Lawmakers split over ride-hailing permit cap

The chairman of the Legislative Council's transport panel, Ben Chan, on Tuesday said the government should initially cap the number of ride-hailing permits to around 8,000 when it launches a new regulatory regime later this year. In a submission to Legco, the Transport and Logistics Bureau and the Transport Department said public opinion remains divided on how many ride-hailing vehicles should be allowed to operate in the city. On an RTHK radio programme, Chan stressed the need to balance passenger demand with road capacity. "Everyone is trying hard to find a balance. At the beginning, you need cars available for customers but you can't have too few, and you also can't have too many," he said. "So I think maybe under 10,000 - or somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 - can be the starting point. Maybe we start with a smaller figure and then gradually increase it based on the actual situation. That would be a more stable way to launch [the new regime]." However, fellow legislator Chan Pui-leung has pushed for a much higher threshold, arguing that the number of ride-hailing licences should start at no fewer than 18,000. Using government data, he calculated that taxis currently account for 78 percent of point-to-point passenger volume, while ride-hailing makes up 22 percent. He also said taxis operate about 18 hours a day, whereas most ride-hailing drivers work only four hours because 80 percent of them are part-time. "We can calculate that we currently have 18,000 taxis. If ride-hailing vehicles operate for four hours per day, that means we need 4.5 ride-hailing vehicles to match one taxi," he said. "So if we calculate using the fact that ride-hailing currently provides about 22 percent of the current capacity, the resulting number is roughly 18,000 ride-hailing licences, which equals the existing base of taxis." Chan also voiced support for proposed rules such as requiring ride-hailing drivers to own the vehicles they use, and minimum operating requirements to prevent licence hoarding. Edited by Thomas McAlinden