Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    SHENZHEN Municipal Transport Commission on Friday issued the first batch of app-based cab business licenses to two operators — UCAR Inc. and China Car Experts.

    The other operators, such as Didi Chuxing, haven’t received a license as their operation data has yet to be connected to the city government’s supervision platform.

    According to the related regulation, operators need to connect their data to the platform before April 20 and complete an application before May 30. Cab and cabbie licenses will be issued before June 27.

    According to the commission, a total of 3,490 vehicles and 833 drivers have obtained their licences.

    According to Wei Dong, CEO of China Car Experts, the company operates 1,400 cars in Shenzhen and the number will increase to 5,000 by the end of the year. UCAR has 4,000 cars in Shenzhen.

    Didi said Friday that it is applying for a business license in line with government requirements and will complete all the procedures before the application deadline.

    At present, 11 app-based cab operators are operating in Shenzhen. Operators without a license will be treated as illegal businesses in Shenzhen and fined at least 10,000 yuan (US$1,450) starting June 27. If it takes orders for drivers, the operator will be fined 5,000 yuan for each instance of service, and the drivers will also be fined 5,000 yuan if they don’t have a cabbie’s license for app-based cab services.

    According to the rules on app-based cab services that were released in December last year, app-based cab drivers must possess a Shenzhen hukou or a residency card, have three years of driving experience and pass qualification tests. Their cars must have been produced within two years of the date when they register to engage in app-based cab services. To promote the use of electric vehicles, all cabs, both traditional and app-based, will all be replaced by electric vehicles by the end of 2020.