In what had been speculated for quite some time now, the Chinese government has now completely banned all taxi-hailing apps within the country who operate by recruiting private unlicensed drivers.
The report which has come in via state-run Xinhua news agency further states that the Chinese Government has “forbade” private cars from taking passengers for profit using taxi-hailing apps. This has come after Chinese authorities had earlier cracked down unlicensed drivers using apps as “camouflage”.
The report further mentions that Shanghai government detained 12 drivers using taxi-hailing business via Didi Dache and fined each driver with 10,000 Yuan ($1,630) in December. Beijing authorities have also started to get tough with unlicensed drivers.
So who all are affected ? The affected cab services include two of China’s most popular tax-hailing apps, Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache. It is still unclear whether this crackdown will affect Uber or at least some of its services.
However, looking at the Chinese Government’s recent takes on Uber, it will be interesting to see how the entire ban turns out for the U.S. based taxi-haling app. Chinese authorities recently raided an Uber training session when it was one found that one of the 20 drivers being trained there was a recently released prisoner, who had been convicted for theft.
In a statement sent to us, a Uber spokesperson says,
Uber’s business is running as usual.
China’s top leaders’ recent statements have shown support for reforms and innovation. We are also pleased to see Ministry of Transportation confirming the value and benefits that innovative mobile Internet technologies bring to the transportation industry.
Uber respects the key role the government plays in ensuring that its citizens have access to safe, affordable and efficient transportation options. We are actively working with authorities around the world to adopt appropriate regulations to accommodate new technologies that can help solve many of the current problems with urban transportation — congestion, pollution and lost productivity at work. We appreciate our ongoing conversations with Chinese authorities and believe that consumers and communities will continue to benefit from the progress we have seen.
