By Katrina Lio
It was 10:20 am, a lady talking on the phone was waiting for a taxi. Just in a while, an “available” black taxi was coming towards her. She hanged up, waved to the driver; suddenly three mainland tourists rushed out from the street corner, stopped the taxi and immediately filled it up with their luggage. Then the taxi drove away, simply ignored the lady who called for the service.
It has been a prevalent problem that taxi drivers choose passengers and charge abusively in Macao recently. “Most of them don’t respond to telephone orders nowadays. They would like to cruise around casinos, the border gate and famous historic spots to look for tourists, mainly mainland tourists since it is more profitable, compared to driving locals on short journeys,” said Fong (not real name), a telephonist who has been working in the Radio Taxi Vang Iek (commonly known as yellow taxi) for almost 20 years.
According to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), there were only 1,178 taxis available in 2013, which were apparently not enough to meet the demand in Macao, which received 29 million tourists last year.
Louis Kou
As tourist arrivals increase every year, it further exacerbates the situation and becomes the major cause of citizens’ dissatisfaction. Louis Kou, a Year 4 Marketing student, had an unpleasant experience in taking a taxi. “I was forced to pay and get off the taxi at the border gate, which was still a 10-minute walk to my destination. They tend to serve mainland tourists because tips are always given by wealthy travelers, some tourists even don’t care if drivers charge them according to the taximeter or not.”
Kou’s case is just a tip of the iceberg. However, not only lavish tourists encourage taxi drivers’ misbehavior, locals also yield to the snobbish trend. Fong added that some customers offer extra “presents” (a jargon used in the taxi industry – one present refers to MOP10) when they order taxis. “You can say it’s a kind of bribe but it’s undoubtedly effective.”
In order to solve the problem, legislator Chan Mei Yi proposed to increase the current penalty and implement a demerit point scheme for taxi drivers. She also suggested that the government as well as passengers should work together to supervise the taxi service cooperatively.
According to Regulation 366/99/M, if a taxi driver refuses to hire or takes customers to other destination, or allegedly overcharges taxi fares, he or she shall be fined MOP1,000. Passengers who encounter any illegal behaviors are advised to mark down the driver’s license number, date and time, detailed information about the incident and contact the Traffic Affairs Hotline at 8866 6363.