Fewer taxi infractions recorded this week

On Monday and Tuesday this week, only one taxi offence was recorded by the Public Security Police Force (PSP), marking a significant decline from a year earlier.

The authorities attributed the single infraction to the implementation of the city’s new taxi law, offering harsher penalties for illegal taxi behaviors, which came into effect on June 3 last year. The collapse in the number of visitors this holiday season may also be responsible for the few offences.

As for other offences reported today by the PSP, the number of complaints related to noise on these two days reached 56. Two cases were prosecuted and PSP issued verbal warning to 12 cases. Two offences were related to drivers taking passengers without a taxi operation license.

During the Spring Festival holiday of 2019, the PSP recorded a total of 190 taxi offences within five days between the last day of the previous year and the first four days of the new year according to lunar calendar. The number of violations related to overcharging was 146 and the number of violations related to refusing to take passengers was 27.

In six cases, the drivers were found taking passengers without a taxi operation license. During the same period, the PSP prosecuted four cases of illegally launching fire crackers and other fireworks. The PSP also registered 131 complaints. The bureau only prosecuted one case and issued verbal warning to 42 cases. Some 88 cases were dropped because the complaints could not be confirmed to be true.

Julie Zhu