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SCMP Reporter

Q Should passengers be barred from asking taxi drivers for discounts?

Some overseas cities have adopted a flat-fare system for journeys to and from the airport. A simple chart stating the price for a particular area could solve many fare disputes by publishing a reasonable price, but still discounted from what the metered rate would have been.

The government also has to realise it will be impossible to eliminate the personal use of vans to the airport. A family of four with one or two weeks' worth of luggage will not fit into any Hong Kong taxi. It's past time for the government to deal with this reality by legally allowing the appropriate size of family transport to service the airport.

Ralph Bishop, Pok Fu Lam

I don't expect it to happen in taxis with the use of the meter. But I don't think there should be laws banning passengers from asking for discounts.

Drivers who own their own taxi should have the right to decide whether to give  passengers  discounts or not.

It is very common  for some drivers to give deals  to passengers who travel in their taxi every day to work. This is a mutual agreement. So why should we ban these passengers from asking for discounts?

If we are concerned about drivers  working for taxi companies, that raises the question: 'Why should the government interfere rather than the taxi companies?' If the drivers give discounts to passengers, the profit is less for the companies. Do the companies sit and do nothing about this? The government should let the companies shoulder the responsibility.

I hope I won't see a law saying 'the passengers should not ask for discounts and should pay what is on the meter'. Doesn't everyone already know the payment should be according to the meter?

Novia Fong, Western

Q Are people overreacting to food contamination?

I am not sure if people are overreacting. However, I am certain the media has sensationalised the government's findings. It is, however,  important that we realise we cannot take for granted the safety of the food we eat and should be alert to  the risks we take. What is clear is  there is  a lot to be done to educate the people producing the food. Maybe, it is time for Hong Kong people to rethink their local industries. Producing good quality and safe food may be a profitable enterprise after all.

Philip Beh

Q How can we promote organ donation?

There is a long queue waiting for liver transplants in Hong Kong. Resources are limited and not many people are willing to donate their organs.

Everyone needs to do more to promote organ donation.  The government can promote the practice through the media to raise public awareness.

Schools can teach students about the need for liver transplants and how they save lives.

The situation  can be reversed if the public knows more about transplants.

Woo Oi-sum, Kwun Tong

Q What do you think of the quality of the police in Hong Kong?

In a word, excellent, particularly in comparison with other Asian forces and Britain.  However, there is always room for improvement and I would like to see more evidence of senior officers setting an example by getting out on the streets more often. There is some suggestion that the police are getting bogged down by unnecessary paperwork and this needs to be examined.

Guy Shirra, Sai Kung

Let's be realistic, keeping a perfectly clean police force is impossible because of human nature and the nature of police work.

Also remember that we  hear bad stories about the police, but  rarely the good stories.

Considering the shabby way the police have been treated over recent years, I think we are lucky to have so many dedicated,  professional officers still serving.

Police salaries are at the same levels they were nine years ago. Their salary increases are dictated by those offered to all the civil service, which is quite clearly unfair bearing in mind the nature of their job.

Also police officers should be working a civilised 8.5-hour day five days a week. As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Tung Hing-shan, Tseung Kwan O

Q Do you think Hongkongers have  an unhealthy lifestyle?

Our society is becoming more obese. This  is obvious among primary schoolchildren, of whom 20 per cent were found to be overweight last year.

So where does that leave the fashion designers, clothing manufacturers and consumers? At the opposite end of the spectrum, if the article 'Frock Therapy' (C8, yesterday) and your other articles on the fashion pages are anything to go by.

Why is it that we still have to hunt for clothes and shoes to fit in a city that gets so many overseas visitors - not all of whom are pint-sized models - and  has so many expats of all shapes and sizes?

In my nine years here, I have not been able to purchase clothes or shoes on a regular basis. It turns into a scavenger hunt - and a disappointing one at that.

There are no shops that stock a full range of clothes for larger women, and I am referring to sizes 18 and up. The biggest size that  shoe shops seem to have is 39 - and they ask you to try to squash your feet into shoes that are way too small just to make a sale.

For a long time, I even gave up asking what the biggest size was because I knew what the answer would be! The fact that I ask for a 40 or 41 often brings a look of amazement to the faces of the sales people - these are average sizes in the west, not abnormal by any stretch of the imagination, but here in Hong Kong I am made to feel as if I have feet the size of a  Clydesdale!

I am very surprised that  the 'international' brands that have sizes above 39 in other parts of the world do not seem to do so here. Why, pray tell, is that?

Clothing is a similar matter. What about stocking larger sizes? Why is that not done in the shops and larger department stores, or done so rarely that the items are as rare as hen's teeth?

Why are people who are a bit bigger, or do not fit the norm of what buyers think is the norm,  not catered for? Why are we marginalised and forced to wait until we go overseas to shop, or order online to get even the basic essentials that we cannot get in this so-called 'international city'?

Why do I have to trek to Shenzhen to deal with tailors who seem to have trouble  copying clothes, let alone making them from scratch?

What about those of us who cannot go overseas to shop? What do we do?

Considering that the physical size of our population is increasing, there needs to be a shift from the 'dream' of designer clothing to the reality of clothes and shoes that fit people of all shapes and sizes.

Sabine Honig,  Fanling

Q What do you think of the new Star Ferry pier?

So far the stories in the press about Central Star Ferry and Queen's Pier have been dominated by  government administrative officers, the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, and legislators and district councillors.

One profession that has been particularly quiet is engineering. Engineers led construction workers in the building of the new 1912 replica and in the demolition of the old piers, and were responsible for the related environmental impact assessments.

Engineers work  for the Civil Engineering and Development Department, its consultants and contractors, and they are the technical people who are making  these happen.

Engineers also designed the IFC complex and  knew the traffic would spill over to the Star Ferry area, creating the so-called need to demolish the piers and reclaim the land.

Are engineers satisfied  being  technicians for the policymakers? Do engineers have social responsibilities? Why has the Institution of Engineers not aired its views in public?

If this is not addressed, the same heritage disaster could be happening elsewhere in Hong Kong soon.

William Po, Wan Chai



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