Cartography/Gao Xiang
On the 20th, it was reported that the "Interim Measures for the Management of Online Booking Taxi Business Services" (referred to as the "Measures") will be issued as soon as early May and at the latest by the end of May. It is also said that the new regulations impose restrictions on online car-hailing platforms, vehicles, drivers, etc. Therefore, some commentators believe that the test of life and death for online car-hailing platforms is coming. In fact, similar rumors have been made many times, but whether this time it will come true remains to be seen.
Guess/
Rumors have been heard many times, can it come true this time?
Since October 10, 2015, the Ministry of Transport issued the "Interim Measures for the Management of Online Booking Taxi Business Services (Exposure Draft) " and the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reform and Further Promoting the Healthy Development of the Taxi Industry (Exposure Draft) ", there have been many rumors about when the new regulations on online car-hailing will come to fruition, but they have all been falsified by facts.
In December 2015, there was news in the industry that "the new policy for special cars may be announced and implemented as soon as January 1, 2016". On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, there were also rumors that the revised and adjusted "Interim Measures" based on public opinion may be introduced before the Spring Festival at the soonest, but it has not been introduced in the end.
In comparison, this rumor seems to be more credible. The rumor not only claims that the new regulations will be introduced as soon as early May, but also claims that the upcoming "Measures" put forward specific requirements for online car-hailing platforms, vehicles and drivers. Among them, the online car-hailing platform needs to be registered in a certain place and needs to obtain a "Road Transport Operation Permit"; the nature of the use of online car-hailing vehicles is registered as taxi passenger transportation, and it needs to obtain a "Road Transport Certificate" for booking taxis; drivers need to obtain a "Road Transport Practitioner Qualification Certificate" and so on.
Whether this rumor will come true is still unknown, but what is certain is that the new regulations have been formulated, and it is only a matter of when the shoes will fall. At the two sessions this year, Yang Chuantang, the minister of transportation, publicly disclosed that the guidance on the standardized management of special cars and several measures have been formulated, and the time for their introduction is hoped to be "as soon as possible." In addition, a number of special car platforms have revealed that they have knowledge of the content of the "Measures" and "the plan may be announced at any time."
Response/
Didi Uber China is still unaware of it
In response to online rumors, the reporter of West China Metropolis Daily contacted the relevant person in charge of several domestic online car-hailing platforms. At present, although the nature of domestic online car-hailing platforms is the same, the specific operation mode is also different, so the attitude towards the new regulations of online car-hailing is also different.
"At present, we don’t know whether the rumors are true or false. We don’t comment. We can only respond after the new regulations are officially promulgated and implemented." The relevant person in charge of Uber China told reporters that Uber has made its attitude clear about the new regulations on special cars. It is understood that after the introduction of the new regulations exposure draft, Uber responded immediately and said that it will take the initiative to adapt to the new regulations and apply for the required qualifications and licenses as soon as possible.
If the new regulations are as rumored, the new regulations for special cars are not much different from previous exposure drafts. Online car-hailing platforms must first obtain a "Road Transportation Operation Permit", which is not difficult for each platform. Didi, Uber and others have already obtained licenses in China. But the requirements for vehicles and drivers of the new regulations are currently difficult for any online car-hailing platform to achieve.
"There is a lot of controversy about whether private cars can be connected to special cars, and several platforms together involve more than 1 million cars." The relevant person in charge of Didi told reporters that not only this, but also the travel of hundreds of millions of people will be affected. The relevant person in charge of Didi’s government affairs department also said that the new regulations on the "scrapping of special vehicles in eight years" stipulate that "the threshold is too high, which will cause waste of resources".
In fact, different platforms have different attitudes towards the new regulations on special cars. "The new policy is consistent with the previous supervision ideas of the Ministry of Transport on online car-hailing, reflecting the supervision ideas of people-oriented, compatible and open, and encouraging innovative development." The relevant person in charge of Shenzhou Special Car told the West China Metropolis Daily that Shenzhou Special Car supports and welcomes the new policy and hopes that the new policy of special car supervision will be introduced as soon as possible.
Focus/
The controversy over access to private cars
It has been more than half a year since the introduction of the exposure draft of the "Management Measures", but the new policy has not been officially introduced. "The reason why it is difficult to give birth, the focus of everyone’s debate is still the issue of private car access, whether it is the government or enterprises, they are all playing a multi-party game," Zhang Xu, a senior analyst at Analysys think tank, told reporters.
Rumor has it that the "Administrative Measures" require "the nature of the use of online car-hailing vehicles to be registered as rental passenger transportation", which is considered to have a fatal impact on the entire online car-hailing business. "At present, the vehicles on the online car-hailing platform are either private cars or rental vehicles. If a private car wants to participate in the online car-hailing operation, it needs to change the nature of the vehicle. Once it becomes a commercial vehicle, the scrapping period of the private car will become eight years or less." Industry insiders believe.
"The goal of the state’s new regulations on special cars is also to balance the interests of all parties, but in the process of implementation, all parties will also face many problems." Hu Yong, an associate researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that it is not easy to balance the interests of all parties. In the absence of consensus among all parties, Zhou Qiren, a professor at the National Development Institute of Peking University, believes that Chinese cities are so different that it is impossible for them all to implement one transportation model. It is best for the Ministry of Transport to come up with a guide and make principled regulations, and let local governments pilot the rest.
Zhang Xu also believes that the development of the sharing economy has become an irreversible trend. "Some of the provisions in the new regulations have a big impact on the special cars under the sharing economy. I don’t think the government will destroy an industry by regulating it." Zhang Xu said that some of the provisions in the exposure draft "deserve careful consideration by the government."
The good news for all platforms is that during the two sessions this year, Yang Chuantang, Minister of Transport, once said that when dealing with new things, we must not stand still and stick to the rules. As a new thing, online car-hailing brings a good experience to passengers, and it is necessary to give this service method a legal way out. Yang Chuantang also said that he will select representative cities to carry out pilots to innovate the mode and technical means of supervising the emerging service industry of Internet platforms. (Reporter, Dong Xingsheng, Intern, He Weihan)
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