Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    ALL the representatives attending Friday’s hearing supported unifying the fares of green and red cabs and nearly all of them favored two of the plans to keep the flag-fall price unchanged, while increasing the waiting, empty return or distance charges to increase the income of drivers.

    The hearing organizer, Shenzhen’s development and reform commission, offered three plans to the 22-member hearing team that included lawmakers, political advisers, representatives of the general public and cab operators.

    According to the drafts, the city would either increase the waiting charge of cabs from the present 0.8 yuan (US$0.11) per minute to 1.2 yuan per minute in Plan A, raise the flag-fall price from 10 yuan for the first 2 kilometers to 13 yuan for the first 3 kilometers in Plan B, or raise the distance price to 2.6 yuan per kilometer from the present 2.4 yuan, while leaving the flag-fall price unchanged at 10 yuan for the first 2 kilometers in Plan C.

    All three plans would adopt a cascade fare system for empty return fees, which charges an additional 30 percent for a distance of 25 to 50 kilometers and an additional 60 percent for a distance of more than 50 kilometers.

    “I prefer Plan C as it has a minimum impact on consumers,” a consumer representative said at the meeting.

    Zhou Quansheng, a taxi driver, said that he and his colleagues had discussed the plans and agreed with Plan C as their income would increase for both short- and long-distance services.

    Zhou Guiding, a representative of cab operators, chose Plan A, which increases the waiting time fee. “The waiting time fee can make up for the time drivers spend in traffic congestion, and it is reasonable for both drivers and passengers,” Zhou said.

    Most representatives thought that the price shouldn’t be increased drastically, because then it wouldn’t be competitive with app-based cabs.

    The organizer said that the hearing was set to improve the income of drivers, especially green cab drivers, and to lay a solid foundation for the convergence of traditional cabs and app-based cabs. It plans to review the pricing mechanism in June every year and adopt a flexible system based on the operating costs of taxi companies.

    The unification of cab fares is the first step, and the commission will consider integrating the operating areas of both red and green cabs. The city currently has 84 companies operating 16,642 cabs.