Shenyang rolls out special govt taxis  

沈阳浑南新区公车企业化运营 按出租车八折收费

浑南新区公车改革再出新举措，将原有的公务用车全部拍卖后，新公开招标采购60辆低能耗、小排量轿车，实行企业化运营模式，开拓车辆租赁业务，计时计价按出租价8折收取费用，还可以网上预约叫车。5月12日，浑南新区举行公务用车企业化运营启动仪式，正式启用政府公务车“花钱买服务”模式，为全国首创。[查看全文]

A district in the city of Shenyang in northeast China has begun to provide a taxi-style government car service, in which officials need to pay for using the vehicles.

The 71 government vehicles in Hunnan New District include 60 sedans, four medium-sized buses and seven vans. All the vehicles belong to a government-backed company.

Niu Qun, a local official in charge of state-owned asset supervision and management, said the number of cars has reduced by 80 percent since local authorities adopted a new policy regarding the use of government vehicles in 2011.

All the vehicles are equipped with GPS systems to monitor travel routes and officials riding in the cars have to swipe a government smart card to pay the fare. A taxi-hailing software has also been installed in officials' office computers.

According to Niu, the local finance department will earmark a certain amount of money to card holders and the special "taxi" fee will be 20 percent cheaper than that of a normal taxi.

Niu said the measure helps improve efficiency and the government can save 12,800 yuan, or 2,000 U.S. dollars, each year, cutting costs related to government vehicle usage.