Amendments to taxi regulations to cut driver-owned licenses

Proposed amendments to the taxi service regulations indicate that taxis should run under licenses owned by registered companies in charge of the management of all processes as well as  the application for individual licenses for each of the cars.

The Executive Council (ExCo) said during yesterday’s announcement that the ExCo has concluded the analysis of the amendments, which will now proceed to the Legislative Assembly (AL) to be voted upon.

ExCo’s spokesperson Leong Heng Teng explained that the proposal results in few licenses being in the possession of the taxi drivers, necessitating a system in which drivers enter into an employment deal with a large-scale company. Leong said the plan came “after studying and comparing the two kinds [of existing licenses], arriving to the conclusion that is best to opt for the company-owned ones.”

“It is not only the finance capacity that is on the line but also the management capacity,” he added, noting that according to the few details of the proposal that were able to be revealed, such companies, in order to apply for public tender, will have to be “properly” registered and have a share capital of at least MOP5 million.

Questioned as to whether the government thinks this is the most adequate measure, Leong said: “This is only a proposal; it is a duty of the AL to evaluate if this [proposal] is or not appropriate. What we are trying to do is to seek solutions that are according to the development of the society.”

In the same section of the proposal it is also noted that the government reserves the right to select the license buyers on public tender “according to the established selection criteria,” a topic of which Leong said it was not “the right time” to disclose the details, promising to reveal all those when the bill reaches the AL.

Regarding the same licenses, the government also proposes to forbid any kind of transfer, temporary or permanent, paid or not, of the licenses between companies, after they have been acquired by public tender.

Another of the measures proposed by the bill relates to the enforcement of actions that aim to prevent unlawful activities by the taxi drivers, namely trying to ease the means of obtaining evidence. In this sense, the government proposes that taxis should be mandatorily equipped with a Global Positioning (and Navigation) System by Satellite (GPS) as well as with a sound recording device, the installation and maintenance of which will need to be done by Transport Bureau (DSAT) approved entities.

Contrary to what was previously aired during the public consultation document back in 2014, the voice recording system will be of mandatory use and not optional, a change justified by the DSAT’s director Lam Hin San as a “more effective way to exercise the rule of law.”

The proposal also establishes a timeframe of one year after the law enters into force for the taxi owners to perform the necessary changes and equip the cars with the required new devices.

Dropped was the idea of operating “undercover agents” to witness the misconducts, as the responsible authority from the Public Security Police Force (PSP) who was also present at the meeting, noted, “the Macau law does not allow us to try to simulate actions in order to try the drivers,” he said, noting, “but we will operate in an indirect way, since the new law will allow both PSP officers and DSAT inspectors to report [and act] immediately when they find any unlawful conduct.”

Increased fines on serious offences by taxi drivers

The bill that the government announced yesterday, which will make amendments to the “Taxi Law,” proposes an increase to the fines applicable to instances of unlawful conduct, but also proposes a more lenient system relating to serious offences that result in the cancelation of a driver’s license, the Executive Council spokesperson Leong Heng Teng announced at a press conference.

Drivers who infringe the law in regards to this misconduct will be liable to pay increased fines that total from MOP600 to MOP30,000 depending on the severity of the situation. Nevertheless, and contrary to what had been aired during the public consultation period, the number of serious offences committed by one driver that will lead to the cancellation of his or her driver’s license remains four offences, but over a period of five years, and not over one year as was previously proposed.

Questioned on the topic at the government’s headquarters yesterday, the government spokesperson said that the proposal follows the laws and examples of neighboring regions and takes into consideration the efforts of the sector to try to improve on their service. “There is only a small percentage [of drivers] that commit these infractions that affect the image of Macau,” Leong said, stating that such facts have weighed on the decision over enforceable sanctions.

Among the examples of conduct which will be considered serious are: the “refusal of providing transportation and selection of costumers,” the “bargaining of the fare” and the “overcharge of the taxi fare.”

In case a driver gets caught in four of these serious offenses within a period of five years, his taxi driver license will be cancelled and he or she could only apply for a new license by taking the driving course again, and only after a period of suspension of three years.

Heavily raised was the fine for the operation of vehicles providing transportation services without a taxi license, moving from the previous MOP25,000 to MOP90,000 in the new law proposal. Although not clearly mentioned, it is clear that such a penalty hike aims to deter the appearance of transportation services such as Uber and other similar services, leading Leong to say, “If the fines are not high, they do not produce deterrent effects.”

The ExCo also proposed that new law enter into force 60 days after the approval by the Legislative Assembly, although the spokesperson failed to forecast when the government expects that this will happen.