In Hong Kong’s dark Prince Edward neighborhood, a half-dozen vehicle drivers hang out by their fire-engine-red cabs, laced with cigarette smoking and obscenities. The day-shift drivers give their taxis to those who are night-working during the day dispatch. They are surrendering dollars to a car agent, a matrilineal figure who collects fee for the vehicles, manages schedule, and dispenses unsolicited tips about quitting smoking. The owners stop her.
There may be no more difficult thing to do in this area of more than 7 million that is trying to alter a vehicle driver’s behavior. Motorists in Hong Kong have been doing things their way for years, frequently angry and rushing to the next suffer. However, car owners are under strain to keep up with the times. Their customers are fed up with being driven aggressively, treated curtly and, in many cases, having to settle fares with money. The habit is so pervasive that airport security guards frequently have to inform travelers at taxi rates that they need to bring bills.
The government has tried to control car owners, both in response to the issues and to revitalize commerce. Last month, authorities launched a campaign to encourage more respectful drivers. They established a point system that would track individuals’ bad behavior, such as overcharging or refusing to pay for their permissions, and could lead to license suspension. The government proposed in early December that all vehicles must install systems that will enable them to accept credit cards and online payments by the end of 2025 and to put security cameras by the end of 2026. Predictably, many motorists have opposed the idea. Do you prefer to have constant monitoring? said Lau Bing-kwan ( 75 ). ” The state is barking too some orders”.
The new handles, if put in place, may indicate the end of an era for an economy that has long been an aberration in Hong Kong’s world-class transit system. No time may be wasted on social pleasantries when working in a company with shrinking financial benefits, according to many cabs. For example, Lau Man-hung, 63, runs foods and bathroom breaks just to be behind the wheel long enough to take home about$ 2, 500 a month, little enough to get by in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Stress between the open and vehicle owners plays out with mutual finger-pointing. A pilot claimed to a writer that it was the travellers who were rude when the government launched the kindness campaign. Hung Wing-tat, a retired teacher who has studied the car industry, said,” There is a perception among the people that all vehicle owners are negative when most of them just want to earn a living.”
