Red taxis, green taxis, and the harbour return toll

The Transport Department’s taxi page divides 18,163 taxis into three colours: 15,250 urban taxis (red), 2,838 New Territories taxis (green) and 75 Lantau taxis (blue). Urban taxis may run in most of Hong Kong, except Tung Chung Road and roads in South Lantau. New Territories taxis work mainly in the northeast, north of Sha Tin, and the northwest, north of Tsuen Wan. Lantau taxis may run only on Lantau and at Chek Lap Kok. The same paragraph names three places open to every colour: the Hong Kong International Airport passenger terminal, the Hong Kong port of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Spoken 紅的, 綠的 and 藍的 have no words.hk entries. to-jyutping reads them hung4 dik1, luk6 dik1, laam4 dik1. The Department’s own prose says 市區的士, 新界的士 and 大嶼山的士.

words.hk enters 的士 as dik1 si2, tagged as a loanword, and says each hiring carries four or five passengers at most. The verb 截 lists 截的士 zit6 dik1 si2: stopping something that is moving. 的士站 is dik1 si2 zaam6, a place to queue; the same entry notes that a taxi does not have to pick up and set down only at a stand.

The fare page puts the legal name and the spoken name in one sentence: every taxi has a 計程錶, commonly called 咪錶. 咪錶, 跳錶, 尾箱, 電召 and 收據 have no entries. to-jyutping gives mai1 biu1, tiu3 biu1, mei5 soeng1, din6 ziu6, sau1 geoi3. When the Department talks about where luggage sits, it writes 車尾行李廂. The passenger pays the meter, then any prescribed extra. The amount is the table posted in the cab. The Department’s index also links a fare table file dated 10 May 2026. The return-toll and luggage rules below are taken from the fare page headed as effective 14 July 2024. If a later table changes the figures or the proviso, the later table and the sheet in the cab win.

On that July 2024 page, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Western Harbour Crossing are listed with both a tunnel toll and a return toll. The return toll is not charged in two cases: the passenger boards at a cross-harbour taxi stand, or the final destination is not on the other side of the harbour. The other tunnels on that page show a tunnel toll only, without that proviso.

The short names match the official ones in words.hk. 紅隧 hung4 seoi6 is short for the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel, whose formal name is 海底隧道, linking Wan Chai and Hung Hom. The entry’s synonyms are 中隧 and 舊隧. 東隧 dung1 seoi6 is the Eastern Harbour Crossing. 西隧 sai1 seoi6 is the Western Harbour Crossing, linking Sai Ying Pun and the West Kowloon reclamation. To name the route, say 行紅隧. to-jyutping reads that 行 as haang4, the same syllable as the first words.hk sense of 行, to walk.

行李 has no entry. to-jyutping gives hang4 lei5. Inside 有行李 the converter returns jau5 hong4 lei5, so 行 moves to hong4. Played alone, 行李 stays hang4. The fare page’s luggage rule is specific: each piece in the boot carries a surcharge, and so does each piece in the passenger compartment whose length, width and height add up to more than 140 centimetres. Light luggage kept in the compartment is left out. A baby stroller follows the same test. A wheelchair or crutches that a passenger with a disability needs in order to move are free.

Telephone booking is its own surcharge line, 電召預約. The official word for the printout is 機印車費收據. A passenger may ask for one. Refusing without a reasonable excuse is an offence. If the printer fails, the driver should write one by hand. The same page’s note on 車費找續 says that failing to give change for a HK$500 or HK$1,000 note is not an offence. From 1 April 2026 a driver must also offer at least two electronic payment methods, one of them a QR code and one of them not a QR code.

埋站 is not in words.hk. 埋單 is, maai4 daan1, settling the bill after a meal. to-jyutping reads 埋站 as maai4 zaam6. The two share 埋 at maai4; one is the bill, the other is a stop. 落車 lok6 ce1 is the same word as on the MTR and a minibus; see transit. 轉左 and 直行 are in directions.

Sources

• LSHK Jyutping scheme
• CanCLID to-jyutping
• Transport Department: taxis (fleet figures on that page; the linked fare-table file is dated 10 May 2026; electronic payment methods from 1 April 2026)
• Transport Department: taxi fares (the page heading says the fare details took effect on 14 July 2024)
• words.hk: 的士, 截, 的士站, 紅隧, 東隧, 西隧, 行, 埋單, 落車