Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    PHYSICALLY challenged people in the city can now reserve free taxi services with the launch of a feature on the Didi Chuxing app, the largest app-based vehicle transportation service in the world.

    The program covers special groups such as people with physical disabilities, elderly people and pregnant women. The service will be free during a one-month trial period, according to a news conference in Shenzhen yesterday.

    “We initially put five yellow-colored vans into trial use in Nanshan, Futian and Luohu districts and will expand the program when we know about the demand of physically challenged people,” said Zhu Yuande, general manager of Didi Chuxing’s Shenzhen company.

    The vans have been refitted with an adjustable stepping board and more space for physically challenged people to get in with wheelchairs.

    The program offers its service for free and Zhu hopes more philanthropic organizations and other NGOs will get involved in the service.

    Users need to fill in their commuting information on the app and make a reservation for the following day.

    The latest statistics show that there are nearly 20,000 people with physical disabilities in the city. In all of China, the number is around 85 million, including 27 million with limb disabilities.

    Around 200 million people in China have inconvenient commutes if elderly people above the age of 65 and pregnant women are included.