According to the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, based on the suggestions of citizens and passengers, the Municipal Transportation Commission decided to resume online car-hailing operations in the Pudong Airport area from February 4. Citizen passengers can reserve cars in the Pudong Airport area through various online car-hailing platforms. The Municipal Transportation Commission will require all online ride-hailing platforms to standardize their operations, do a good job in driver management, and comply with Pudong Airport’s transportation organization arrangements. At the same time, the Municipal Transportation Commission will actively organize transportation capacity and continuously improve services to meet the travel needs of citizens and passengers.
Shanghai Pudong Airport's ban on online ride-hailing operations has caused controversy. The Transportation Commission said it has received many complaints from citizens.
Jimu News reporter Ding Peng
Recently, the inability to order online taxis at Shanghai Pudong International Airport has attracted attention and discussion among netizens. On February 3, Jimu News reporters interviewed a number of online ride-hailing platforms and learned that they have implemented relevant regulations of the local government, but passengers can still hail a taxi from the city to Pudong Airport. Staff of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Shanghai Transportation Commission) said that they have also received many complaints from citizens about this matter in the past two days, and the handling department will subsequently handle them and inform them of the results.
Shanghai Pudong Airport cannot call online taxis
On January 29, the Shanghai Municipal Road Transport Administration issued the "Notice on Prohibiting the Operation of Online Car Hailing at Pudong Airport" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which mentioned that online car hailing platforms and aggregation platforms are strictly prohibited from publishing ride hailing information starting from the Pudong Airport area and the border roads involved.
"Notice on Prohibiting the Operation of Online Ride-hailing Services at Pudong Airport" issued by the Shanghai Road Transport Administration (picture/internet screenshot)
On February 3, Jimu News reporters called two online ride-hailing platforms and learned that passengers were no longer able to hail ride-hailing services within the electronic fence area of Pudong Airport. The platforms also implemented relevant Shanghai regulations, but passengers could still call ride-hailing rides to Pudong Airport normally in the urban area.
The reporter has tried three online car-hailing platforms. Starting from Xujiahui Park in Shanghai, and placing orders to go to Pudong Airport, the car can be hailed normally. An online ride-hailing driver told reporters that although he could not take return orders, he would still go to Pudong Airport if there were orders in the city. The reporter immediately set Pudong Airport as the starting point on each online car-hailing platform. After setting the destination call, the interface "To implement the relevant regulations of this city, Pudong Airport does not support calling online car-hailing for the time being" pops up.
The Transportation Commission said it had received complaints from citizens about this matter.
What is the original intention of banning online ride-hailing services at the airport? According to CCTV, Wu Xuecheng, deputy director of the Passenger Transport Department of the Shanghai Road Transport Bureau, said that the "Notice" is not a new regulation, but a reaffirmation of the "Shanghai Online Reservation Taxi Operation Service Management Several Regulations" implemented in 2016.
Wu Xuecheng explained that the current supply of cruising taxis at Pudong Airport is very sufficient. Cruise taxis do not pick passengers or cars. As long as passengers queue up to board the taxi, its efficient departure mode can ensure that the large passenger flow arriving in Shanghai is evacuated as soon as possible. However, because online taxis are looking for an "exclusive" car, if drivers and passengers wait for each other, causing a backlog of passengers, there will be great safety risks.
Wu Xuecheng also said that there are currently no plans to adjust the relevant regulations on "Pudong Airport prohibiting online car-hailing operations" after the Spring Festival, but he does not rule out long-term adjustments to strategic measures to ensure capacity based on changes in passenger flow.
The above-mentioned "Several Regulations on the Management of Online Reservation Taxi Business Services in Shanghai" requires that online car-hailing platforms and drivers are not allowed to publish taxi-hailing information within the cruise bus business station areas of airports and railway stations, and online car-hailing drivers are not allowed to cruise around to solicit passengers, nor are they allowed to solicit passengers within the cruise bus business station areas of airports and railway stations.
I want to ask why Shanghai Pudong Airport cannot call online taxis? On February 3, staff from the Shanghai Transportation Commission responded to reporters saying that they had recently received many calls from citizens to complain about this problem. They had accepted the complaints and the relevant departments would handle the cases and inform them of the results.
Taxis waiting for passengers at Pudong International Airport (Photo/Look at the News)
Waiting time information displayed in the taxi waiting area (picture/look at the news)
Expert: Urban management should highlight the protection of market entities
According to Southern Weekend news, on February 2, a platform called Airport Travel can still call cars from Pudong Airport. Its customer service also said, "We are not an online car-hailing service, we are an airport service." The airport shuttle service provided by Airport Travel can choose from 5-seater comfort, 6-seater business, and 6-seater luxury cars. The pricing is fixed within 60 kilometers. The first two models are 360 yuan, and the luxury car is 420 yuan.
A reporter from Jimu News searched the "Airport Travel" applet and found that Airport Travel is operated by Airport (Shanghai) Automobile Service Co., Ltd., but after clicking to enter, a picture appeared with the word "Airport" on it, and a line of small words below the image said, "Airport Travel product upgrade, please click above to enter the Airport Applet." The reporter clicked to enter the Airport interface according to the prompts, which showed that the Travel applet was being updated and maintained, and the developer would resume services as soon as possible after completing the update.
The picture shows the interface currently displayed after clicking to enter the airport travel applet (picture/mobile phone screenshot)
Li Hongbing, a distinguished professor at Fudan University, said in an interview with Kankan News that this incident raised new issues for urban management. In public perception, anything can be done without prohibition by law, and nothing can be done without authorization by law. This requires our administrative supervision to change to the rule of law. This is not only an important manifestation of the modernization of the governance capabilities of relevant departments, but also highlights the enthusiasm for protecting market entities. Therefore, when relevant departments introduce similar measures to restrict the market, they must not only conduct compliance assessments, but also have appropriate error correction mechanisms. They must carefully consider and strike a balance between management, service and selection.