Steve M

christep: As you say, LKF and Wan Chai are likely places for bad taxi behavior. I've also run into it at places like the JW Marriott, where several taxis, one after the other, drove off once the bellman told them my destination. I asked him if that wasn't improper, and he just shrugged. That's an interesting case, because I know that in some other cities, a taxi driver doing that at a nice hotel would be noted by the bellman and potentially find themselves unwelcome to come back. Also, I had it happen at the Peak Galleria, although that was on a night when tear gas was being deployed elsewhere in the city, so perhaps that was a special case.

Regarding the links you provide, I'm glad to see that they're trying to do something. $300 from Central to Wan Chai? They should charge that guy with "outraging public decency" as well as the taxi fare offence. But two of your links kind of reconfirm what I've been talking about: a line of 10 taxis, all unscrupulous, at the lower Peak Tram terminus, operating right in front of police that do nothing, other than refer to occasional undercover operations. That's just what I'm talking about: a regulatory scheme that provides a veneer of accountability, while at the same time allowing the bad behavior to continue virtually unchecked. The drivers obviously aren't too concerned about the police if they flagrantly do it right in front of them. And, the soaring numbers of complaints to police would seem to indicate that the problem is getting worse, not better.