Hong Kong lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill to introduce a regulatory framework for ride-hailing services in the special administrative region, requiring platforms and drivers to be licensed.

Welcoming the passage of the Road Traffic (Amendment) (Ride-Hailing Service) Bill 2025 at the Legislative Council, the HKSAR government said it marks a significant milestone in introducing a regulatory regime for ride-hailing services that aims to provide the public with safer, more reliable, and diverse personalized point-to-point transport services.

Besides requiring platforms, vehicles, and drivers providing ride-hailing services to obtain licenses or permits, the ordinance strengthens penalties and arrangements related to illegal carriage of passengers for reward.

The ordinance will be gazetted on Oct 24.

To address the long-standing controversies surrounding such services and achieve a win-win situation for the public, taxis and ride-hailing services, the SAR government is determined to introduce a legal framework for regulating ride-hailing services, said Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan.

RELATED ARTICLES

• HK moves to make ride-hailing smoother
• Stronger regulation of ride-hailing services urged as HKTaxi announces shutdown
• Concern in HK over illegal car-hailing services by online platforms

The ordinance represents a crucial step forward in the government’s legislative work, she said, adding: “By first establishing the fundamental regulatory principles, it lays a solid legal foundation for establishing the technical details in the next stage.”

The government will immediately proceed with the next stage of work, including discussing in a focused manner with stakeholders and finalizing the regulatory details through subsidiary legislation and license or permit conditions, said Chan.

“We will continue to listen to the views and suggestions from all parties, with a view to adopting a 'people-oriented and win-win' approach.”

The HKSAR government plans to submit the subsidiary legislation detailing regulatory requirements to the LegCo for scrutiny in the first half of 2026, with an aim to complete the relevant legislative procedures in mid-2026.

Subject to the preparatory work of the platforms that are granted ride-hailing service licenses, the government expects that the licensed platforms will be able to start operating in the fourth quarter of next year.