Geely Chairman Li Shufu suggests purification of car-hailing development space to 13th NPC

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely), was elected to be a deputy of 13th National People's Congress (NPC) for the first time and will give his proposal about how to optimize and broaden the development space of China's online ride-hailing industry. 

According to a report released by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), by the end of December 2017, China's online car-hailing users amounted to 287 million, increasing 61.88 million users compared with that in the same period of 2016. The users of tailored taxi service and fast ride reached to 236 million, growing by 29.4% over the previous year.

As a refresh travelling mode, ride-hailing has been always a controversial service since it came to earth. In July 2016, a total of 7 ministries and commissions of China, such as Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued a regulation that legalized online car-hailing services for the first time and set limitations on car-hailing platforms' qualifications. 

However, there are still many illegal or improper operations existing after the regulation was issued. For instance, some drivers, failing to get all required certificates, still drive their cars on roads. Some car-hailing platforms cannot submit timely and accurate data to local transport department, according to relevant investigations, surveys and interviews. All these issues get in the way of achieving a smooth industrial development.

Thus Li Shufu suggests that the government should build a sound training system to elevate drivers’ quality and encourage a more flexible driver test mechanism. For example, the government can set test spots at the place where the car-hailing platform is located. Meanwhile, to guarantee drivers’ basic rights, the car-hailing platforms should sign contracts with their drivers, not just having them registered on the platform.

Additionally, Li Shufu proposes that led by China Insurance Regulatory Commission, insurance companies can participate in designing new transportation insurances with premium rates being lower than that of existing insurances. Through reducing the cost of changing the vehicle classification by virtue of the new insurance, participants in car-hailing industry will be inspired to operate businesses legally and reasonably. 

Safety and service quality have always been the competition focuses in car-hailing industry. It should be regulated from a national policy level that a driver who owns car-hailing service certificate is only allowed to possess one qualified car and register on one certified platform, according to Li's advice. This stipulation is raised to improve service quality and ensure the riding safety. If a driver serves on different platforms, it will be difficult to verify which platform should be responsible for the accident possibly caused by drivers' drowsiness or other unexpected factors. Besides, it may also pose dangers for drivers' safety.

In addition, Li also advocates that the government should bring car-hailing service under the governance of passenger transport and taxi industry to balance the interests of all parties, promote the Internet transportation development under a well-arranged condition and encourage fair competitions among peers.