Government not set on implementing hard limit on ride-hailing permits
發佈日期: 2026-05-12 20:05
TVB News
The government has yet to announce the number of ride-hailing permits in its latest submission to the Legislative Council on the regulation of ride-hailing platforms.
This as Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan emphasised authorities currently have no preference on setting a specific limit for such permits.
In its latest submission to Legco on regulating ride-hailing platforms, the government mentioned suggestions of issuing between 10,000 to 15,000 designated permits.
This as ride-hailing platform Uber earlier sent its submission to the city's legislative body noting there were over 30,000 active ride-hailing platform drivers over the past year, so 15,000 permits would be less than half of that.
The company expects that under such conditions, around 40 percent of passengers will not be able to hail a ride during peak hours, adding that fares could also increase by 70 percent.
The platform suggested that the government could adjust the proposed mechanism to include an automatic permit issuance system which prioritises active ride-hailing platform drivers.
However, at the Legislative Council Transport Panel meeting, some members expressed concern about issuing too many licenses.
A lawmaker said there is already an oversupply during off-peak hours.
Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said there will be a monitoring mechanism to flexibly regulate the supply.
Chan said the quota cannot be too small, otherwise residents will still face difficulty in hailing a ride, and the service quality will be difficult to guarantee.
However, the quota cannot be too large at once, so as to not impact the traffic load.
She said the government also needs to protect the livelihoods of existing drivers.
