6.3 Vehicle Hiring Documents & Taxi Fleet Regime

6.3 Vehicle Hiring Documents & Taxi Fleet Regime

Quick Answer: If an owner hires out the taxi vehicle to another person (§VIII), before the hire both must complete and sign two copies showing the rate/scale of charges, third-party risks insurance details, and names/addresses of permitted drivers with licence numbers. Owner keeps one copy (produce on police demand within 3 months after hire start); hirer keeps the other (produce on demand during the hire). Permitted drivers need a valid taxi licence entitlement and identity plate. Under §IX, TD issues fleet licences; fleet taxis display approved livery, a fleet taxi certificate at the windscreen, and fleet taxi plates front and rear (background red / green / blue by Urban / NT / Lantau area). General taxis must not use fleet taxi stopping places (HK$600 fixed penalty). Fleet pre-arranged trips may use customised fares (booking fee on meter or lump sum agreed before start); street-hail fleet trips use the same metered fare schedule as general taxis.

Sections 6.1–6.2 were about what passengers pay on the meter and for extras/tolls. This section is about who controls the vehicle, how owner–hirer paperwork must look, and how taxi fleets differ from ordinary general taxis at ranks, stops, and pre-booked pricing.

§VIII — Hiring the Vehicle (Owner to Hirer)

"Vehicle hire" here means the owner hires the taxi vehicle to a person (the hirer) — a common industry pattern where a licensee or operator takes the car for a shift or period under commercial terms. It is not the same thing as a street passenger hiring a taxi for a journey, though both use the word "hire" in ordinary English. On the exam, §VIII cues mean owner–hirer vehicle documentation.

Before the hire begins

Before the vehicle hire starts, the owner and the hirer must complete and sign two copies of the hiring document. Both parties sign; you do not leave one copy blank "to fill later." The document must set out at least:

1. Rate or scale of charges for the vehicle hire arrangement (the commercial terms between owner and hirer — distinct from the passenger fare scale, though the hirer who drives must still charge passengers lawfully).
2. Third-party risks insurance details covering the required risks for the vehicle/operation as specified in the regime.
3. Names and addresses of permitted drivers, together with their licence numbers.

If a name is missing from the permitted-driver list, that person is not a documented permitted driver under the hiring record. If insurance details are omitted, the dual-copy set is incomplete. Incomplete paperwork is an enforcement gift.

Two copies — who keeps what

Memorise the clocks and audiences:

• Owner: police can demand the owner's copy looking back across a window of 3 months after hire start — keep records; do not shred on day two.
• Hirer: must be able to produce during the hire period when demanded — the working copy stays available while the arrangement runs.

Both copies are originals of the same completed, signed content — not an unsigned photocopy for one side and a "real" form for the other.

Permitted drivers still need taxi entitlement and identity plate

Listing a person on the hiring document does not create a taxi driving right. Every permitted driver must:

• hold a valid taxi licence entitlement (the proper driving licence class/entitlement to drive a taxi), and
• comply with identity plate requirements (the driver identity plate regime taught in earlier chapters — display/carry as required).

Owner–hirer paperwork + licensed driver + identity plate form a triple gate. Exam options that say "the hiring contract alone authorises any employee to drive" are false.

Why §VIII appears on the Written Test

Part A tests whether future taxi drivers understand that commercial vehicle-hire arrangements are regulated documents, not handshake deals. Expect items on:

• two signed copies,
• mandatory insurance and permitted driver fields,
• owner vs hirer retention,
• 3-month owner production window after hire start,
• driver licence entitlement and identity plate still required.

§IX — Taxi Fleet Regime

Hong Kong's taxi fleet framework allows licensed fleets to operate taxis under Transport Department (TD) fleet licensing, with distinctive identification, designated stopping places, and more flexible pre-arranged pricing — while still protecting street-hail passengers through the ordinary meter schedule.

Fleet licences and conditions

• TD issues fleet licences.
• Fleets are regulated through licensing conditions attached to those licences.
• Compliance is not optional branding: conditions can cover operations, vehicles, drivers, records, and service standards as TD specifies.

When a question asks who issues fleet licences, answer Transport Department (TD) / the fleet licensing authority under TD — not the Police and not a private trade association.

Livery, certificate, and plates

Fleet licensees may design livery and markings, but those designs require TD approval. You cannot wrap a fleet car in unapproved graphics and call it fine because the company logo is pretty.

