivers were upset about this and blocked the highway to the airport for a few hours. 

So, let's see.  The Transport Department knows that red taxis are cheaper than green taxis for longer journey, and might be expected to understand that this might cause trouble, but they didn't think that it might be better to introduce the new fares on the green (NT) taxis at the same time. 

The official explanation is that NT taxi associations applied later, and it takes time to process the application.  It has been suggested that maybe they wanted to wait and see how the new scheme worked out before deciding whether to apply.  Except that in reality they don't have much choice because red taxis can operate throughout Hong Kong and if they are cheaper then of course passengers will chose them.

The real problem is that the government doesn't actually set taxi fares, but simply approves (or doesn't approve) the requests from the taxi associations – who don't agree on whether the new fare structure is a good or a bad thing. 

The answer, by the way, is that it's a good thing. Friday's SCMP seemed to confirm this:

Green taxi operator Ng Kwan-sing, who also operates an urban taxi business, said red cabbies' day-time income had risen after the new fare model was introduced on November 30, but night-shift cabbies had not seen a significant increase as illegal discount gangs were still cutting fares to attract long-haul passengers.

Oh, those terrible illegal gangs offering the public better value for money.  Put a stop to it immediately!