HK TAXI drivers

[Gavelina]

Does anyone know what sort of training our darling "red" angels have to take?
Forgetting for a moment the fact so many (nor all) are incredibly rude, drive like maniac and smoke in their cars, what amazes me is how many simply do not know the streets... In English as well as Cantonese!! I've recently had the pleasure of having to show the way to new drivers to Kennedy Road and Hollywood road. Are they just giving the licenses away to whoever shows up on the day or are they required to take some kind of street test?

[bryant.english]

I suppose you can't expect much more given the crap money they're on.......

[Cwbguy]

Certainly for the price you pay they are extremely good value. Try getting from the equ. in London of Cwb to Central for 3 quid, and Cwb to Tst for 4 quid. Just does not happen.

I have been using them on an almost daily basis for years, and rarely find direct rudeness. Maybe they don't reply when you get in, or chat, but that's not a problem. No one has ever smoked when I am in the cab, but certainly some have done so when it's empty, ditto eating pungent food. Open the window for a bit if you find it offensive.

You will always get the Formula 1 wannabes in every city of the world, not just HK. More annoying is the stop/start style of driving that's supposed to save petrol. Not much you can do about that.

If the driver does not know your destination, simply point at his radio and he will let you call his controller who will give him instructions. I have never failed to get to my destination, although I have been taken the "scenic " route a few times.

I would be grateful that you have some of the most reasonably priced, and easily available 24/7 taxis in the world. Another example also using London, try and get a cab at midnight in Piccadily,it ain't going to happen, compared to Wyndham Street, LKF same time to 3 am.

[Trebor]

How do the taxi company's work here? Is it one firm that owns them all (hence why they all drive the same make and model of car) or do the drivers lease the cars from somewhere and get to keep all of the fares they make?

My driver the other day picked me up on a double yellow line in full view of a police bike and got slapped with a $450 fine. I gave him an extra $100 on top of my fare as i felt a little guilty.

[Marialina83]

I've always thought they were pretty good value for money!

[shenwen]

I've always thought they were pretty good value for money!

me too. I think the quality is good. never have a problem.

but then I lived in Beijing where any drivers slept in the cars at night. and that garlic....

true story. one time I was in a taxi trying to find a football pitch on the edge of Beijing's north. we were a little bit lost. at one point while driving through a small urban village, the driver pulled over, got out, had a piss on the side of the road, got back in, lit up a cigarette and started driving again. never broke his stride

imagine that in HK?

(and yes ready for the mainlanders pissing/shitting on the street jibes)

[Cwbguy]

I don't know exactly how it works but there is liquid traded market in taxi licenses. Some speculators will own several licenses and lease them out to the drivers on a daily basis for what i think is around $300 a day. The licence is extremely expensive, last time I looked was around $5 million.

I think that the training and qualifications required to become a driver are the same as becoming a politician, sod all. However I would trust the taxi driver more. Just look at the rubbish that slimeball Tang is talking on tv right now about the illegal structures in his homes, and how he "misunderstood" the questions.

[dear giant]

Does anyone know what sort of training our darling "red" angels have to take?
Forgetting for a moment the fact so many (nor all) are incredibly rude, drive like maniac and smoke in their cars, what amazes me is how many simply do not know the streets... In English as well as Cantonese!! I've recently had the pleasure of having to show the way to new drivers to Kennedy Road and Hollywood road. Are they just giving the licenses away to whoever shows up on the day or are they required to take some kind of street test?

It may be that the driver you had was pretending to not understand you or to not know the way to your destination in order to try to take you out of your way and hike up the fare.

My wife and I often get drivers who will test us on our knowledge of the route in order to see what they can get away with.

Our biggest problem recently has been cabbies' reluctance to actually work. If the trip is short, then they bitch about that. If we need to go some distance, then they claim that they've got a shift change (believable once in a while but have heard this BS from different drivers at random times of day/evening often enough to be skeptical at this point) and the trip will take too long. Just drive FFS.

[Satay Sue]

Google maps on my i-phone works well - if they don't understand, just look up the name and show them, the names are often also in Chinese. Has helped me out on several occasions

[Char Siu King]

Does anyone know what sort of training our darling "red" angels have to take?
Forgetting for a moment the fact so many (nor all) are incredibly rude, drive like maniac and smoke in their cars, what amazes me is how many simply do not know the streets... In English as well as Cantonese!! I've recently had the pleasure of having to show the way to new drivers to Kennedy Road and Hollywood road. Are they just giving the licenses away to whoever shows up on the day or are they required to take some kind of street test?

You're amazed they don't speak English? And smoke and drive too fast? What's the world coming to when you can't count on a taxi driver's language skills and willingness to provide that service with a smile HK and China are so famous for. The world's gone mad!