Additional licences for standard black taxis will be launched via a public tender soon, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) has announced. This comes in response to the hundreds of taxi licences that have expired over the past years and will be the first public auction to award licences since 2018.
While demand for taxis has significantly increased since Macao’s borders re-opened in January this year, the number of taxis in the territory has decreased by more than 400. Booking or taking taxis has become a major problem, with long queues of people awaiting rides across the city on a daily basis.
[See more: Macao can forget about being an international destination until it fixes its taxi problem]
DSAT also announced that it will hold two-day, four-group mandatory training sessions for taxi drivers throughout August. One hundred and sixty spots are still open after yesterday’s registration deadline. Anyone who completes the course successfully is eligible to sit for the professional taxi driver’s licence exam, which is mandatory to practise the profession.
According to DSAT, 1,602 taxis were operating in Macao as of 17 July.
