GPS and electronic payment: Hong Kong taxi industry insiders have big ideas for government review in wake of Uber crackdown

A cab drivers' representative is calling on the government to review how taxi licences are issued and traded as the city's transport chief plans to overhaul local taxi and car-hire services following a crackdown on global car-hailing app Uber two months ago.

Transport and housing minister Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said last week the government was seeking to raise the quality of taxi offerings, including adding a premium service in the city. He will announce details by December.

Cheung's remarks in the Legislative Council were the government's first on taxi reform since police arrested seven Uber drivers and raided the firm's Hong Kong office in August.

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Information technology lawmaker, Charles Mok, who once served on the government's Transport Advisory Committee, supported the introduction of more licenses, saying they would "increase competition" and force taxi companies to "improve" vehicles, perhaps by adding GPS trackers and e-payment options.

But Wong Yat-fung, director of the Taxi Drivers and Operators Association, which has 13,000 members, said he was not fully certain of the government's aim, but hoped it would address the monopoly on licences held by taxi companies.

"Is the government just trying to diversify the types of hire-cars on the road?" he asked.

Wong said most taxi drivers did not own their cars and instead rent them out because "licences are unaffordable for many".