We all know of horror stories, or have experienced firsthand, the challenges of getting a taxi in Macau, especially during peak hours. Repeated calls to the three taxi companies go unanswered, and queues of tourists wait for an hour or so on San Ma Lo to get a ride to the hotels and casinos in Cotai.
Around the corner from my office, the taxi queue next to the BCM headquarters on Praia Grande is sometimes so pitiful; a good 60 or 70 people will be waiting with desperation on their faces, in the rain, for a taxi to come by … and stop. Many taxis I see just drive past unoccupied or let their passengers out and drive off, perhaps to pick up a more lucrative fare down the road.
Our roads are steadily getting more clogged with private cars and buses, and there’s a critical lack of car parks. Statistics show that in Macau there are between 400 and 500 vehicles per kilometer of road. The international standard is 270. Car ownership here has increased by 60 percent, and there are now 3.8 cars fighting for every one parking spot.
I’d like to think that the Transport Bureau’s (DSAT) every waking hour is spent coming up with workable solutions on how to alleviate these problems that are so negatively affecting many of our daily lives. A good start would be to reduce car ownership. But if two or three car families are to be persuaded to stick to just the one car, then our taxi situation must be improved.
Right now, with 30 million tourists visiting us every year, and almost 700,000 residents, there are only 1,000 taxis. Not enough, clearly, to cope with peak periods in the day, or servicing more remote areas such as Coloane.
But wait. Rather than issuing more taxi licenses, surely there’s an excellent case for introducing a car hailing, shared ride service, where private authorized drivers work on an on-demand basis? Well, in fact Uber, being just such a company, started up here six months ago, but they’ve not been given a warm welcome or an easy ride, if you’ll excuse the pun.
Local taxi drivers are of course up in arms at the increased competition. The Public Security Police (PSP) and DSAT have declared Uber illegal and threatened heavy fines for drivers caught. Passengers getting out of Uber cars have even been pounced on by police, demanding to see their mobile phone messages to check if they booked an Uber ride.
Uber and their leagues of faithful fans are calling on the authorities to provide proper regulations to cover their services. Especially for UberPool, the newest App that can group riders going to the same place – meaning fewer cars on the road and reduced fares for the riders.
Looking across at our neighbour there are encouraging signs; the Chinese Ministry of Transport has said it will work with ride-sharing applications to understand how these services can be regulated in China. Users are not waiting however …. Uber is in 40 Chinese cities already and there are reportedly 500,000 pool trips in China every day.
Apart from improving the quality of life for us locals, the company also aims to support tourist growth – in the last six months, tourists from 54 different countries have used their services.
If Uber is officially allowed to operate, the quality of customer service will likely improve too. Right now things are extremely patchy in this regard and heaven help a non Chinese-speaking tourist wanting to get about town by taxi. Uber’s end-of-ride grading system will separate the wheat from the chaff, and with polite, welcoming drivers, make traveling by taxi a more enjoyable experience.
Macau born and raised Trasy Lou, Uber Macau’s General Manager fervently believes that her firm can help local people get around the city and enhance the tourism image of Macau by offering efficient and sufficient transportation.
“Of course, there will be a lot of challenges and difficulties along the way, but we believe the service is good for our city. We’re going to fight for it and we’re going to do whatever we need to do to make the government realize that Uber is bringing benefits to the city,” she says.
So come on guys, stop faffing about. Let’s get these people regulated so that Macau’s commuters can get about their business.
