Hong Kong’s Transport Department on Friday invited interested platform companies to apply for licenses for ride-hailing services in the city.

If an applicant company’s license application is approved, the license will be valid for a maximum period of five years. The annual license fee has been fixed at HK$1.2 million ($153,000).

The application deadline is noon on Oct 30.

“Through the introduction of the ride-hailing services regulatory regime, the platforms, vehicles as well as drivers providing such services are required to obtain the relevant licenses and permits, so as to offer the public more options in safe and compliant point-to-point transport services,” a spokesman for the special administrative region government said in a statement.

The SAR government will impose certain requirements in areas such as booking-management technology, operational experience, and proof of financial capability and capital investment to ensure ride-hailing platforms have the operational capability to provide these services.

Applicants must be companies registered in Hong Kong that are able to maintain permanently established executive personnel and an office in the city to facilitate government regulation.

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To ensure that platforms have the capability to meet local ride-hailing demand, applicant companies must demonstrate their scale of operations, including lawful operation in a city with a population comparable to that of Hong Kong – 7.5 million or above — and that they have processed a daily average of 100,000 or more orders for ride-hailing passenger transport services in two cities where ride-hailing services are provided, said the government.

Also, applicant companies must demonstrate they are financially capable of supporting the stable operation of their platforms in Hong Kong to provide proper and efficient services continuously.

The SAR government requires the applicants to possess no less than HK$50 million in company paid-up capital and at least HK$30 million each in bank deposits and credit facilities, and to file audited financial reports for the past three years.

Applicant companies must also submit a proposal detailing their service plans, such as corporate management, customer service and due diligence to ensure compliance with owner-driver binding requirements.

Interested companies registered in Hong Kong may request invitation documents through the Transport Department’s website.

“To enable the government to grasp and monitor the operation and compliance situation of each licensed platform, the Transport Department is developing a ride-hailing vehicle data management system,” said the spokesman.

The data management system will be able to receive operational data in real time and such data will help the government to regulate ride-hailing services, understand actual operations, and conduct dynamic assessments for future policy reviews, the spokesman added.