The government should draw up "an appropriate level" of regulations for ride-hailing platforms, such as by making it mandatory for drivers to take a licensing exam similar to that for cabbies, a lawmaker said on Thursday.

Legislator Hoey Simon Lee also said ride-hailing drivers should be subject to legal restrictions because they are not simply operating a private vehicle.

"We should have an appropriate level of regulations – not too tight but not too loose," said Lee, who conducted a study on online-hailing services.

"If it's too tight, it will affect the sharing economy. But if it's too loose, it will not be protective enough for passengers and also not fair to or healthy for the whole sector."

Hong Kong is seeking to regulate platforms offering ride-hailing services with a proposed framework expected to be unveiled this year.

Lee urged the administration to require operators to ensure the vehicles providing services are safe and that personal data stored on such platforms are handled properly.

Such vehicles should be required to install dash cameras too, he added.

Other than suggestions to regulate ride-hailing services, Lee called on the authorities to consider making changes to policies affecting the taxi trade such as in the design of driving exams and their operations.