Struggling to survive on HK streets
The picture shows Hong Kong West Kowloon Railway Station with few people on October 2.
“My income has been shrinking since June and my family have to tighten our belts now,” said taxi driver Tse Ting-cheung with a wry smile, talking about the impact of the prolonged unrest in Hong Kong.
Tse has been a taxi driver in Hong Kong for over 10 years. In his eyes, the past four months may be “the worst period of time.”
With violence and chaos lasting four months, the number of tourists and local passengers has plunged, leading to a sharp decrease in taxi drivers’ incomes.
“My average daily income used to be HK$600 (US$76) to 700 but now it is not even easy to earn HK$200 a day,” Tse said.
Even during the recent Chinese National Day holiday, or Golden Week for Hong Kong's tourism and other related sectors, things did not get any better. According to statistics from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, the overall number of tourists visiting Hong Kong during this year’s National Day holiday decreased by about 30 percent compared with the same period of last year.
And the number of tourists from the Chinese mainland dropped by about half year on year.
“This year’s Golden Week was totally different from the previous ones,” Tse said. During the holiday he saw few people in places such as Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, which used to be crowded with tourists and shoppers.
In the face of a drastic decrease in income, Tse and his wife now have to save every penny.
“Sometimes we go to the street market shortly before the closing time, so as to buy food at bargain prices,” he said.
Like Tse, many of the tens of thousands of taxi drivers in Hong Kong, as the main bread earners of their families, are feeling stressed out by the unrest, according to Wong Tai-hoi, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Taxi Drivers and Operators Association.
The economic pressure on many taxi drivers “has reached a critical point” as their turnover could barely cover car rental, oil and other costs, Wong said in a recent interview.
Besides, concerns for personal and property safety are also on the rise among taxi drivers as the rioters have been escalating the acts of violence and vandalism, Wong said, adding that a taxi driver was beaten up and seriously injured by black-clad rioters days ago in a street in Sham Shui Po.
Tse also showed concerns over his own safety in the violence.
“I’m a chatterbox and I like chatting with my customers. But recently I became more cautious.
“If some young people dressed in black get on my taxi, I will remain silent to avoid clash,” he said.
The most disturbing thing for taxi drivers, Tse said, is that sometimes they barely know whether they could send the passengers to their destination as the rioters spread violence to different parts across Hong Kong and may paralyze traffic anywhere.
“The rioters not only seriously disturb people’s lives, but also wantonly assault people who hold different views from them. It is repugnant,” he said.
Wong said his association has received complaints from many taxi drivers expressing concerns that Hong Kong has been messed up by the continued violence.
Several people visit the Hong Kong Disneyland on September 30.
