[sustran] Fwd: Shanghai targets idle taxis to ease jams

Paul Barter paulbarter at nus.edu.sg
Fri Nov 26 11:43:14 JST 2004


Any comments?
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Straits Times
Nov 26, 2004
Shanghai targets idle taxis to ease jams

Instead of driving around to look for passengers, cabbies will wait for
calls

Shanghai - SHANGHAI'S municipal government is taking empty taxis off the
roads in a drastic move to relieve its worsening traffic situation.
	
Come 2007, passengers will no longer be able to flag down a cab.
Instead, they will have to rely on taxi companies' hotlines or one of
10,000 designated taxi calling points to get a cab.

And the city's more than 45,000 taxi-drivers will have to wait for
business at 360 parking sites instead of plying the streets, the
Shanghai Star reported.

At the centre of the innovative and complex system, according to the
local transportation bureau, will be a Global Positioning System (GPS)
to monitor and direct taxis to ensure passengers get a taxi in three
minutes.

All taxis will be installed with a GPS device by 2007 and a basic
network which covers 4,000 taxis will be put in use this year, the
bureau said.

Explaining the overhaul, bureau director Bian Baipin said: 'Raising a
hand to beckon a taxi has many disadvantages. The taxi without
passengers occupies the road and the taxi drivers are prone to fatigue
and carelessness.

'The disadvantages also include fuel waste and environmental pollution.'

Statistics from the bureau show that a taxi runs 350km a day on average
and more than 45 per cent of taxis plying the roads are empty at any
given time.

But most people doubted that the new system would be feasible. 'It will
be really terrible if the line to call the taxi is busy...I will waste a
lot of time making the call and waiting for the taxi to come,' said Mr
Qian Jinyue, an employee of a foreign-venture company based in Shanghai.

The bureau gave the assurance that more people will be employed to man
the hotlines to ensure the efficiency of the booking-based system.

Cabbies were concerned if the parking centres would be enough to cover
Shanghai and enable them to reach passengers quickly. -- CHINA
DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK 

Copyright (c) 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

[Forwarded for the purpose of research and education.]


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