Authorities move to curb illegal taxi services
Local traffic authorities' ability to ensure good services and curb illegal taxi activities is facing a test, experts said Sunday, after authorities in a southern metropolis raided the office of U.S.-based car services firm Uber in a crackdown on alleged unlicensed operations.
The Uber office in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, was raided on Thursday and a number of its mobile phones were seized, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday, citing a city official.
Uber is suspected of unlicensed operations and conducting illegal business by allowing private car owners to offer taxi services, Xinhua reported, citing a Guangzhou traffic official.
The Global Times was unable to reach Uber for comment by press time Sunday.
But the company said its services have not been affected, and they are actively cooperating with authorities, according to media reports.
Chinese law prohibits unlicensed private cars from offering taxi services, but booming market demand has fueled the popularity of illegal service providers, often sparking anger among licensed taxi drivers who protest that it is squeezing their profits.
"Uber is illegal if it involves hiring private car owners to offer car-for-hire services, but the government should conduct innovations and reform in the transportation sector in the Internet era," Gu Dasong, a professor of transportation law at Southeast University, told the Global Times Sunday.
Public transportation and taxis can satisfy people's basic travel needs, but the transportation market needs more resources to provide people with a comfortable and high-quality experience, which is now offered by taxi-hailing apps, according to Gu.
Uber's app was still in operation in Guangzhou as of press time on Sunday. Several Guangzhou residents contacted by the Global Times said that the raid had not affected their use of the app.
"I used Uber's service Saturday, and Uber's map showed that many drivers were available around my area," Guan Ting, a Guangzhou resident, told the Global Times Sunday.
A hotline operator for the Guangzhou Commission of Transport told the Global Times Sunday that the city prohibits all private cars from taking passengers for profit.
"Passengers should check whether the car has a road transportation operation permit, and private cars do not have that permit," the operator said.
The raid took place following protests by some taxi drivers after Uber rolled out a new car-pooling service called People's Uber in October 2014. The service allows users to find available private vehicles nearby and pay via the Uber app. Guangzhou is one of the six cities where the service is available, according to the company's Sina Weibo account.
However, Uber's car-pooling service in China requires drivers who sign up for the program to answer an order without knowing the destination of the potential clients beforehand, which is not in accordance with the normal practice of car pooling, domestic news portal caixin.com reported on Friday.
Zhao Zhanling, legal counsel for the Internet Society of China, told the Global Times on Sunday that most cities do not have regulations for car-pooling services, including Guangzhou.
"The Guangzhou authorities have no legal grounds for investigating Uber for offering car-ooling services, as they have no law for it. But they could ask Uber to participate in a joint investigation into private car owners offering car-for-hire services, as most cities prohibit that," Zhao said.
Zhao argued that car-pooling services should be legalized, as it could improve transport efficiency.
Currently, only cars belonging to vehicle rental companies can be used for car-for-hire services, but the number of vehicles belonging to these firms cannot cover the demand, so the government should consider allowing private cars to offer the services, Zhao said.
In January, the Ministry of Transport ordered app developers to exclude private cars from their platforms and ensure that all vehicles are owned by taxi or car-hire companies, in order to ensure passenger safety.
A statement released Thursday by the Guangzhou Commission of Transport said that it had noticed the failure of traditional taxi services to meet public demand, adding that the commission is now considering the potential for new Internet-based services, according to the Xinhua report.
