'Govt Acting As A Public Enemy To Protect Taxis'

Pro-democracy lawmakers have accused the government of acting as an enemy of the Hong Kong people by planning harsher penalties for drivers of vehicles which use ride-hailing apps like Uber.

During a meeting of Legco's transport panel, IT sector lawmaker Charles Mok said the government is doing the exact opposite of what people want, and questioned why officials are not targeting the poor service provided by the taxi industry.

The Transport Bureau is proposing to increase the penalty for the illegal carriage of passengers to HK$10,000 for a first conviction, and HK$25,000 for subsequent convictions.

Local taxi unions have been putting pressure on the government to ban services like Uber, saying they are cutting into their livelihoods.

The Civic Party's Alvin Yeung, speaking after the debate, alleged that the government is protecting the taxi trade at the expense of the public.

"The government is quite out of touch. We see a lot of Hong Kong people are taking rides by the ride-hailing model instead of traditional taxis. People are not satisfied with traditional taxis," he said.

"People are expecting the government to embrace the technology and allow the passengers to have choice. But the government is doing something that is completely the opposite," the lawmaker said.

However, the Undersecretary for Transport Raymond So said while the government embraces the application of technology, people should not break the law because of it.

Opposition lawmakers also opposed to the taxi trade's bid to raise fares by up to 25 percent, saying it has failed to improve its service over the years.

Civic Passion's Cheng Chung-tai said the trade does not deserve to have a hike as service quality is going down. Other lawmakers said the requested move would be like "robbing" Hong Kong people.

Transport Commissioner Mable Chan said she understands that any fare increase will not be readily accepted by the public. She said the department will consider a number of factors before submitting its proposal to the Executive Council for consideration.

Chan also said that some taxi companies have agreed that they wouldn't increase the rates for at least three to six months after the new fares kick in.