There’s been a lot of chatter about the Chinese government cracking down on taxi-hailing apps in big cities and last weekend the talk turned to action – harsh action.
On Saturday, April 2, the Shenzhen Municipal Transport Commission seized 10 unregistered vehicles after they were found to be transporting passengers in Shenzhen. The drivers were all taken before the transport commission, where it was discovered nine were using Didi and one was using Uber. Of the 10 seized vehicles, five were registered in Dongguan, three in Huizhou, one in Meizhou and one in Ningbo.
The raid follows a new requirement announced by Shenzhen police and the transport commission on Tuesday, whereby only drivers of local, registered vehicles can offer taxi services within the city.
If statistics are to be believed, there are around 300,000 unregistered vehicles in Shenzhen that are offering app-based services. According to officials, this leads to increased traffic congestion in the city.
During an inspection in Bao’an District, one officer reported stopping a car with a Huizhou license plate containing some pretty uncooperative occupants. After a brief chat, the passengers eventually informed the officer that they had been picked up through the Didi car-hailing app (#busted).
The city is now on a mission to eliminate all non-local app-based taxi drivers and app operators. Those who refuse to cooperate will be listed as "untrustworthy," according to Shenzhen Daily.
READ MORE: Car-Hailing Apps Tighten Driver Monitoring in Shenzhen
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