Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário refuted the idea that the taxi sector was not made aware of the fees charged on smart terminals, the regulation for which entered into force on Thursday.
Replying to a question from a lawmaker on the topic, Rosário said, “It makes no sense to be calling for a change now on something that was discussed and approved long ago.”
“The fees to be paid for the terminals and who is responsible for paying what has been settled and made public since the time that the Executive Council concluded the analysis of the bill. The 5,000 pataca deposit fee is [owed] by the taxi owners, while the 300 pataca per month fee is the responsibility of the driver and was calculated based on a fee of 10 patacas per day. This was all public and discussed here [at the AL] in several plenary sessions as well as in the [Standing] Committee,” he added.
Questions about the fees come after a group of taxi drivers presented a petition to the government on Thursday, demanding the temporary suspension of fees on the smart terminals installed in their vehicles.
According to the taxi law approved last year, all of Macau’s taxis must have a smart terminal installed, otherwise their operation will be considered illegal.
The smart terminal is an update on traditional terminal systems which had a meter, flag, and receipt printer, and now an additional global satellite navigation system, audio and video recording, and an alarm device.
During the presentation of the petition to the government, a representative of the group supported by lawmaker Agnes Lam complained that the government did not listen to the concerns of the taxi sector before enforcing the fees. This accusation was refuted by the Secretary on Friday, who noted that even before being discussed at the AL, the bill underwent a public consultation in which all interested parties were invited to express their opinions.
100 new radio taxi licenses postponed to next year
The government postponed the issuing of the last 100 new special taxi licenses for Macau Radio Taxi which were expected to be issued by 2020. The announcement was made at the Legislative Assembly (AL) by the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, during the debate of the Policy Address for 2021
The 100 new licenses were part of a group of 200 licenses, which the government tendered in 2019. They were to be implemented in a phased manner right up until the last quarter of this year.
The postponement was justified by impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local taxi industry that is in recession since the number of visitors to Macau dropped drastically.
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