Taxi Industry Encourages Cabbies to be Polite

Wong encourages drivers to be more courteous to passengers

The Hong Kong taxi industry is trying to help cab drivers improve their image by kicking off a campaign to encourage them to be more friendly to their passengers.

A three-month campaign held by the Hong Kong Taxi Council will officially start on June 11 with singer and actor Louis Koo Tin-lok showing cabbies how to be polite to during a ride. The campaign coincides with the Hong Kong Tourism Board's own effort to get residents to go the extra mile and be visitor-friendly.

Koo will be celebrity ambassador for campaign

"We hope the Tourism Board's campaign message: 'let's go the extra mile' will guide and remind taxi drivers of the importance of being polite," said council chairman Ryan Wong Cheuk-pong.

The council is currently recruiting ambassadors to be at taxi stands and distribute pamphlets and souvenirs to remind cabbies to be polite. 

One wonders what the souvenirs would be and how receptive the drivers would be of this reminder.

"Drivers often work alone in their vehicles without colleagues or supervisors to provide guidance. They may spend most of their time focused on driving without having any conversations with anyone," Wong said.

"Their attention to courtesy and communication with passengers may gradually diminish over time."

He really is giving them a huge benefit of the doubt.

Wong also admitted the exercise may not necessarily bring about a drastic improvement that would be hard to measure.

"We do not expect a short-term measure like this will bring a drastic change, but I think even small improvements can significantly enhance the image of the taxi industry, which may be an even more important matter," he said.

The three-month campaign kicks off June 11

Why doesn't Wong himself be a taxi ambassador and get immediate feedback on this initiative?

Will the cabbies listen to him? 

It sounds like the taxi industry is on the defensive and trying the charm offensive to win back people's trust in taking cabs over Uber, but really most taxi drivers won't change. Their cars are ancient, the cabbies themselves are too set in their ways and they don't have many incentives to smarten up. They don't have the innate desire to serve their passengers well.

No campaign or celebrity is going to change that.

Speaking of which, how did Louis Koo get roped into starring in this campaign?