The saying, "If you can't beat them, join them", can be useful advice for officials dealing with illegal taxis in Hong Kong. Pressured by the increasingly popular but unlicensed service run by Uber, the government has no choice but to try accommodating the demand. The initial idea is to introduce a franchised premium taxi service.

That officials have opted for an additional option for passengers rather than a shake-up of the staid taxi service is unsurprising. There are some 40,000 drivers and 9,000 owners of more than 18,000 taxi licences, which are each worth more than HK$6 million. Opening up the market will inevitably upset vested interests. But for those in favour of an overhaul, the government's proposal does not go far enough.

What's more disappointing is that taxi operators still refuse to recognise the problems in the industry, saying the existing service is good enough. As a driver's income is not directly related to his performance, he or she has no incentive to improve service quality. This is further compounded by the fact that taxi owners make money by leasing out their vehicles to drivers, which means they have no supervisory responsibility over the drivers. The severity of the problem is reflected in the 10,000 complaints against taxi services last year, representing 40 per cent of the transport-related complaints.