Car-hailing giant Didi Chuxing on Monday said it hoped that Chinese regulatory authorities would show "flexibility and openness" in dealing with the country's fledgling car-hailing industry.
Didi said it anticipated that authorities would allow the use of private cars in car-hailing services, otherwise there would not be enough vehicles to address passenger complaints over the difficulties of getting taxis, according to a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday by the company.
The Ministry of Transport (MOT) on October 10 released draft rules that would tighten control over domestic car-hailing services, effectively banning private cars from doing business via online car-hailing apps.
"I mostly agree with Didi's suggestion, especially with respect to the regulation of private cars. The government should not put so many restrictions on the use of private cars, which constitute the backbone of the car-hailing industry," Zhang Xu, an analyst with Beijing-based market consultancy Analysys International, said on Monday.
Didi, which serves an average of 10 million passengers a day in the country, said that 75 percent of its drivers are private car owners.
Didi also advocated that officials should delegate some supervisory authority to the operators of apps, saying it hoped the MOT wouldn't actually require all online taxi-hailing operators to obtain licenses from the authorities, as the draft rules state.
"It's difficult and expensive to make sure all the drivers get the proper licenses," said Didi.
Didi has submitted its suggestions to the MOT, which is accepting public comment on the draft rules for one month, according to MOT's website.
Zhang warned that if the draft was put into effect as is, it would likely turn the innovative car-hailing industry into another rigid taxi sector.
China's traditional taxi services have been the target of complaints by riders who say taxis are too hard to get and by drivers who say that high fees imposed by taxi companies cut into their incomes.
Internet car-hailing apps including Didi and US-based Uber Technologies Inc, which pose fierce competition for taxi drivers, will help drive structural reform of the taxi industry, said Zhang, noting that the convenience of Internet car-hailing apps is a trend.
Le Holdings (Beijing) Co, an operator of a domestic online video service, is reportedly moving into the car-hailing industry.
Unidentified sources were quoted by news portal sina.com.cn on Monday as saying Le Holdings will acquire a stake in Internet car-hailing platform yongche.com. A public relations representative from Le Holdings declined to comment on the matter.
