Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service
The Committee on Taxi Service Quality (CTSQ) and the Transport Department (TD) today (August 15) jointly held the Taxi Service Commendation Scheme Prize Presentation Ceremony 2024 to compliment quality taxi drivers and taxi service management teams.
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Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Officiating at the Prize Presentation Ceremony, the Acting Commissioner for Transport, Ms Candy Kwok, said she was glad to note the rising participation of taxi drivers, the trade and members of the public in the Commendation Scheme, which has been held for 22 years since 2002. This showed the public's support for and recognition of drivers and management teams providing quality services.
Ms Kwok added that the Government had introduced a series of initiatives to enhance the overall quality of taxi services and promote the healthy development of the taxi industry in the long run. The TD issued official Taxi Fleet Licences to five taxi fleets in July 2025 with a view to offering quality services to the public. All fleet taxis provide multiple electronic payment means, while safety devices and the driver monitoring system have been installed to provide convenience for passengers and ensure driving safety.
The Government has also submitted to the Legislative Council the legislative amendments on mandatory installation of Journey Recording Systems and provision of electronic payment means on taxis, strengthening the deterrent effect against malpractice by the black sheep in the taxi industry and safeguarding the interests of both drivers and passengers on one hand, while providing convenience for passengers to pay the fare on the other. Ms Kwok encouraged the trade to continue to strive for excellence to provide more quality ride experiences, thereby giving full play to new opportunities for quality service.
Among 573 nominated taxi drivers, 20 were selected as Quality Taxi Drivers this year by an assessment panel comprising non-trade members of the CTSQ and relevant department representatives. The Most Popular Taxi Driver was presented to the driver with the highest number of votes in the public voting, while Good Driver, Good Service awards were presented to two drivers providing exceptional services during the ride. In addition, the assessment panel selected one Quality Taxi Service Management Team based on management, application of technology and social responsibility of management teams. The list of awardees is set out in the Annex.
Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Taxi Service Commendation Scheme encourages trade to strive for excellence and give full play to new opportunities for quality service Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Government announces updates on follow-up work on Tai Po fire
The three task forces set up by the Government for the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po - the Task Force on Investigation and Regulation, the Task Force on Emergency Support and Fund-Raising, and the Task Force on Emergency Accommodation Arrangements - are making full efforts to follow up on the support, relief, and investigation work related to the incident. Details are as follows:
Financial and welfare support
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For the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, established by the Government, donations received are about $3 billion as of noon today (December 8). In addition to the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund's total has now reached around $3.3 billion. The fund will be used to assist residents in rebuilding their homes and providing long-term and sustained support.
The Government earlier announced that the Support Fund will provide a living allowance to each affected household. As of today, 1 357 cases have been processed. The living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000 and will be disbursed in phases. In addition, the Support Fund will provide families of each deceased victim with a token of solidarity of $200,000, as well as $50,000 to cover funeral costs. As of today, a total of 95 cases have been processed.
In addition, the Government has so far disbursed an emergency subsidy of $10,000 to 1 932 households, and the relevant disbursement is largely complete.
Social workers from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with more than 1 970 affected households, and more than 4 900 residents have been registered for the "one social worker per household" follow-up service. SWD staff also paid visits to the affected residents staying in transitional housing units in Yuen Long today and distributed Octopus cards with a face value of $2,000 to facilitate their daily travels and address their imminent needs. The SWD will maintain liaison with the affected households to provide all necessary assistance while fully supporting the relief work of the Government. Those not yet in touch with the SWD are advised to leave their contact information by calling 182 183 as soon as possible.
Accommodation support
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As of this morning, a total of 1 422 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 2 522 residents are currently living in transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or units from the Hong Kong Housing Society. Moreover, the Tai Po District Office continues to operate a temporary shelter at Tai Po Community Centre, which remains open to residents in need. The other temporary shelter at Tung Cheong Street Community Hall will remain in operation until the existing users have relocated to arranged emergency accommodations.
Relief supplies and donations
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The supplies donation online platform, established by the Government and the information technology sector, continues to operate, facilitating the registration of supplies donations from organisations and the public. The Government has so far received over 1 600 registrations, of which approximately 30 per cent were submitted by organisations, whereas the others were contributed by the public. The various registered donation items include food and beverages, clothing, daily necessities, bedding, and electrical appliances. The Government is actively assessing residents' actual needs through the relevant policy bureau, government departments, and service organisations for the matching of donated supplies in order to distribute appropriate items in phases to places in need. So far, over 5 700 pieces of donation items covering various categories have been distributed to different places. The matching and distribution of supplies will continue.
Handling of reported missing persons
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Officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit continued to search the area around the buildings and near the collapsed scaffolding today, which had been confirmed as safe. No human remains were found, and the number of deceased remains at 159. The Police have contacted the families of the missing persons and those who have preliminarily identified the deceased through photographs to arrange for them to undergo DNA oral swab sampling in batches starting today for scientific identification of the deceased.
Regulation and inspection work
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The emergency maintenance contractors co-ordinated by the Housing Department have completed the clearance of the miscellaneous items at the surroundings of the buildings at Wang Fuk Court today. The Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau also continued to extract concrete core samples from the affected buildings today. So far, five buildings have been covered.
The ICU has conducted inspections on the scaffoldings of the four Home Ownership Scheme courts, namely Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po, On Kay Court in Kwun Tong, Sui Wo Court in Sha Tin and Ching Lai Court in Sham Shui Po, as well as Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan under the Tenants Purchase Scheme. Miscellaneous items were found on some scaffoldings. The contractor is removing the items. The ICU will closely monitor the progress.
Regarding the order to remove scaffold nets issued by the Buildings Department (BD), as of 5pm today, 227 private buildings have had their scaffold nets removed from the external walls (including two cases completed by government contractors). Work on the remaining three cases, in which the BD has accepted an extension of time, is underway and is expected to finish within this week.
The BD is striving to announce a new set of arrangements within this week that will require scaffold nets used at construction sites to be sampled on-site and certified as compliant with the relevant standards prior to installation, so that the relevant external wall work can resume as soon as possible.
The Labour Department (LD) continues to inspect fire protection facilities and the fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding to ensure the occupational safety of workers. As of 4pm today, the LD has inspected 351 construction sites, issued a total of 180 written warnings and 96 improvement notices, and has taken out 25 prosecutions.
Source: AI-found images
