Violators enter the ＂blacklist＂. Can the ＂new regulations＂ for online car-hailing make it more stable？
Xinhua News Agency, Xu Junzuo
Early in the morning in Beijing, Mr. Liu, who was preparing to head to the Capital International Airport, stood by the roadside waiting for the arrival of the special car; at noon in Guangzhou, Ms. Qu got into the cool express train to meet her friends; in the evening in Jinan, Lao Zheng, who had just got off work, came to pick up his ride, carrying the dinner bought for his children… These are the most common scenes in the lives of contemporary Chinese people. They cannot be separated from the online car-hailing era. While online car-hailing brings convenience to people’s travel, it also exposes many problems. Only by better regulating it can the development of online car-hailing be stable and far-reaching.
New regulations are approaching, stricter supervision
Recently, the Ministry of Transport issued a notice on the "Exposure Draft of the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission on Deepening the Reform of Road Transport Prices" (hereinafter referred to as the "exposure draft") to the public for comments. This time, it will focus on regulating government pricing and the independent pricing behavior of each operating platform, strengthen the construction of price monitoring and credit system, and adopt a mechanism whereby online car-hailing companies should publicly increase prices, and illegal prices will be included in the "blacklist" and many other measures.
Previously, the "Interim Measures for the Management of Online Booking Taxi Business Services", which came into effect on November 1, 2016, standardized the definition and operation mode of online car-hailing, but did not provide detailed instructions on the specific pricing and charging methods of online car-hailing, nor did it form a strict regulatory system. In order to further rectify the problems of drivers increasing prices without authorization and not driving according to the specified route, this reform also focuses on the two core issues of safety and charging.
The "exposure draft" emphasizes the implementation of inclusive and prudent price policies for new business models and models of road transportation such as online car-hailing. In accordance with the requirements of the combination of release and management, strengthen the supervision of price behavior during and after the event and the monitoring of market price levels to ensure market stability and promote fair competition. At the same time, the price of transportation services in the field of basic public services should be maintained basically stable to prevent the price of transportation during the Spring Festival and holidays.
A two-pronged approach to standardize pricing
Simplicity, convenience, and many choices are the advantages of online car-hailing. At the same time, whether the price of online car-hailing is more favorable and whether the pricing rules are reasonable are also one of the most concerned issues for passengers.
The "exposure draft" points out that online car-hailing platform companies should take the initiative to disclose the pricing mechanism and dynamic price increase mechanism, and publish the freight structure and price increase rules through the company’s website, mobile Internet applications, etc., to maintain reasonable and relatively stable price increase standards, ensure clear, standardized and transparent settlement bills, and accept social supervision.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Didi Chuxing told the author that the platform has already launched such functions. Passengers can click to view the cost details after each order, including the pricing rules of different models.
"Online car-hailing with market-adjusted prices is in line with today’s market demand, and it is also a mode of travel that can better adapt to today’s social development trends." Cheng Xusen, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, pointed out in an interview that online car-hailing has a variety of models, which can adapt to different taxis and meet the travel needs of passengers at different levels, which is its advantage. Implementing market-adjusted prices for online car-hailing, while providing feasible government-guided prices according to the specific conditions of different cities, "two-pronged approach" will bring passengers a higher quality car experience.
Multi-party collaboration to ensure safety
Paying more attention to safety is another key point of online car-hailing supervision. The Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Booking Taxi Business Services stipulates that the administrative department of taxis shall strengthen the supervision of the online car-hailing market, strengthen the qualification review and certificate issuance management of online car-hailing platform companies, vehicles and drivers. The competent departments shall regularly organize and carry out online car-hailing service quality evaluation, and promptly publish to the public the basic information of the local online car-hailing platform companies, the results of service quality evaluation, and the handling of passenger complaints. In addition, the administrative director of taxis, public security and other departments have the right to retrieve and consult relevant data information such as the registration, operation and transactions of online car-hailing platform companies within their jurisdiction according to the management needs. The implementation of a variety of interlocking measures makes people feel more at ease when taking a car.
"The development of the platform comes from the dual control of the state and the self, and it must be done’hard on both sides’." Cheng Xusen believes that with the joint efforts of the government and online car-hailing platforms, the supervision of vehicles has been adjusted from the original incident and feedback after the event to all-round and whole-process supervision. For example, the cooperation between the police, passengers, drivers and the platform makes it necessary for online car-hailing to contact before boarding, locate and record after boarding, and evaluate and investigate after getting off. Multi-level guarantees provide standards for industry supervision. "Although it is impossible to 100% prevent the occurrence of accidents, it can be done to prevent problems before they occur."
"The amount of data is the most important guarantee for the safety of online car-hailing." Chu Yin, a professor of public administration at the School of International Relations, believes that whether it is the government, online car-hailing companies, drivers or users, only by having enough data on various groups can we better understand the company’s operation status, driver and passenger information and grasp the dynamic data of driving. In the era of big data, only with the ability to control information can online car-hailing platforms have the confidence and qualification to provide users with safer and more reliable services.