The Transport Complaints Unit (TCU) of the government’s Transport Advisory Committee received 6,915 complaints and suggestions in the third quarter of 2015. Almost half of the complaints were about taxi services.
The total number of cases increased by 12.6 percent, compared with 6,140 cases in the previous quarter, but represented a decrease of 5.8 percent when compared with 7,342 cases in the same quarter of 2014.
The number of complaints about taxi services increased by 20 percent to almost 3,000, compared with 2,466 cases in the previous quarter. Of those, 97 percent of the cases were related to malpractice by taxi drivers, including bad manners, refusing hires, improper driving behaviour, overcharging and others.
The TCU has referred about 20 percent of the complaints to the police for further investigation.
A total of 175 complaints and suggestions on rail services were received.
The number of complaints about illegal parking and other enforcement matters recorded a 18.5 percent increase, to 526. They were mainly requests for action against illegal parking and obstruction of traffic caused by prolonged waiting. All cases were referred to the police for action.
Investigations into 6,166 cases reported in the quarter were completed. Of these, 4,138 cases (68 percent) were found to be substantiated, 153 cases (2 percent) were unsubstantiated, and the remaining 1,875 cases (30 percent) could not be pursued due to lack of information.
As regards the substantiated cases, the TCU said that the relevant government departments and public transport operators have either taken steps to rectify the situation, or are considering possible solutions to the problems identified.
