Radio Taxi wants more parking points

The city’s special taxi operator, Radio Taxi Macau Taxi Service Ltd., hopes the government would increase the number of parking points for its radio taxis to around 50 when the company rolls out all its 100 taxis in the future, said its general manager, Kevin U.
Launching the first batch of 50 taxis this coming Saturday, the company has been granted 14 parking points for the fleet all over the territory, including locations such as Hospital Conde S. Januário.
The remarks of Mr. U were made during his attendance at a radio show of broadcaster TDM, Macao Forum yesterday.
Earlier this month, the concessionaire started to offer free-of- charge trial, while Mr. U claimed the company has managed to pick up 90 per cent of the orders on time during the period.
According to the general manager, the company received 8,000 hailing orders via mobile application for the trial run so far. But he added that it will only be able to handle 200 orders per day during official operation.
However, Cheng Chung Fai, chairman of the Macau Association of Consumers of Public Utility Companies, pointed out in the same radio show that the successful pick-up rate of Radio Taxi may not be a reliable reference as the trial is confined to certain objectives while different circumstances may arise during the company’s official operation.
Meanwhile, he suggested that the special taxis should share these 14 parking points with ordinary “black taxis” to lessen occupancy of parking areas, adding CCTV should also be set up in local taxis.
The general manager of Radio Taxi believes the Global Positioning System equipped in the company’s cabs will help it better monitor the operation, given the system will restrict taxi drivers to only pick up passengers per orders.
Local laws mandate special taxis can only be hailed by telephone, online order or mobile phone application.