Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited, which has been granted a licence to operate another 200 radio taxis, said yesterday that with the first additional 100 taxis to come into service in December, it aims to raise the success rate of calling a taxi to up to 70 percent from the current 35 percent.
The company also said that it aimed to get the additional 100 taxis to hit the streets in the middle of next year.
Patriotic taxi parade
Kevin U Kin Lung, the company’s general manager, made the remarks while speaking to reporters outside the company’s headquarters yesterday in Avenida do Governador Jaime Silvério Marques in Nape, where it held a “parade” of 18 taxis in celebration of today’s 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The 18 taxis started the parade from the company’s headquarters, drove past Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, the Sands casino-hotel, Golden Dragon Hotel in Zape and the nearby Golden Lotus Square (Praça de Lotus Dourado), before returning to the headquarters.
Each of the 18 taxis had national flag attached to each side of its windscreen during the parade.
U also said that, on average, his company receives 6,000 requests for its taxi service per day.
Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited, which is currently running 100 radio taxis, started its service in April 2017. The government signed an eight-year contract with the firm in September 2016 for the operation of 100 special radio taxis, after announcing earlier that month that the company won the bid – one of two accepted bids – for a licence to operate a fleet of up to 100 special radio taxis.
The Transport Bureau (DSAT) launched a public tender in August last year for a company licence to operate another 200 special radio taxis. Five firms, including Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited, submitted their bids. The bureau unsealed the five bids – all of them accepted – in October last year. The bureau announced in a statement in March this year that after assessing the five bids, it had decided to grant the licence to operate another 200 special radio taxis to Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited, which undertook that it will not charge any calling, advanced booking or no-show fees.
The statement in March said that the bureau expected the first additional 100 taxis to come into service in the fourth quarter of this year, with the remaining 100 slated to start service by the fourth quarter of next year.
The company’s new licence to operate another 200 special radio taxis is also valid for eight years. The government signed the eight-year contract with the firm in May this year for the operation of another 200 special radio taxis. According to the contract, the company will have to start operating the first 100 additional taxis on December 1, while it will have to have the remaining 100 operational within a year.
Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited charges a calling fee of five patacas under the contract for the operation of the current 100 special radio taxis, while there are no charges for advanced bookings and no-shows. The company has waived the calling fee for the additional 200 taxis.
U said yesterday that his company has hired 100 additional cabbies for the new service which will start in December, adding that at that time his company will have 330 drivers.
Different colours
The colour of the current 100 special radio taxis is grey, while the colour of the future 200 taxis will be red. The company has said that as it will not charge a calling fee for the 200 new taxis, their colour will be different, as a way of allowing users to distinguish the old (grey) and new (red) taxis.
U said yesterday that after the new-contract radio taxi service starts in December, when users call a taxi by phone or through the company’s mobile app, they will be picked up by either a grey or a red taxi – meaning that they will need to pay the five-pataca calling fee if a grey taxi pulls up, while they will not need to pay the fee if the taxi is a red one.
Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited General Manager Kevin U Kin Lung speaks to reporters outside his company’s headquarters in Avenida do Governador Jaime Silvério Marques in Nape yesterday. Photos: Tony Wong
Several Macau Radio Taxi Services Limited taxis depart from the company’s headquarters in Nape for a round-trip parade including the Golden Lotus Square in Zape yesterday in celebration of today’s National Day.
