Inside Hong Kong taxis
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Comments (145)

im dying to know what the dumb-phones are for.

In Hong Kong, you get a 20% discount if you ring up a taxi, rather than simply hailing from the street. the phones are connected to several "networks". People call the networks, and the phones pick it up. So more phones = more potential profit.

Also, taxi drivers form groups with each other, and use the phones to communicate. So, often the taxi driver has headphones hooked up to one of the phones, and uses it to voice chat with other taxi drivers in his group, and can relay calls/info to the other drivers. Taxi drivers can all maximise profit this way.

what a crazy hustle. thanks for the info.

sometimes there are phones for maps and Pokemon Go too

Those would be smart phones though

I lived in Hong Kong for six months and still didn't know this

Not evey taxi call are 20% discount. Some are original price or even more expensive. But if you want. Search “8折的” for 20% discount.

Oh I left over a year and a half ago but thanks haha

Can you imagine what China would look like without the language barrier? Probably half of Europe and America would be there by now

This waiving for taxi thing is real? I though it was just in movies and stuff. Here you have to call a taxi or find taxi driver on special parking spot and ask him if he can take you. If you would wave or whistle on him, he would just ignore you. (at least I think he would because no one here is doing it)

"This waiving for taxi thing is real?"

Yes, in certain U.S. cities like NYC, Chicago, and Boston. It may be less common than it used to be though.

Also totally normal in Germany to wave for a taxi.

It's not common where I am, Estonia . But if I want a taxi and one happens to drive by I will wave and jump like an idiot. And if they aren't already booked, they will pick me up. Why wouldn't they?

If I have a phone, it's much quicker and calm to call and order one than to wait for a random event. When I have already booked one, it would be rude to take another one also.

Are there vacant taxis driving by every minute?

Can't speak for everywhere but in Chicago yes

In those specific US cities (and a few others) yes, at least every minute unless you're on the outskirts.

Do taxis drive around empty? In case someone needs it?

I've done it in SF but that was back in the 90s and early 00s.

I lived in New York before Uber and Lyft were a thing. Yeah you always hail a taxi

As someone who grew up in New York this is so funny to read, it seems so normal to me

Okay, I've lived in cities, but never cities with so many taxis. How does it work? Like, do you just stand at the side of the road and hold your hand out until someone stops, like you're hitchhiking? Or are there specific places to stand? Do you make eye contact with a specific driver?

Just stand with your arm out on a busy road cabs will be passing by, or you like see a cab and then hail it on a less busy street

Yeah, you just stand on the curb of any somewhat busy street and wave at cabs as they go by. One will pull over and you say where you’re going and hop in. Usually you make eye contact and get a nod or something first. When it’s crowded the driver will indicate a spot by pointing or whatever where they can pick you up (e.g. further down the street, around the corner), so you walk over there. Better to be by a free curb if you can though.

Taxis have lights on top that indicate whether they are looking for a fare or occupied, so that can help, but they aren’t always accurate.

Sometimes you get lucky and someone is being dropped off near where you are so you run over and ask them to take you to xyz.

This can lead to arguments when different people both wanting rides claim to have seen it first.

edit: also sometimes cabs will just blow past you even though they are empty and it can be annoying. Usually it’s just because they are headed somewhere and not looking for a fare at the moment but definitely a history of racism and classism too.

From a former taxi driver, you are sadly right about the racism and classism.

I would pick up anyone, even big dudes who looked tough. Strike up a conversation, and they were just people, getting on with their lives. Once picked up a couple guys on BMX stunt bikes in ripped clothes, and frankly they were greasy and needed about six showers. Got 'em where they wanted, they paid and even tipped.

One thing that annoyed me BUT I understand it because of the racism: Sometimes black people would flag me (very unmistakable with eye contact) and then say 'they just wanted to see if I would stop'. Like yes, I get it, but if you're going to prank me I might STOP stopping because of bad experiences. I'm out here driving to make a living, and if I stop for this and don't get a fare, I might be missing an actual fare down the street.

I would explain this, very nicely, and give them a business card with the company name on it. We were a small outfit, 10 cars, and from what I know nobody was a shitty racist piece of shit. Out of the 20+ drivers we had, I think we had 4 African Americans, 6 women, one middle easterner, and one Russian immigrant. All solid people.

