The government yesterday launched a public tender for the granting of 14 new eight-year company licences each of which will be allowed to operate up to 50 common taxis, with the aim of meeting the city’s rising demand for taxi services.
The granting of the 14 new company licences will enable up to 700 new taxis to serve the city.
Common taxis – as opposed to special radio taxis – are colloquially known as “black taxis” (“hak dik” in Cantonese), as the colour of the common taxis is black.
Currently, the city’s common taxis are either operated by licenced individuals or companies.
The Transport Bureau (DSAT) announced the public tender in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday, when it also issued a statement on the matter.
According to the current law regulating the city’s taxi sector, which took effect in June 2019, only companies are allowed to bid for a licence to operate common taxis. Before the current taxi law came into force, common taxi-vehicle licences were granted to individuals.
According to the current taxi law, a single company is only allowed to hold up to 300 taxi-vehicle licences. A company must have a minimum capital of five million patacas to bid for a licence to operate common taxis. Only locally-registered companies are allowed to bid for the licences.
The public tender launched yesterday is the second tender since the current taxi law took effect in 2019.
Following a public tender process in 2023, the government granted 10 company licences in 2024 to operate common taxis, valid for eight years, with each company to operate 50 vehicles. The 500 common taxis gradually came into service after late 2024. Many of the 500 common taxis were to replace the numerous taxi-vehicle licences having expired one after another over the past few years. This tender was the first one launched since the current taxi law took effect in 2019.
With the aim of increasing the number of common taxis in the city in a shorter time, the government decided in September last year to grant two more company licences to operate common taxis without launching a public tender, enabling 100 new taxis to hit the roads.
According to yesterday’s gazette and statement, the public tender launched yesterday will grant new licences valid for eight years to 14 companies for operating common taxis. Each winner can apply to operate up to 50 taxis.
Consequently, the statement noted, the public tender will grant up to 700 new common taxi-vehicle licences.
According to yesterday’s announcement, potential bidders are required to submit their tenders by July 8. DSAT officials will unseal the submitted bids at the DSAT headquarters on Estrada de D. Maria II the next day.
Each company can only bid for one taxi-operating licence comprising up to 50 taxis. The minimum bid is set at 2.5 million patacas. Each bidder will be required to pay a deposit of 3.5 million patacas, according to yesterday’s announcement.
Bid-assessment criteria
According to yesterday’s gazette, the bids will be assessed based on three criteria, namely the proposed price accounting for 60 percent of the scores, the proposed plan for how to run its fleet of taxis accounting for 34 percent, and the proposed percentage of the employment of local residents in relation to the total number of employees (six percent of the total scores).
Before the current taxi law took effect in 2019 – when common taxi-vehicle licences were granted to individuals, those who proposed the highest bids were granted a licence during a public tender.
Yesterday’s statement underlined that the government has decided to launch the new public tender in the wake of the fact that more and more eight-year-validity common taxi-vehicle licences have gradually expired over the past few years. The statement said that the tender also “aims to tackle” the city’s ongoing demand for taxi services.
According to latest data on the DSAT website, at the end of the first quarter of this year, there were 1,454 taxis in service in the city, comprising 1,254 “common” taxis and 200 “special” taxis.
This time, according to yesterday’s DSAT statement, the winning companies must use hybrid vehicles (powered by a combination of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor), or new energy vehicles (NEVs), with a seating capacity of six or more passengers.
Moreover, the statement said, all the new taxis must accept e-payments.
At least two of each winning company’s 50 new taxis must be wheelchair-accessible ones, the statement said.
Taxis stop at the traffic light-controlled crossing outside Hotel Lisboa yesterday. – Photo: Tony Wong
