The Government today announced that five applicants were awarded with Taxi Fleet Licences after a panel formed by representatives from the Transport & Logistics Bureau and the Transport Department completed the assessment of Taxi Fleet Licence applications.

The five selected applicants are Big Boss Taxi Company, CMG Fleet Management, Sino Development (International) Company, SynCab Service and Tai Wo Management.

The department received a total of 15 applications during the application period, three of which did not meet the application requirements.

After assessing the 12 applications that met the requirements, the five applicants obtaining the highest scores were selected by the assessment panel and were issued conditional grants of the Taxi Fleet Licence.

They are required to complete the gearing-up work and commence services within one year. By that time, each taxi fleet will be issued a Taxi Fleet Licence with a validity period of five years.

The selected applicants include three urban fleets and two mixed fleets, with a fleet size of 300 to 1,000 taxis each, providing a total of over 3,500 taxis, which account for nearly 20% of the total number of taxis in Hong Kong.

They will deploy about 1,500 new vehicles in total as fleet taxis at the time of service commencement. The vehicle age of the remaining fleet taxis will not exceed three years.

A certain number of wheelchair-accessible taxis and premium taxis as well as electric taxis will be put into service in phases for each taxi fleet to cater for the diverse travel needs of individuals and promote green transport.

To ensure the service quality of drivers and driving safety, the selected applicants will provide training to fleet drivers and monitor the driving behaviour and drivers' service performance. They will also maintain an employer-employee relationship with a certain number of drivers in their fleets to enhance the stability of the fleet driver group and create a better working environment.

Meanwhile, safety devices, including the Global Positioning System, dash camera and driver monitoring system will be installed inside the vehicles.

The public can choose vehicle types through the online hailing platforms, such as mobile applications and websites, provided by the taxi fleets according to their personal needs. All fleet taxis will provide multiple electronic payment means for passengers' convenience.

In addition, all taxi fleets will provide customer service hotlines and different electronic communication channels for passengers to rate driver services.

Apart from emphasising that it is encouraged to see the trade's active participation in the Taxi Fleet Licence applications, the Government pointed out that the taxi fleets proposed by different selected applicants have their respective characteristics and highlights.

Moreover, it noted that the selected applicants are not only traditional taxi operators, but also groups formed by taxi operators and taxi driver associations or other members of the transport sector.

The selected applicants are expected to set a good example for the taxi fleet regime, the Government added.