Taxi trade leader Chau Kwok-keung says he has never felt as much fear as he does now after transport minister Mable Chan set a 10,000-vehicle cap for ride-hailing service permits in May, in a bid to resolve what she called a “long-standing controversy” between traditional cabs and online service providers.Chau, a 40-year veteran of the industry, worries that the trade, comprising 18,163 taxis and about 46,000 active cabbies, will be driven into a dead end because he believes the quota will seriously affect livelihoods and the sector’s outlook.“The ride-hailing quota has gravely disrupted the taxi trade. Drivers are already suffering from plummeting income, with those on night shifts finding almost no business,” said the chairman of the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Light Bus Association.“I am most afraid that after the government enforces this quota limit, it will keep increasing the number of ride-hailing permits under different pretexts. Then Hong Kong’s taxi industry will keep shrinking. The economy is already gloomy enough.”Chau, 59, is among tens of thousands in the taxi trade frustrated by the government’s plan to issue 10,000 permits, a proposal that has also drawn the ire of ride-hailing giant Uber.While the government said it expected the quota would match the current demand, critics warned it could lead to shortages, higher fares and public dissatisfaction.“Chan shouldn’t just kick the can down the road over regulating ride-hailing services in Hong Kong,” legislator Mark Chong Ho-fung said.