This City is for the Night Owls, According to Didi Stats

By Phoebe Kut, September 10, 2019

China is a place that never sleeps. You can always find some late-night karaoke, dice games or shaokao in the wee hours of the morning. Using rider statistics, Didi published a study last week ranking the top 10 ‘night owl cities’ in order of ride demand between 7pm and 6am. The data was taken from July to the end of August. So, where does your city rank?

1. Beijing
2. Chengdu
3. Shanghai
4. Guangzhou
5. Shenzhen
6. Dongguan
7. Hangzhou
8. Chongqing
9. Foshan
10. Nanjing

Unsurprisingly, Beijing took the top spot, with multiple reasons for the high demand, including entertainment, traveling home from work and visiting relatives.

Following the release of the study, Didi has increased both the evening time and distance rate for drivers, which is designed to provide extra incentive for late-night drives. This is sure to arrive as welcome news for both drivers and passengers, as late-night revelers around the country are all too familiar with the challenges of hailing a chariot home in the early hours of the morning. However, just be on guard in case a Didi driver tries to charge you extra for turning on the AC (Trust us, it’s a thing).

In a response to the study, Didi’s Chief Security Officer Hou Jinglei stated that whether a city’s night economy is robust is not only a reflection of the city’s economic development level, but also an important index to measure the quality of life and happiness of its people.

[Cover image via @hiurich/Unsplash]