We also handled a large number of regulars of all genders, skin colors, nationalities, and wealth levels. I'm pretty proud and glad I got to work there, instead of another outfit that was pretty infamous in our taxi driving world for being shitty to low income people and non-whites. Their reputation got around town, too, but in a college town there's always new people who don't know, and will learn. The city never cracked down on them.

I'm in Estonia.

Why I don't consider this normal is, because I would have to wait too long for a vacant taxi to drive by. If I need a taxi, I would call, and then it would be rude to take another one if they drive by.

Are there vacant taxis driving by every minute?

I have ordered a taxi in this method. When my battery was empty, or lines were all busy on new year. But mostly all taxis randomly driving by are occupied or driving towards a booked client.

Yeah I mean if they have a passenger or if they're responding to a call or the curbed app or whatever they won't pull over for you. But it never takes that long. They kind of just drive around looking for people when they're not doing a ride I guess

How long does it usually take in NY?

Do they drive around without passengers? (waste of gasoline)

Here, they stay in taxi parks, (in front of department stores and popular places) so they can respond to both calls and people can sit in them.

The difference in culture in NY and other places may be that NY has more taxis.

I'm in Tallinn, capital of Estonia. I use taxis frequently. When I call, they say it will take 5, 10 or 15 minutes to arrive.

Catching a vacant randomly passing taxi has always taken longer. Calling and being told to wait even 20 min is better than uncertainty of possibly not finding one in 50 min.

My friends have felt uncomfortable about how loudly I have tried to catch a taxi.

If you're in Manhattan just go to the avenue and it takes p much always less than 5 minutes during the day and 15 minutes at night. Obviously less traffic in other neighborhoods that aren't as dense but Manhattan is like this at least

Nowadays there's also an app you can use to call them and you pay the fare on it I think but I haven't used it myself

Well makes sense, I would not call and stand by the road too.

Btw,

Do all taxis have the same fare?

And do they drive around empty looking for clients?

Approximately how much does a 20 min ride cost?

Yea I'm surprised how oblivious this guy is lol

Because it's not a thing everywhere. It's definitely not a thing where I live. You cal a taxi or go to the designated taxi parking.

But to fair, there aren't that many taxi's here anyway.

Same as I'm surprised at what an over privileged asshole you are.

It's over privileged to be able to stick your arm out for a cab? Interesting new take

No calling the guy oblivious. Other cultures exist. It's s thing

Yeah for sure that is kinda outta line i guess but your response was a little out of pocket ngl

Yeah, it's real where I live at least. I guess it must differ by place though.

I've flagged taxis in Japan and the US before, that seems odd, but every place is different!

It is absolutely what they do in Korea, China, and Taiwan at least. Probably because of high density and safety, there's less of a need for call apps, though they still exist.

I drove taxis for 12 years in a smaller US city/college town. Yes, waving for a taxi was a thing (it's dead here now due to uber/lyft/etc.). We called it 'hailing' or 'flagging' a cab. Some people think this means the cabbie gets more money but locally, the three companies I worked for, one had a 'per mile' lease with a flat fee up front that the driver paid for each shift, one had a fixed weekly lease, and one had a 50/50 split on fares collected. That last one was the only one you could try to cheat, and over the five years i worked there as a dispatcher, I saw several drivers get probation and then their leases terminated for failure to be honest about flags and other trips. They were warned, they were put on monitoring (probation), and when they continued, they were cut loose. It's a dumb way to lose a fairly easy, decent paying job. (or it was easy and decent pay where/when I worked, I made enough to have a nice loft apartment to myself).

So why multiple phones though? A call can be from any network to any can't it?

I don't know specifically, as I understand they're private cellular networks, like dispatch services. Multiple networks would be running on a couple phones, but as has been said before, some of the phones would be for other things too, such as gps, chat apps, etc. Constantly switching between these apps would be impossible when driving a taxi, as you need them running simultaneously, hence the multiple phones.

Also, taxi drivers form groups with each other, and use the phones to communicate. So, often the taxi driver has headphones hooked up to one of the phones, and uses it to voice chat with other taxi drivers in his group, and can relay calls/info to the other drivers. Taxi drivers can all maximise profit this way.

While simultaneously navigating the Hong Kong traffic.

Punk as fuck.

