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Following is a transcript (English portion) of the stand-up briefing by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, today (March 8) on meeting with some members of the taxi trade:
Reporter: (meeting with taxi trade this morning)
Dr Liao: This morning I met with several sectors of the taxi trade and they had expressed to me their concern over illegal operations in the transport trade. I emphasise the fact that there are different modes of transport, each serving its purpose, and if there is any new suggestion on policy, on operational procedures, or even changing the legislation, I encourage them to try to reach a consensus within their transport trade for the Government to consider. And on the operational side, it is obvious that with the economic situation now, traffic has become much heavier, and road use has become much congested. And so we, together with the police, will step up enforcement action. We have to begin with more promotion activities and education to make all the users of the road aware of what is legal and how they should work together to make sure the traffic flow is smooth.
Reporter: (the consensus)
Dr Liao: Well, there is no consensus. It is illegal for certain trade like those with no licences to pick up passengers, both from the angles of the Road Traffic Ordinance and also from the insurance point of view. So when it is obviously a breach of the Ordinance, of course, the police will prosecute and we have just put a case to court at the end of last year in December. Very clearly the judge has ruled that using certain vehicles without a permit to carry passengers for fare is breaching the Ordinance and that will be a court case for reference.
Reporter: (scale of enforcement)
Dr Liao: First of all, Professor Hung's very detailed study showed that the percentage of illegal vans taking passengers is only one per cent. Ninety-nine percent are following the rule. So we are dealing with this one per cent of illegal action. And in addition to stepping up enforcement, there are many ways of dealing with it. First of all, in terms of illegal advertisement, where you can easily say this advertisement is aiming at passengers. And then there are also pick-up points that we can tell. And also to avoid such things happening, we have to agree with the trade, how do we separate these different types of vehicles at the loading and non-loading points.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:00
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