Ministry of Transport urges improved performances from ride-hailing apps

The Ministry of Transport had a regulatory talk with about 15 car-hailing platforms on Wednesday to urge them to operate business following market rules and secure passenger and driver rights and interests, and pushing forward a healthier and sustainable development of the industry.

The 15 car-hailing platforms include some industry titans like Didi Chuxing.

The ministry said during the talk that the car-hailing industry has been in stable development following improved regulations and market rules, while there are still some platforms and companies with improper behaviors of randomly altering operating rules, encroaching on passengers and drivers' rights and interests, and disturbing the market orders. These behaviors pose uncertainty and potential risks of industry operation, and even cause some safety incidents.

The ministry urged these platforms and companies to improve their services and prevent any unfair competition with their rivals to create a healthier market. They are required to protect car-hailing drivers' rights and interests and negotiate with the drivers to lower the commission fees per order.

The safety of passengers should be prioritized and their complaints should be well treated. Also, the platforms and companies should tighten the management of drivers' registration and verification of their vehicles to secure their legal operations.

The ministry also urged the platforms and companies to optimize their systems to help prevent drivers from speeding or fatigue driving, and inform them of real-time traffic situations and weather conditions to let them be better capable of dealing with emergencies.