Ride-hailing｜Committee receives over 1,000 public submissions, about 70% believe 10k quota is insufficient, suggest increasing or even removing the cap.

The Legislative Council Subcommittee on Subsidiary Legislation Regulating Ride-hailing Services invited the public to submit comments on the relevant legislation by June 15 last month. According to a tally by this newspaper of about 1,120 public submissions, approximately 70% believe that 10k ride-hailing licenses are insufficient and suggest increasing or even removing the cap. The authorities reiterated that the quota of 10k is prudent and stable, and they will review whether adjustments are needed in due course.

The Transport and Logistics Bureau submitted a document to the Legislative Council yesterday (June 30), stating that the subcommittee had received a total of 1,221 submissions, of which 25 were from groups, including transportation organizations; ride-hailing platforms Uber and AutoNavi (Gaode Dache); taxi groups such as the Hong Kong Taxi Council and the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Light Bus Association; among others. The remaining submissions were from the public. Excluding dozens of documents designated for committee members only, according to this newspaper's tally of about 1,120 submissions, at least 763 people, or nearly 70%, believe that issuing 10k ride-hailing licenses is insufficient or oppose setting a cap on the number of licenses.

Some citizens described the issuance of 10k licenses as "out of touch with reality," expressing concerns about increased waiting times and a negative impact on the travel experience of residents and tourists; the public suggested increasing the quota to between 15k and 50k. Others believe that 10k quotas are too conservative and recommend no cap, allowing the market to self-regulate. Some opinions argue that 10k licenses are too many and would cause excessive impact on the taxi industry, suggesting only 2,000 licenses should be issued; they also propose that ride-hailing licenses should be prioritized for current taxi drivers.

Uber reiterated that the cap of 10k licenses falls short of public travel demand and urged the government to review or dynamically adjust the cap before the regulations are fully implemented. Didi Chuxing supports starting with 10k licenses and recommends that the government continuously monitor market supply-demand changes and waiting times, reviewing the system's operation based on actual conditions.

Bureau says it has fully listened to opinions and will review based on data in the future

In response to opinions that the cap of 10k licenses is insufficient to meet ride-hailing service demand, the Transport and Logistics Bureau stated that the government has fully listened to opinions from all sectors of society and comprehensively considered data on point-to-point service demand. It believes that the current quota is a prudent, stable, and appropriate approach to ensure the smooth implementation of the ride-hailing service regulatory system. In the future, the government will refer to data submitted by platforms to conduct comprehensive dynamic assessments and review whether adjustments to the number of ride-hailing vehicles are needed in a timely manner.

The Bureau also stated that ride-hailing vehicles must complete a specified number of trips within a designated period for their vehicle permits to be renewed, but there will be no restrictions on the online hours of ride-hailing drivers, retaining greater flexibility for drivers to provide services and adjust capacity based on their operational needs and market demand.