The government has chosen the winners of its 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. The prices offered by the 14 winners range between 5.1 million patacas and 6.03 million patacas.
The granting of the 14 new company licences will enable up to 700 new taxis to serve the city.
The Transport Bureau (DSAT) launched the tender for the 14 company licences on June 3. The tender drew 47 bids, which were unsealed by DSAT officials on July 9. After assessing the validity and eligibility of the 47 bids, the bureau accepted 46 of them and rejected one.
Common taxis—as opposed to special radio taxis—are colloquially known as “black taxis” (“hak dik” in Cantonese), as the colour of common taxis is black.
The prices offered by the 46 accepted bids ranged between 2.5 million patacas and 6.23 million patacas. The government set the minimum bid at 2.5 million patacas.
The 46 accepted bids were assessed based on three criteria: the proposed price accounted for 60 percent of the score, the proposed selection of vehicles purchased for the fleet of taxis accounted for 34 percent, and the proposed percentage of local residents employed in relation to the total number of employees accounted for six percent of the total score.
The bureau chose the 14 winners after completing its assessments of the 46 accepted bids. The bureau uploaded the results to its website yesterday, according to which the prices offered by the 14 winners ranged between 5.1 million patacas and 6.03 million patacas.
Currently, the city’s common taxis are operated either by licensed individuals or by companies.
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 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 tender for the 14 company licences, which was launched in early June, was the second one since the current taxi law took effect in 2019.
The government indicated earlier this year that it expected the 700 new taxis to gradually hit the roads in the second and third quarters of next year.
The 14 winning companies must use hybrid vehicles (powered by a combination of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor) or new energy vehicles (NEVs), such as electric vehicles (EVs), with a seating capacity of six or more passengers.
Moreover, all the new taxis must accept e-payments.
At least two of each winning company’s 50 new taxis must be wheelchair-accessible.
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 operating 50 vehicles. The 500 common taxis gradually came into service after late 2024. This tender was the first launched since the current taxi law took effect in 2019.
In the 2023 tender, the prices offered by the 10 winners ranged between 2.803 million patacas and 3.8 million patacas.
According to the latest data on the DSAT website, at the end of the second quarter of this year, there were 1,503 taxis in service in the city, comprising 1,303 “common” taxis and 200 “special” taxis.
A taxi turns into Rua de S. Domingos from Travessa do Bispo in the city centre yesterday. – Photo: Tony Wong
