Drivers using taxi apps have their vehicles seized in Beijing
Staff Reporter
2015-01-08
A taxi-hailing app. (Photo/CNS)
The Beijing Transportation Bureau roamed airports, train stations and city's the commercial district on Tuesday and Wednesday, seizing the vehicles of anyone using taxi-hailing apps such as Didi Dache and Uber to find clients, reports yicai.com, the website of the Shanghai-based China Business News.
A smartphone screenshot circulating on the internet in China said "as of 15:00, around 200 vehicles have been confiscated. The target of law enforcement today (Jan. 7) is 500 cars! Every vehicle at airports and train stations will be checked. Everyone please be highly cautious and try not to find clients at airports and train stations!"
The average taxi using the hailing app earns around 10,000 yuan (US$1,600) a month, according to the report. Zhang, one of the drivers, said he gets to keep 80% of his fare for trips to the airport, with the remaining 20% going to the app service. If he takes a fare by the same route during rush hour, the app does not charge him any fee and doubles whatever he makes for the trip.
China's domestic taxi-hailing apps, such as Didi Dache and Yongche, also pay an additional 1-2,000 yuan (US$160-$325) a month to drivers depending on their performance.
Zhang could make up to 700 yuan (US$113) with the app in one morning. He only drives part-time on every other day, a schedule he says is quite common among taxis in the city working with the app. Some drive full-time for CEOs and big wigs, and use the app to make money on the side.
Many of the apps hire drivers with contracts, bypassing Chinese law which specifies that leased vehicles cannot be provided for drivers. The apps have a car rental company to register vehicles under their names and have a recruitment company to hire the vehicle owners as drivers. The apps, the car rental company and the recruitment firm and the driver then sign a joint contract.
The transportation bureau in Beijing said the contract cannot bypass the laws and the apps' services are illegal in nature, according to the report. The bureau has stepped up its crackdown on vehicles and drivers using the apps since January this year. The drivers of 47 vehicles found using the apps did not even sign a contract with a car rental company.
Many people still prefer to hail taxis through the apps due to the low number of taxis in the country. Currently only 60% of the demand for taxis in China is being met and around 20 million people a day have trouble finding one. However, legal taxi drivers have been struggling with low pay since they have to pay taxi companies a commission on top of their car maintenance and insurance.
Around 100 taxi drivers gathered in front of the square in Shenyang in northeast China's Liaoning province on Jan. 4, calling on the government to ban the apps and their drivers and reduce the fuel surcharge for legal taxi drivers.
