Wheels but no traction

A report by the commission for public administration to the Legislative Assembly (AL) – the Monitoring Committee for Public Administration Affairs – praises the car ride sharing app Uber in an analysis of the current oversight regarding taxi regulation and licences.
In the report it was revealed that some legislators have suggested to the government that due to the popularity of the service it would be of public interest to legalise Uber. Also, due to the high demand for taxis, the right conditions for the implementation of a similar online platform for requesting car rides should be created.
The report states that legislators have said that ‘although this kind of passenger transport doesn’t satisfy the current legal requirements, the fact is it [has been] welcomed by local citizens. In their opinion, the quality of this service is much better than ordinary taxis, service is quick and effective, and solves their transport needs.’
The popular car ride sharing application was considered illegal by the Transport Bureau (DSAT) and the Public Security Police Force (CPSP) in October of last year, one week after the service started operating in the territory, Business Daily reported.
A local Uber for taxis
According to the report, some legislators have suggested the government create a platform similar to the Uber service for requesting taxis, which would make life ‘easier’ for passengers and drivers, while resolving the exploration of non-licensed vehicles.
The government is said to have responded by expressing its intent to establish a platform for networked services for ‘eligible special taxi services’ and that the statute of passenger transport services through ‘car ride software’ would be considered, according to the report.
However, since under the current traffic regulations – in which private cars cannot be used for paid transportation – the CPSP would continue to ‘combat […] the illicit actions of unlicensed rental vehicles’ while increasing personnel for oversight purposes. The Regulations for Road Traffic and the Regulations for Transport of Passengers in Light Vehicles for Renting or Taxis stipulates that a vehicle being used for a purpose other than that registered with the DSAT is liable to a fine of MOP30,000, while the second says drivers being paid to transport passengers are not allowed to charge a different fare from the tariffs defined by law.
Taxi associations discuss
In term of taxi licences, the report mentions that the Chief Executive’s decision in January to proceed to a pubic tender of 250 taxi licences, with a base price of MOP200,000 and valid for an eight year period, goes ‘against the current position’ taken by the government on the taxi licence issue and opinions from the taxi professional sector reject that model.
The commission questioned the government about the model and considered it necessary to eliminate ‘the investment component’ of the public tender, with some legislators stating that with a model based on the highest bidder ‘taxi rentals will increase significantly’ potentially leading to taxi drivers committing illicit activities. In the report, the government is said to have considered suggestions for the ‘elimination’ of the investment component of taxi licences but added that the measure could be adapted to the ‘Macau reality, where there are 650 taxi licences without an expiry date’ and since a study by the DSAT suggested the number of taxis shouldn’t exceed 1,700, the measure would be implemented ‘gradually.’
Other legislators proposed that a model where taxi licences are awarded to drivers who fulfill certain requirements could reduce costs and minimise the risk of illegal acts by drivers, even suggesting a similar model of free rental vehicle exploration used in Chinese cities like Hangzhou, Nanjing and Shenzhen, to which the government responded that the free exploration of vehicle renting could lead to a high increase of vehicles in Macau, and that it would consider introducing a revision based on Singapore’s taxi regulations, where taxi services are provided by taxi associations who can also award licences and monitor taxi services.
The report also mentions that the CPSP has reinforced its joint operations for preventing infractions by taxi drivers; however, the fight against excessive fare charging and transport refusal has not been effective due to the excessive time taken by the DSAT during administrative sanctioning procedures, while fines are ‘too low’ to be a deterrent. New measures, such as voluntary recording and entrapping illegal-activity taxi drivers, higher taxi violation penalties, police stings and licence cancellation were also discussed, with the government considering it has already ‘taken into account the opinion of the taxi sector’ for the licence cancellation issue, according to the report.