The Transport Bureau (DSAT) said in a statement yesterday that it has completed assessing the accepted bids for its public tender for the granting of 10 eight-year company licences, each of which will be allowed to operate up to 50 common taxis, i.e., the government has chosen the 10 winners.
The granting of the 10 company licences will enable up to 500 new taxis to hit the roads.
The tender for the 10 company licences was launched on October 25 last year. The 40 submitted bids were unsealed by DSAT officials on November 24. However, the bureau only accepted 21 of the 40 bids while it rejected the remaining 19 for various reasons.
Common taxis – as opposed to special radio taxis – are colloquially known as “black taxis” (“hak dik” in Cantonese).
The prices offered by the 21 accepted bids ranged between 2.5 million and 3.8 million patacas. The government set the minimum bid at 2.5 million patacas.
The results of the bureau’s assessments of the 21 accepted bids have been uploaded onto its website, according to which the prices offered by the 10 winners range between 2.803 million patacas and 3.8 million patacas.
The accepted bids were assessed based on three criteria, namely the proposed price accounting for 40 percent of the scores, the proposed plan of how to run its fleet of taxis accounting for 50 percent, and the proposed kinds of vehicles accounting for 10 percent.
A taxi stops at the traffic light-controlled crossing outside the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) headquarters on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro on yesterday. – Photo: Tony Wong
