Look at this timing. Right after the government leans on the taxi trade about the ride-hail crackdown, RTHK runs a story about home prices hitting a two and a half year high. Different beats, same city, and honestly the taxi one is the story ordinary people actually feel every day.

Here's the thing nobody says out loud: Hong Kong has about 18,000 taxi licences and they haven't changed in decades. They're not owned by drivers mostly. They're owned by investors who bought them as an asset, same as a flat, and lease them out. So when you're standing on Nathan Road at midnight and no taxi will take you to Sha Tin, and then some guy in a private car on an app shows up in four minutes, you're watching the actual market outcompete the protected one. The government's answer isn't more taxis. It's a promised crackdown on the guy in the private car.