Gov’t accepts 21 bids for up to 500 taxi licenses

The Transport Bureau (DSAT) has accepted 21 of 40 bids in the public tender for the allocation of regular taxi licenses.

The successful bids aim to secure 10 general taxi licenses with eight-year terms.

According to Law 3/2019 and Administrative Regulation 34/2023, this tender will grant 10 general licenses to operate taxis, with each contracting company entitled to request permits for a maximum of 50 taxis per license.

Therefore, the license tender is set to grant up to 500 permits for individual taxi vehicle operations.

In a press statement, the DSAT disclosed that the committee evaluating the proposals had accepted 21 bids and rejected 19.

The accepted bids proposed tender amounts varying between 2.5 million patacas and 3.8 million patacas.

The average value of the 21 accepted bids was 3.1 million patacas. When divided among 50 taxi permits, this represents an average cost of 62,000 patacas per permit/vehicle or 7,750 patacas per year.

Several bids were excluded for failing to adhere to the rules of Article 7.2 (governing the printing and numbering of bid pages) as well as for incomplete submissions lacking  required documents such as certification of taxi meters, among others.

The tender specifications require successful bidders to be Macau-registered companies exclusively engaged in taxi operations.