Display and plate rules taught for fleets:

Background colours deliberately echo general-taxi body colour coding so the public and enforcers can still read operating area at a glance, even when fleet livery differs from classic whole-body red/green/blue general taxis.

Fleet taxi stopping places

Fleet taxis may use designated fleet taxi stopping places at locations such as:

• the airport,
• some boundary control points,
• West Kowloon XRL Station,
• some Airport Express stations,
• Kai Tak Cruise Terminal,
• Disneyland,
• and other places as designated.

These places are marked with the prescribed road marking and traffic sign (Booklet Appendix 5). Learn the concept: fleet stops are signed and marked, not informal kerbs drivers invent.

General taxis must stay out — HK$600 fixed penalty

General (non-fleet) taxis are not allowed to stop, pick up, or set down at fleet taxi stopping places. Breach attracts a fixed penalty of HK$600 (Cap. 240 Schedule teaching). This is a bright-line rank discipline rule:

• Fleet stop → fleet taxis only for stop / pick-up / set-down as designated.
• General taxi drivers who "just jump the fleet bay because it is empty" risk the $600 fixed penalty.

Exam items may rephrase "pick up," "set down," or "stop" — all three are restricted for general taxis at fleet places under the taught rule.

Fares: pre-arranged customised vs street-hail metered

Fleet pricing has two tracks:

1. Pre-arranged trips — customised fare allowed

For pre-arranged fleet hirings, the fleet may charge a customised fare, structured as:

• a booking fee on top of the meter, or
• a lump sum agreed before the trip starts.

Agreement before start matters for lump sums. Mid-journey "renegotiation" upward is not the model the syllabus describes for a clean pre-agreed lump sum.

2. Street-hail trips — same metered schedule as general taxis

If a fleet taxi is hired by street hail (including rank-style hails where the ordinary meter regime applies), it uses the same metered fare schedule as general taxis of the corresponding type. Fleet status is not a licence to invent a higher street-hail flagfall or to skip the step-down scale from Section 6.1.

This split protects random street passengers while allowing fleets to compete on booked products (airport runs, corporate accounts, app-dispatched jobs) with transparent pre-agreed pricing.

Connecting §VIII and §IX to Daily Compliance

• A fleet vehicle is still a taxi under TD control: meters, receipts, extras, and conduct rules do not vanish because a fleet certificate sits on the windscreen.
• An owner who hires a car to a shift hirer still needs §VIII dual documents even if the car is (or is not) in a fleet — know which regime's questions you are answering.
• Colour backgrounds on fleet plates (red/green/blue) align with Urban/NT/Lantau operating areas — the same triad as general-taxi colours and fare scales.
• Fleet bays at airport/XRL/control points are exclusive; general taxis pay HK$600 fixed penalty for misuse.

Exam Focus List

Vehicle hire documents (§VIII)

1. Owner hires vehicle to person → complete/sign two copies before hire.
2. Contents: rate/scale of charges; third-party risks insurance details; permitted drivers' names, addresses, licence numbers.
3. Owner retains one → produce to police within 3 months after hire start.
4. Hirer retains other → produce on demand during hire.
5. Drivers need valid taxi entitlement + identity plate.

Fleet regime (§IX)

1. TD issues fleet licences; conditions regulate fleets.
2. Livery/marking needs TD approval.
3. Certificate at windscreen; plates front and rear; backgrounds red/green/blue by area.
4. Fleet stopping places at airport, some BCPs, West Kowloon XRL, some AEL stations, Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, Disneyland, etc., with Appendix 5 signs/markings.
5. General taxis: no stop/pick-up/set-down at fleet places → HK$600 fixed penalty.
6. Pre-arranged: customised booking fee + meter or pre-agreed lump sum; street-hail: same meter as general taxis.

Closing Checklist for Section 6.3

• Two signed owner–hirer copies; insurance; named permitted drivers.
• Owner 3-month police production; hirer on-demand during hire.
• Licence entitlement + identity plate still mandatory.
• TD fleet licence; approved livery; certificate + front/rear fleet plates; RGB area colours.
• Fleet-only stopping places; general taxi $600 fixed penalty.
• Customised pre-arranged fares vs street-hail metered equality.

With Chapters 6.1–6.3 complete, you can build a full lawful fare (scale + extras + tolls), explain owner–hirer paperwork, and distinguish fleet privileges from general-taxi limits — all high-yield Part A territory.