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Opinion | Hi-tech tourism hub? Hong Kong’s taxis don’t even take card payments

  • Most Hong Kong taxis can still only take cash while popular apps like Uber are harassed by the government
  • That’s not a good look for a city with hi-tech ambitions aiming to attract big-spending international travellers

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Passengers board taxis at Paterson Street, in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on May 7. Photo: Sam Tsang
A recent incident at an Admiralty taxi rank left me wondering just how determined Hong Kong is to emphasise quality over quantity in its tourism promotion efforts.
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And a recent visit to Beijing left me wondering just how advanced we are in adopting modern technology, despite our ambitions to develop and market ourselves as a tech hub.

The taxi case first. It was nearly lunchtime and a fairly long queue was gradually being accommodated by arriving vehicles. I moved up to second place behind a smartly dressed young woman. She got in the next taxi, then almost immediately jumped out. She gestured for me to take her place, saying: “He doesn’t take cards, I have no cash.”

As she went off to look for an ATM and I boarded the cab, I felt embarrassed, even ashamed. How primitive a society we must seem to international travellers – particularly the well-heeled ones we say we are particularly keen to attract – and how backward compared to rival business and tourism centres in the region.

A quick online search later suggested that, of our more than 18,000 taxis, only some 600 are equipped to accept electronic payment linked to the meter which can be settled by Octopus or credit card. Other individual drivers may have installed different options. However, I remember paying my taxi fare by credit card in Singapore 10 years ago.

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An article in the Post in January reported that a special meter had been developed, with support from the Innovation and Technology Fund, to facilitate electronic payment. Tested on 100 taxis in March and in use from April, the hope was that 1,000 taxis would be fitted with the device by the third quarter of the year.
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