You sure this isnt an old pic tho? He could be using smartphones now

Most of them do use smartphones now. I think the first pic was taken in early 2010s, but I have been in taxis with Nokias when I was in HK fairly recently. I guess you don't need smartphones just for taking calls, so no need.

You'd think they'd just have a dispatch.

But why wouldn’t you use the same phone number for all the „networks“? Is there a technical or contractual reason?

From what I read from the other comments, it's because these taxi dispatcher run their own private network.

If they have an internet connection, why don't they just use discord or the equivalent?

my country has basically the same thing, but they all communicate with each other via CB radio instead. neat.

They need an app.

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I had a ride in Vegas one that I thought was incredibly fast. I'm usually a fast driver myself but I also don't drive a van. Probably got up to 70-80 in parts where the limit was 55. To be fair I told them I was in a hurry but usually that only gets me at most 5mph more than the limit. So how fast are we talking here

This pic has to be at least 10 years old.

For a second I thought this image from over 10 years ago minimum but the modern smartphone gave it away.

It's the first iPhone model. I'd place the image around late 2000s - early 2010s. Nowadays the taxis are full of smartphones

After reading your explanation in the other comment, I'm a bit surprised they don't have a market for a single device with multiple sim cards. Like a reverse, mobile call center set up.

Like a laptop with a sim card hub that simulates a handful of handheld devices.

I'm currently using a phone with two SIM cards. One SIM is my main phone number and the other SIM is used for an unlimited, unthrottled data plan I temporarily need. The problem is when I'm downloading something on my data SIM and I get a call on my phone number SIM, I lose connection to the data SIM and downloads stop. It's kinda like when we used to use dial up and a phone call would break your internet connection. So using multiple SIMs has its drawbacks for now.

These legit look like Detective Deckard's car

or maybe the Korben Dallas taxi

Both of you made iconic references

This is completely rad.

I love the busy old tech look.

Cyberpunk af.

All of the gadgetry makes me want to drive a cab in Hong Kong

Driver: Where to? Passenger: 1986!

I was just gonna say “if the delorean became a taxi” 😂😂😂

That is so fucking cool. One of these drivers should live stream. It would be cool to watch.

That’d be sick has this never been done?! I want to find an hour long YouTube video of that now

Taxi driver Andy Chan, 42, said he earned more than HK$20,000 a month and if he was allowed only two smart devices, his income would be halved.
With five devices on his dashboard, he said: “More than half my riders make bookings via the apps. If the number of phones is restricted to two, my business will be seriously affected.”
He insisted that the multiple devices did not affect his concentration.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3151772/how-many-smartphones-does-cabby-need-hong-kong-authorities

You should not use devices while driving that can distract you.

Hong kong tax drivers:

You can see my old apartment complex in the front picture

Love this . Awesome OP

Taxis in Hong Kong are so comfortable. Compared to a UK black cab, riding in an HK Toyota Crown Comfort is such a treat.

Yeah, I guess it's an apt name for the vehicle.

Shame they're getting phased out in HK and Japan. Like, I get why, but it's still sad.

In both places they are being replaced by these things.

Not all of them are this loaded lol, but very interesting to see this

true, it's not uncommon though. I went in one with like 9 phones once

Would love to experience riding in one as such, never had one with so many phones

This. I spent two weeks in HK in 2018. Mostly took the metro or walked, but I hailed probably close to a dozen cabs and I recall all of them were pretty plain inside. Just maybe a single phone mount and/or gps, along with the meter.

Reminds me of ready player one. “We think we can fill 80% of a players field of vision BEFORE inducing seizures”

The Second Picture really wins it. He decked out his ride.

The second picture very much wins t. He deck'd out his ride

^(I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.)

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I’m surprised he doesn’t have an iPod classic or a touch…

Just needs a fax machine and deep fat fryer

Nice streaming setup bro

legitimately thought the second pic was a screenshot from cyberpunk2077

How many burner phones do you need?

"The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed."

I remember getting picked up from the airport in Hong Kong, the guy had 4 phones while he was talking on one (with an earpiece) and watching tv on another, all while driving at 120kmh. Truly a crazy experience

Now I want to try my hand at HK taxi driving.

Hong Kong Taxi Simulator 2022

More HUD then a space ship!

