Hong Kong taxi drivers have seen a significant surge in complaints about their alleged misconduct over the past five years, primarily revolving around accusations of overcharging and refusing or neglecting to accept hires, the city’s transportation chief said on Wednesday.

Overcharging complaints received by the Transport Department and the Hong Kong Police Force in 2023 increased by 131 percent compared with the previous year, totaling 1,374.

The two departments also received 208 complaints regarding taxi drivers’ refusing to drive passengers to their requested destinations, reflecting a 35 percent increase compared to the previous year

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung revealed the figures in a written response to a legislator’s inquiry about alleged misconduct and illegal activities in the taxi industry.

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Similarly, complaints related to drivers’ refusing or neglecting to accept a hire reached 1,769, indicating an 89 percent increase from the previous year.

The two departments also received 208 complaints regarding taxi drivers’ refusing to drive passengers to their requested destinations, reflecting a 35 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Additionally, there were 1,201 complaints regarding taxi drivers taking routes other than the most direct and practical ones, indicating an increase of 73 percent compared with 2022.

Lam said that the police have been adopting various effective measures to combat taxi drivers alleged illegal acts. In 2023, police conducted 57 prosecutions for offenses related to taxi drivers, which represented a more than fourfold increase compared with the previous year’s 13 cases. All 57 cases resulted in convictions.

The government will continue efforts to regulate the industry. It will also continually raise the public’s awareness of the unlawful behavior of taxi drivers.

Regarding the city’s progress of promoting the green transformation of public land transportation, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said that the city now has 120 registered new-energy buses — including electric and hydrogen fuel cell energy ones — constituting 0.86 percent of the total 13,947 registered buses.

Additionally, there are nine registered new-energy light buses, three new-energy heavy goods vehicles, and 124 new-energy special-purpose vehicles.

The government has been introducing trial projects on new-energy commercial vehicles through the New Energy Transport Fund, and as of the end of May, the fund has approved trial projects involving over 300 electric commercial vehicles, Tse said.

In his first Policy Address, unveiled on Oct 25, 2023, Chief Executive John Lee vowed that the government will promote a green transformation of public land transport and continue to test out more new-energy vehicles

In late March 2024, the government also initiated a pilot program for electric public light buses and subsidized two operators to test their products.

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Based on Tse, the government is reviewing the first round’s arrangements based on operator feedback to encourage more participation.

In his second Policy Address, unveiled on Oct 25, 2023, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu vowed that the government will promote a green transformation of public land transport and continue to test out more new-energy vehicles.

It is expected that in the first half of this year, a citywide green transformation road map and timetable for public buses and taxis will be formulated, with a view to achieving zero vehicular emissions by 2050.

Brandon Lam and Fang Xue also contributed to the story