If you thought beating others to flag down a taxi was hard enough in Hong Kong, the competition is about to get worse when thousands of civil servants swap their pool cars for cabs next month.
The scheme is an extension of a trial launched by the Transport Department in November 2001, which has seen a saving of $800,000 with staff taking taxis instead of office cars when carrying out official duties.
At a peak-hour rate of between $120 and $150, the cost of hiring a taxi is significantly lower than the cost of using a government vehicle - calculated by officials at $241 per hour.
According to the Government Land Transport Agency, the scheme will be extended to all departments from the end of this month.
Given there are almost 170,500 civil servants, but only about 18,000 taxis in Hong Kong, that feeling of relief at seeing a taxi approach with its 'for hire' flag raised might soon become a thing of the past.
A spokeswoman for the land transport agency said a meeting to establish the views of the taxi trade had taken place but details of the scheme were being finalised. 'I am unable to confirm what will happen to the existing pool cars,' she added.
