China is banning private cars from offering cab services via apps, according to Bloomberg.
This would mean services like Uber would be banned from the country.
In a statement to the Financial Times Wednesday, the director of Beijing’s traffic enforcement unit Liang Jiangwei said “the use of unlicensed taxis by internet hailing apps violated a ban on illegal taxis.”
A crackdown on car-hailing apps began on Jan. 1, he said, and drivers can face fines up to $3,221.
“Some of these vehicles are ‘taxi clones,'” Jiangwei said. “Many passengers have filed complaints.”
The crackdown was apparently set in motion thanks to lobbying efforts from some of China’s biggest and most established licensed taxi companies. Their prices are capped at below-market rates by China, the FT reports.
This would be the first time that China has publicly considered private cars operating via apps “an act of illegal operation.” However, some services offer taxi-hailing apps that work with licensed taxis: those apps won’t be affected… see more
source: businessinsider
Tags: China Bans Uber, technology
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.