People in Suzhou will soon be able to use WeChat to hail a taxi later this month.

The WeChat application allows users to reserve a taxi by automatically locating the user's position to find available taxis in the area. The app is not dissimilar to other taxi-booking apps such as Kuaidi Dache, backed by Alibaba Group, and Didi Dache who received funding from Tencent Holdings Ltd, who own WeChat. Taxi hailing apps offer more efficiency and convenient to both users and drivers, compared with the traditional taxi booking hotline for the city (67776777), according to the local Suzhou transport bureau.

There are currently six taxi-calling apps linked with the Suzhou Taxi Dispatch Center. The WeChat app is linked to the same platform. Unlike calling the taxi hotline, users of the WeChat taxi app will not need to hold the line to spell out the address and can cancel reservations for free.

The WeChat app will allow users to hail ordinary taxis but not electronic control service taxis. Just like the hotline and other taxi-calling mobile apps, WeChat users will be listed into the Suzhou taxi system black list if they default.

Edited by Yu Shen and Jake Hooson