APP-BASED taxi service provider Didi said recently that it had temporarily canceled the Recommended Dispatch Fare feature of Didi Taxi to control fare increases caused by “a shortage of taxi service providers and the increasing demand” during the Spring Festival holidays.

    The decision was made after online criticisms saying that it had recently become difficult to hail a taxi as Didi Taxi drivers and some regular cabbies who also use the Didi app to look for business were rejecting rides.

    The Recommended Dispatch Fare feature adopts a flexible fare mechanism for cabbies to charge more in crowded areas, where hailing a cab is difficult.

    In a notice announced Monday, Didi said that the difficulty of hailing a taxi was caused by a shortage of taxis, an issue that Didi is commissioned to resolve. Didi Taxi is an important part of its business and the company adopted the Recommended Dispatch Fare mechanism to encourage cab drivers to be active and better serve customers. The income from the Recommended Dispatch Fair goes directly to the cab drivers and the platform operator doesn’t take any share of it. Riders can choose whether to accept a Recommended Dispatch Fare cab or not.

    A man recently complained online that a Didi app-based cab he had hailed in Shanghai charged him 88 yuan (US$12.83) for a trip, which usually costs 28 yuan. The Didi Taxi app feature that displays the Recommended Dispatch Fare showed that the fare was 88 yuan. (Han Ximin)