Didi Kuaidi in the fast lane as taxis slow down on mainland

    Updated: 2015-06-03 07:41

    By Zhou Mo in Shenzhen(HK Edition)

      Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按鈕 0

    Xie Wanda had been a driving instructor since 2006. Last month, he quit his job and signed up with a transportation network that operates the popular car-booking app Didi Kuaidi in Shenzhen.

    He works full-time at the new job, which he believes is much more rewarding financially.

    "I expect to make a net profit of 10,000 yuan ($1,614) or so every month," Xie said.

    Didi Kuaidi - the mainland's most popular taxi-hailing app - is the brainchild of startup tech firms Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, which merged earlier this year to form one of the world's largest smartphone-based transport services.

    Didi Kuaidi has been well-known in Shenzhen for offering a range of services, including Didi Express, which is cheaper than premium car services.

    Didi Kuaidi launched its carpooling service in Beijing on Monday. It also aims to expand the service to 26 mainland cities, including Shenzhen, by the end of this month. More than 1 million people have already registered as carpooling drivers, the company said.

    In an effort to grab the competitive car-booking market, Didi Kuaidi announced on May 22 it would invest 1 billion yuan to subsidize passengers and car drivers who use its Didi Express service. Every Monday of the week from May 25 to June 15, passengers in 12 mainland cities, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou, are entitled to a 15-yuan discount for each ride for up to two times.

    The first Monday was really a busy day for Xie. He received almost 20 orders in half a day and earned more than 500 yuan in just a few hours.

    What attracted Xie weren't not only the fares, but also the generous economic incentives offered by the company. He said the incentives usually amount to 2.5 times the cab fare for any one trip.

    Results of the latest survey by Analysys International, a provider of information products, show that orders from Didi premium-car service accounted for 78.3 percent of the market total in the first quarter of this year.

    Didi Kuaidi currently covers 360 cities and 1.35 million drivers, with daily calls in excess of 4 million. Premium-car service, meanwhile, covers 61 cities and 400,000 drivers, with up to 1.5 million daily calls.

    The advent of various types of car-booking services has troubled taxi drivers, who complain that their business has been badly eroded.

    Taxi driver Wu De used to work on the 7 pm to 4 am shift every day, earning an average of about 10,000 yuan a month in Shenzhen. But now, he can only make roughly 6,000 yuan working the same shift.

    "Night-shift drivers like us have been the hardest hit because many people become premium-car drivers after work," Wu said.

    For that reason, many taxi drivers have joined the car-calling services. But the legal status of such services has remained unclear as most of the operating vehicles are private cars.

    In Guangzhou and Chengdu, the legality of the popular car-calling app operator Uber was questioned by authorities. In Wuhan, Didi Kuaidi was asked by regulatory departments to disallow private cars from providing services.

    "It's illegal because those part-time drivers of Didi Express are taking fare-paying passengers in cars that have no operating qualifications," said Dong Baotian, a professor of the School of Traffic and Transportation at Beijing Jiaotong University.

    "Right now, it can just be seen as a kind of an experiment. How the situation develops will depend on the attitude of the regulatory authorities, the taxi industry's tolerance and whether we're able to find a way to address taxi-calling difficulties during peak hours while, at the same time, not disrupting the industry's normal business," he said.

    Service is another point of concern. As a number of drivers are new comers or part-time workers, they are not familiar with the roads.

    "In the short term, the company can only draw customers by offering economic incentives. But, in the long run, it should rely on good service to retain its app users," Dong said.

    sally@chinadailyhk.com

    Didi Kuaidi in the fast lane as taxis slow down on mainland

     Didi Kuaidi in the fast lane as taxis slow down on mainland

    Taxi drivers on the mainland are already feeling the pinch amid stiff competition from burgeoning car-hailing apps. Asia News Photo

    (HK Edition 06/03/2015 page10)

    亚洲AV无码一区二区三区DV| (愛妃視頻)国产无码中文字幕| 中文字幕51日韩视频| 国产亚洲美日韩AV中文字幕无码成人| 中文字幕一区二区免费| 亚洲欧美日韩中文字幕二区| 免费无码一区二区三区| 熟妇无码乱子成人精品| 中文字幕免费高清视频| 伊人久久无码精品中文字幕| 波多野结衣在线中文| 中文字幕精品一区| 一本大道香蕉中文日本不卡高清二区 | 欧美日韩中文国产va另类电影| 大地资源中文在线观看免费版| 4hu亚洲人成人无码网www电影首页 | 免费无码黄网站在线看| 日韩人妻无码一区二区三区久久99 | 亚洲高清无码在线观看| 国产精品无码日韩欧| 日韩网红少妇无码视频香港| 性无码免费一区二区三区在线| 午夜无码中文字幕在线播放| 惠民福利中文字幕人妻无码乱精品| 亚洲精品无码日韩国产不卡?V| 久久午夜无码鲁丝片午夜精品| 国产成人AV无码精品| 一本色道无码不卡在线观看| 欧美中文字幕一区二区三区| 免费A级毛片无码无遮挡内射| 办公室丝袜激情无码播放 | 亚洲看片无码在线视频| 久久中文字幕人妻熟av女| 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕一区 | 特级无码毛片免费视频尤物| 无码免费一区二区三区免费播放 | 久久亚洲日韩看片无码| 最近2019中文字幕一页二页| 日韩精品久久无码人妻中文字幕 | 中文无码久久精品| 亚洲欧美综合中文|