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Opinion | A smart Hong Kong would embrace Uber
- Ride-hailing services like Uber offer cleaner, more efficient urban transport which cuts the need for car ownership and therefore traffic and pollution
- Uber is not the ultimate answer, but fully adopting the service is a step in the right direction if Hong Kong aims to be a smart city
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Why do people pay a premium to hail an Uber ride instead of a taxi? The difference is not insignificant: an Uber can easily cost up to 15-20 per cent more.
Uber is not perfect. In my experience, there were times when the app could not find a driver, confirmed rides were cancelled without explanation or took much longer than indicated. Sometimes the ride itself was a poor experience although, for me, this happened rarely.
But people continue to pay more to use Uber, citing cleaner vehicles, more comfortable rides and a better attitude from drivers. It certainly appears to offer more than the conventional taxi service and perhaps there is more than meets the eye with Uber’s popularity.
So, last year, I conducted an experiment. For one month, I took Uber to work every morning, across the harbour, rain or shine. For those 20 working days, the luxury service set me back about HK$3,000; the monthly expense is certainly not low.
But I finally realised what value Uber was providing – and I do not mean the simple convenience of taking me from A to B.
A lot of the debate over Uber is about the sharing economy, the negative impact on the taxi industry, licences and insurance concerns. As a designer, however, I see how Uber benefits urban development and transport.
Dennis Lee is a Hong Kong-born, America-licensed architect with years of design experience in the US and China. Dennis earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture at UC Berkeley and Columbia University, and worked for Frank Gehry and Swire Properties prior to founding ARCHITECTURE:INNOVATIV in Hong Kong.
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