Eng | Chi

Uber and the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme (HKUPOP) announced public opinion survey results on Hong Kong’s transport services, and found that the vast majority of Hongkongers support the legalization of Uber.

Uber as a catalyst to Hong Kong’s Smart City ambition

Hongkongers’ desire for smarter, more innovative transportation choices to advance smart city development is clearly showcased in the survey – an overwhelming 82% of those surveyed believe that promoting innovative technology can raise Hong Kong’s competitive standing. In addition, 60% of respondents believe that the government should take steps to encourage ride sharing developments in its smart city blueprint.

Émilie Potvin, Uber’s Head of Public Policy for North Asia said: “Our goal is to provide a meaningful alternative to car ownership but we need a combination of public and private partnerships to make this vision a reality. As the Hong Kong government pursues its smart city ambitions we urge them to consider smart mobility. Urban planners tackling traffic congestion issues, and Hongkongers travelling around the city could equally benefit from Uber’s technology and data, as well as more transport options in the city.”

Elevating industry standards to empower consumers

Today, consumers are empowered to demand better quality of services from providers. When asked about their opinion on existing point-to-point services, 64% are of the opinion that taxi services remained stagnant in the past year, and only 11% felt that the services have improved.

In Hong Kong, taxi driver-partners are seeing an increase in their daily earnings while on the Uber App. Aside from boosting earnings, Uber also sees its App as a way to help taxi drivers increase utilization rates and drive service advancement in the industry. Both riders and driver-partners can also gain from Uber’s mutual rating system, intelligent matching, cashless payment, dynamic pricing, in-app mapping, safety features, and 24/7 customer service.

Hong Kong’s Consumer Council, in a 2017 proposal on regulating e-hailing apps, also recommended that the government reform its approach to e-hailing and taxi services in order to raise the bar in service quality and provide consumers with more choice.

The telephone survey, conducted from March 25-27 in 2019 by HKUPOP, polled 515 Hong Kong residents, aged 18 and above, to gauge their satisfaction level with Hong Kong’s personalized point-to-point transport services. The survey was commissioned by Uber to better understand the stance and opinions of Hongkongers as they look to open discussions with stakeholders towards the legalization of ride-sharing services locally.

Full results may be viewed at the HKUPOP website.