Taxi owners’ association: On-call service may not attract many bids

The open bid to run the on-call taxi service, for which the deadline is December 14, may not attract much interest from local taxi owners as the lack of human resources remains a “dead knot”, according to Leng Sai Hou, director of the General Association of Taxi Owners.
The government is issuing no more than 100 licences to run the on-call taxi service, with licences valid for eight years per the bidding rules announced yesterday.
The bidder must be a company mainly engaged in providing taxi services with capital of no less than MOP10 million (US$1.25 million), and be ready to equip its taxis with a global positioning system (GPS). The bidding operator should also provide no less than 10 bigger taxis that are accessible for disabled people, according to the bidding rules.
“I don’t think the open bid will attract much interest from our taxi owner members because the lack of drivers is still a dead knot for a sound operation,” said Mr. Leng, whose Association comprises some 500 black taxi owners.
“The human resources issue is still the biggest obstacle, which is also what made Vang Iek Group eventually cease its on-call taxi business,” Leng said. “The opening of the Cotai casino-resorts in the coming years is going to further strain the pool of drivers, so I think the government really has to address how they can help resolve the human resources problem.”
Local car rental and seller Vang Iek Group ceased its on-call taxi service in November last year following failed talks with the government over the introduction of additional charges for the on-call taxi service.
An executive director of Vang Iek, Gilbert Cheng, explained to media before that his company had suffered a high turnover of drivers. The introduction of additional charges should have been an important way of rewarding and help retain its taxi drivers, Mr. Cheng said.
When asked whether Vang Iek would like to run an on-call taxi service again, the company’s executive director Eugenio Cheng stressed to Business Daily yesterday that it was still assessing the bidding terms and a viable business model.
The Vang Iek executive added that the biggest concern remained the human resources issue.
The bidding rules announce that taxi operators can introduce charges for the on-call service, although the government has set no range.
Bidding taxi operators can also develop mobile phone applications to get taxi service orders, the government said.