To Cab, Or Not To Cab? Make Way For Taxis?
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
Proposals to introduce more taxis into DB have residents divided. While opinions differ, everyone wants to know if cabs are coming and when. Edward Szekeres reports
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Andrew J.C. Spires
Nowhere in Discovery Bay is safe – at least when it comes to chatting about taxis. You can’t escape the topic that seems to be on everyone’s mind: should there be more cabs in DB?
Supporters and opponents are fully mobilised. Petitions, online polls and debates in group chats abound. Safety is sparring with convenience, accessibility is contrasted with DB’s low-traffic, pedestrian-first vibe.
The taxi question first gained traction in March when new taxi stands cropped up across DB, seemingly unannounced and taking many by surprise. But the new taxi stands – unused for now – did not appear out of thin air. Hong Kong Resort Company Limited (HKR), DB’s sole and private developer, announced its plan to revoke DB’s current taxi-free zones and introduce four new taxi ranks in a notice dated January 2026. Under the present rules set in 2014, taxis are only allowed limited entry to DB North Plaza.
The proposal aims to remove the restrictions and introduce new taxi stands near the Discovery Bay Fire Station, Peng Chau Ferry Pier, Discovery Bay Golf Club and the Discovery Bay Multi-recreation Centre, which is currently under construction. Cabs would be allowed to wait up to 60 minutes at these taxi stands and access villages with door-to-door pick-ups and drop-offs.
In the January notice, HKR stated that it was responding to urgent transport needs of residents, with taxis becoming an indispensable mode of public transport for DB’s ageing population. The current limitations, the developer said, were highly inconvenient, with the lack of point-to-point public transport meaning people had to walk or transfer to local buses to reach their destinations.
Optimising taxi services would come hand in hand with a comprehensive upgrade to road safety management, including an AI-powered surveillance system to monitor traffic violations, issuing warnings before referring cases to police. Additional security personnel would also be employed to strengthen enforcement against traffic violations, the notice read.
Impromptu polls and discussions in DB community groups on social media reveal that the taxi plan is divisive, with strong opinions held on both sides, but many seem to favour a compromise.
A DB Matters Facebook poll with roughly 500 responses from mid-March had close to 60% of votes cast in favour of restricted taxi access during late-night hours, with the rest of the votes nearly identically divided between full support and opposition to the plan.
“I can see potential benefits, such as increasing the convenience for residents, especially in emergency medical situations,” one resident said in a discussion thread. “However, we also have some concerns [regarding road and neighbourhood safety] especially for our children and pets who enjoy running around freely.”
“The current system isn’t working,” another resident said in a different thread. “Waiting 15 minutes for a bus just to reach the taxi stand, hauling luggage across DB, or finding no service at all after midnight – this is genuinely difficult for residents. It’s time for change. If done properly, with speed limits, designated pick-up zones and real enforcement, this could actually work. Convenience doesn’t necessarily mean chaos.”
While these views reflect just a tiny snippet of the plethora of opinions expressed online and in various offline fora, they are indicative of the debate’s scope and significance to residents.
At a Traffic and Transport Committee meeting under the Islands District Council on April 14, HKR representatives said that delegates from DB, Peng Chau and Nim Shue Wan had collected about 6,000 signatures backing the plan, adding that a public consultation conducted between February and March involving around 700 residents resulted in 87% of respondents supporting the proposal.
Many residents, however, claim never to have heard of signatures being collected, nor of a public consultation. They say they didn’t spot the notice posted in January in a few areas of DB, including the ferry pier to Peng Chau and Mui Wo. “It’s just a little laminated sheet tied up with zip ties,” says 40-year resident Sophia Lau-Duehring. “Nobody was going to stop and read that.”
As of late April, more than 2,000 people signed a change.org petition calling for a pause to the implementation of the taxi plan before a more comprehensive consultation lasting at least three months is conducted, ideally through a community-wide survey or vote.
Those who signed the online petition say they want improvement through “targeted alternatives,” such as boosted late-night and early-morning public transport, enhanced hire cars, priority door-to-door transport for those in need and limited or conditional taxi access. Given the scale of the potential change and the fact that there was “no direct communication to households, no notices in building lobbies or noticeboards, and no public meetings to explain the proposal or invite questions,” the consultation process has been “inadequate and poorly communicated,” the petition reads.
“Hong Kong Resort feels that they did a proper public consultation. But many people believe they didn’t,” says Dana Winograd, a DB resident of close to 30 years. “My biggest issue now is whether this is a safe idea. Safety should be the ultimate question before any other discussions go on as to whether we need to have it, whether we want to have it, and the details of it. All these things shouldn’t even be a question until we have assurances that the issue of safety has been addressed.”
Replying to resident and media queries, the Transport Department, to which the petition requesting a halt to the taxi plan was submitted, confirmed it has received the taxi proposal and said local consultation is ongoing, with residents expressing mixed views. It then referred queries back to HKR.
Dana’s concern over the authorities’ handling of the proposal prompted her to lodge a complaint with Hong Kong’s ombudsman in late March “to clarify what constituted the minimal standards or requirements for an acceptable public consultation”. She has yet to hear back.
At the Traf fic and Transport Committee meeting on April 14, Islands District Councillor Jonathan
Chow called for a full and transparent consultation covering all 17,000 DB residents, including all
Village Owners’ Committees, before further action is taken.
“Before we rush into lifting the taxi restriction, I strongly suggest the operator first fully enhance its existing hire car service,” Councillor Chow added. “If we truly care about the elderly and those with limited mobility, we should allow them to easily book a hire car to the existing taxi stand in DB North. We must address the needs of our elderly and make transport more convenient and accessible. But this must be done safely and with a proper public consultation.”
In its notice from January, however, HKR stated that the community has been raising related demands for many years. The current plan is part of HKR’s DB2.0 blueprint that aims to introduce a series of strategic transport upgrades to ensure greater connectivity and a richer lifestyle within DB.
“Ultimately, the debate is not so much about ease of access, safety, or emergency; it is a debate about the nature of the community,” Martin Sebena, lecturer in politics at the University of Hong Kong says. “Is it a family-friendly environment that prioritises safety over convenience, or is convenience paramount?”
At the Islands District Council meeting in April, Councillor Chow pointed out that DB lacks traffic lights and designated crossings, raising concerns about pedestrian safety. He also warned of potential conflicts on narrow roads, as around 500 licensed golf carts whiz around the area.
In response, HKR representatives said that a traffic impact assessment showed the area would have sufficient road capacity through 2037 even with full taxi access. The developer also said that, according to records from 2020 to 2025, there were about six minor traffic incidents involving taxis within DB per year, with no serious injuries or fatalities reported.
Across Hong Kong, however, the taxi accident rate is on a sharp upward trajectory. The involvement rate of taxis in traffic accidents was 295 per 1,000 vehicles in 2023, considerably higher than that of 285 for franchised public buses and 192 for public light buses, according to official statistics from the Legislative Council Secretariat.
HKR’s notice originally stated the plan to ease taxi restrictions would be implemented in the first quarter of 2026, and at the council meeting in April, representatives proposed a month-long introductory period from 9pm to 9am, followed immediately by full day-time access. But for now, the debate continues: the plan appears to be on hold, following strong public interest and requests for more open consultation.
