Interview by Tony Wong
The Macau Taxi Drivers Mutual Help Association aims to relaunch its mobile taxi-ride-hailing app, the operation of which has been suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, next month at the earliest, Tony Kuok Leong Son, the group’s president, says.
The relaunched app will enable prospective passengers to call a common taxi that is within a 500-metre radius of the location where they are at that time, according to Kuok.
Kuok also said that his association has added some new functions to the app, compared to its previous version which had been in use before the start of the pandemic.
Kuok made the remarks in an interview with The Macau Post Daily on Tuesday at his association’s office near the Pak Wai Garden residential estate on Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida.
The app was launched in September 2018. However, Kuok said, the app’s operation has been suspended since the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect Macau in early 2020 because of the very low number of prospective taxi passengers.
Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case on January 22, 2020. The local government discontinued its long-running dynamic zero-COVID approach in early December last year.
As tested by The Macau Post Daily yesterday, while smartphone users can still download the app, known as “Macau Taxi” in the English Language, from app stores, the app’s ride-hailing function cannot currently be used.
The black-and-white logo of the app includes the words “Macau Taxi” in both the English and Chinese languages.
Kuok said on Tuesday that due to the taxi sector’s “very poor” business performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, his association decided to suspend the app, as its operation and maintenance cost money.
Common taxis – as opposed to radio taxis – are colloquially known as “black taxis” (“hak dik” in Cantonese), as the colour of common taxis is black.
The Transport Bureau (DSAT) said in a statement last month that as of the middle of last month, Macau had a total of 1,602 taxis, comprising 1,302 black taxis and 300 radio taxis.
The city’s current radio taxi company, Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited, came into service in April 2017. Its current 300 radio taxis are not allowed to pick up those hailing a taxi ride in the street. To use the company’s ride-hailing service, prospective passengers can phone its call centre or use its own mobile ride-hailing app.
In addition to being allowed to pick up passengers while travelling around the city, black taxis are also allowed to provide a radio taxi service.
Kuok’s association, the Macau Taxi Drivers Mutual Help Association, runs a taxi call service – 2828 3283. His association currently operates its call centre in an industrial building in Iao Hon district. A few hundred of the city’s black taxis are covered by his association’s radio taxi service.
Kuok said that after his association decided earlier this year to resume the “Macau Taxi” app’s operation, it has been working with the app’s developer to rectify any bugs as well as to improve its functions.
Kuok said that his association was planning to relaunch the app later this year, adding that the relaunched app could even start operating next month at the earliest if “everything proceeds smoothly”.
Kuok did not say how many cabbies were planning to join the app, but underlined that the sector’s drivers were generally “very eager” to join the app.
The same as the previous version, Kuok said that after downloading the app, the user has to register first by entering their mobile phone number before they can use it to hail a taxi. When the user wants to hail a taxi through the app, they will need to enter their location and desired destination.
Kuok said that prospective passengers will be able to book a black taxi that is within a 500-metre radius of the location where they are at that time.
After prospective passengers have successfully booked a taxi, the app will show the licence plate number of the taxi that is coming to pick them up, its expected arrival time, and the cabbie’s phone number, according to Kuok.
Kuok said that while it is currently relatively difficult for locals and visitors alike to hail a taxi, on average no driver of the city’s taxi sector has passengers during one-third of their working hours per day.
Kuok said that a ride-hailing app will create win-win results because it can match available black taxi drivers with those needing a taxi ride at that moment.
A taxi stops at a traffic light-controlled crossing on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro on Tuesday. – Photo: Tony Wong
