Cabbies Warn Of Exodus Due To Higher Insurance Costs

A taxi association has warned that there could be an exodus of drivers, affecting services, if the government fails to rein in "out of control" insurance premiums as the trade seeks permission to charge an extra HK$6 per ride to offset the increase.

Government figures show that the average taxi premiums in the first three quarters of last year were HK$27,218. But Ng Kwan-sing, president of the Taxi Dealers & Owners Association, told RTHK that some drivers had to pay up to HK$80,000 a year because of their advanced age, their older vehicles, and that they don't feature car cameras or SD cards.

“You have to understand that there are a lot of these additional charges and [they] are getting out of control,” Ng said.

Ng also suggested that there were cases in which parties tried to claim as much as possible, driving up the cost of insurance.

He said another problem is that the government was dragging its feet in approving their applications to raise fares by HK$6 to HK$7 dollars for urban, New Territories and Lantau taxis that were submitted in 2018.

“We submitted our applications a long time ago but still haven’t heard of the results. We have no idea how to offset the costs, plus the government is not intervening in the rising insurance premiums. What are we going to do? We are so lost. If the [operating] environment is bad, many drivers may leave the industry,” he said.

But Ng acknowledged that an extra charge – in form of a higher flagfall or a surcharge – could deter people from taking taxis, dealing a further blow to the trade already hit by the Covid outbreak and competition from car-hailing firms.

He said if the government approves the fare hike application, they will no longer pursue the extra charge.