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first photo is definitely from mid 2000s. quality aspect ratio vise. and those old nokias have limitless press to talk built in function used by many taxi drivers in my country too. the reason we have added value tax for radio on phone taxes.

That's an IPhone. First was released 2008. It can be either 1st 2nd or 3rd generation. But no touchscreen smartphones existed before.

As an American, right hand drive cars will always be off-putting to me.

When I was in the UK I always had to knit when I was sitting in the front passenger seat to stop my hands from going for the nonexistent wheel. My British friend has to hold something for the same reason when she's over here. 😂

I come from Australia. The worst thing about driving on the opposite side on the road in North America is unlearning all your instincts you picked up for the first 10 years of your driving life.

My colleague had a good laugh when I went to the drivers side when he offered to drive me home too =D.

I played some driving videogames where the wheels on the right, and after a few days of it, it kind of feels normal

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That's not xenophobia, that's just something people aren't used to seeing so it's weird.

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if you find gaming with the controller upside down hard youre xenophobic

Ah yes, the Armored Core grip

Lol I thought about arguing this but it’s so hilariously dumb I just cant

Cyberpunk af

This feels more cyberpunk than Cyberpunk

Huh. So basically cyberpunk is about over cluttered shit? The ability of oneself to have the attention span to quickly and reliably use many technologies at the same time? Not because he wants to but because he must survive the concrete jungle?

Interesting

pretty much. "high tech, low life".

Why did I get downvoted lmao I'm serious it's interesting

But why?

Do they drive on the other side of the road?

We drive on the left and have the driver on the right

Tye car safety nut in me is yelling something about shrapnel and accidents.

I want that first taxi to take me everywhere.

There's a cyberpunk feel to that...

It looks like something from the matrix

Tinfoil time, all the phones are set up to tell google maps that there is a traffic jam on that location so google map will reroute traffic elsewhere. This is how the taxi can get top speed in a busy place like Hongkong.

This looks hella unsafe. Lots of distraction, lots of flying objects if they crashed.

This is drug dealer moonlighting as a taxi driver lmao

Been in quite a few taxis in Hong Kong when on holiday, didn't see anything as cool as this.

E'ry day I'm shufflin'...

How many taxis is this?

Mancierge!

Mancierge!

If you look closely, you can actually see the road between all the gadgets.

I didn’t think this was real at first, looks like something out of a movie set

Good graphics!

This is how I imagine the van in Snow Crash

Hold up it not on fire! Must be an old picture

that what's this sub is for

As a private driver, yeah taxi guys do this too. Those who work for private transport companies, yeah sometimes we have more then one or two phones just to manage it all. We do this all while driving and obeying the law. I could only imagine a night like this guy here.Some jobs will require you to basically play dispatch among yourselves, form groups and govern yourselves to make pick ups on time.

As a manager who drives, most of my night is looking at two or three phone screens, routing other drivers, communicating with dispatch, watching the weather, watching local traffic, listening to ATC to alert my drivers when someone lands (This transport company is centered around airline personnel pickups), sending out emails and getting the people to their destination. It gets more hectic when you have two or three apps to learn, teach and coordinate. Its all a fun little dance, but I seriously couldn't imagine this dudes job for a single night! I would be pulling my hair out!

What u/spyder_sul says in that comment is 100% true. Even here in the US and some places in Europe, Ive seen people get on a real grind just being a people mover. Its decent money especially when you get tipped. A average night for just my private company can see up to 30-50 pick ups with 4 drivers (including myself) from 5PM towards 1AM. I know people who do Uber or Lyft strictly, their set ups can get insane as well as their mods to the vehicles they use. Stuff like extra lighting, scrolling boards, digital license plates, in car fridge, camera set ups, multi phone/tablet set ups, hotspots, gaming systems etc.

Taxi companies/rideshare can make a lot of money, but ive seen their set ups go from tame to extreme like this here. It all depends on the driver and how much money hes willing to put into it all.

(Side note:) this doesnt even touch the poor diet and constant practically living in your vehicle for up to 15 hours a day. It can get pretty tough.

Needs more phones

Cyberpunk 20Taxity-Taxeven

Some taxis have this for pokemon go,

Who pays 258 for taxi

This has a r/ABoringDystopia vibe

This does not look boring at all tbh.

What, how and esspecialy WHY?