Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | February 2012 42 A nyone who’s ever tried to hail a cab in Macau—especially during the morning and evening rush hours or when it’s raining—will have experienced the territory’s labour squeeze at first hand. There are currently only 900 licensed taxis—one for every 614 people living in Macau, according to data released to lawmakers by DSAT, the territory’s transport department. By comparison, in London there’s one hackney carriage (also known as a ‘black cab’; that can be hailed in the street) for every 356 inhabitants. While Macau is far more compact than a metropolis such as London (11.39 square miles compared to London’s 607 sq. miles) and many people in Macau can make short journeys by bus, the locals in Macau are also competing for cabs with an average of 69,600 daily visitors. London averages 82,200 tourists daily—but they are distributed mainly across the West End, not across all districts as in tiny Macau. London also has 50,000 licensed minicabs in the suburbs, although these have to be pre- booked and cannot be hailed in the street. Macau’s daily taxicabs-to-people ratio (including tourists) is one taxi for every 691 people (see table below). This Macau taxi numbers game plays out in all sorts of ways—few of them helpful to the benighted resident or visitor. One effect is that during busy evening periods, as many as seventy-five people can be found patiently waiting for cabs outside Grand Lisboa—SJM’s flagship property. (We know because we counted them one day while waiting.) In Las Vegas, Hong Kong or London, such queues generally move quickly as drivers alerted by radio respond to specific demand. In Macau, it’s common for the would-be taxi customers to see taxi drivers across the road at the old Casino Lisboa with their feet up or chatting to colleagues, and their ‘On Call’signs displayed in the windows of their vehicles. The shortage of Macau cabs and people to drive them has created a seller’s market. It’s common for Macau taxi drivers to cherry- pick customers—on occasions refusing to accept a fare for a journey they consider too short or too low-paying; or simply flashing up their ‘On Call’ sign or switching off their ‘For Hire’ sign as and when the mood takes them. This correspondent has sometimes found it necessary to stand in the middle of the highway in order to flag down a Macau taxi with its ‘For hire’ sign beaming brightly, when it became obvious from the speed and demeanour of the driver that he had no intention of stopping if he could help it. Sometimes scuffles even break out as customers compete for one taxi. At Macau International Airport, two workers are assigned full-time taxi-wrangling jobs—one to make sure the passing cabs actually stop Wait in Vain Macau’s shortage of taxis hurts the economy—as well as leaving the punters bad-tempered Tale of two cities: how taxi availability compares in Macau and London City Population Annual tourists Average daily Taxi licences Residents Residents (000,000) 2011 (million) tourists (000) per cab and visitors per cab (per day) Macau 552.5 25.4 69.5 900 614 691 London 7,825 30 82.2 22,000 356 359 Sources: Macau Statistics and Census Bureau, UK Office for National Statistics, Macau Taxi Federation,Transport for London