The Press Center of the Fourth Session of the 12th National People’s Congress held a press conference at 10:00 on Monday, March 14 in the Multifunction Hall of the Media Center. Yang Chuantang, Minister of Transport, Liu Xiaoming, Director of the Transportation Services Department of the Ministry of Transport, and Guo Jifu, Director of the Beijing Transportation Development Research Center, were invited to answer questions from Chinese and foreign reporters on "deepening the reform and development of taxis."
On March 14, the Press Center of the Fourth Session of the 12th National People’s Congress held a press conference and invited Yang Chuantang, Minister of Transport, Liu Xiaoming, Director of the Transport Services Department of the Ministry of Transport, and Guo Jifu, Director of the Beijing Transportation Development Research Center, to answer questions from Chinese and foreign reporters on "deepening the reform and development of taxis." This is Yang Chuantang’s briefing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xin
The first financial reporter:The recent rise of ride-hailing has greatly changed the way people get around, but we have also heard a lot of complaints from the taxi and private car industries. May I ask Minister Yang, have you taken into account and taken into account the interests of all parties when formulating these two documents? Is there any deeper background for formulating these two documents?
Yang Chuantang:Thank you for your question. The reform and development of taxis is related to the travel of the people and the overall situation of social stability. The Ministry of Transport has always attached great importance to this work. Since 2008, the Ministry of Transport has assumed the responsibility of guiding the taxi industry, and has been working hard to promote the reform of the taxi industry. It has successively issued a number of regulations and issued a number of documents. Especially in response to the new situation and new problems brought about by the rise of online car-hailing, in accordance with the overall deployment of the country’s comprehensive deepening reform, the Ministry of Transport carried out surveys and studies in July 2014, and in November 2014 officially expressed its attitude of encouraging and inclusive innovation in the development of online car-hailing.
In January 2015, our ministry officially established a reform working group, and together with relevant departments, we began to study the policies for deepening the reform of the taxi industry and standardizing the development of online car-hailing. We embarked on a top-level design and fully launched the reform work of the industry. We conducted special surveys in 21 different types of cities and studied the laws, regulations and management policies of taxis in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore and other countries, as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan. We also held more than 50 seminars, demonstrations and consultations of different scopes and levels. We widely listened to the opinions of all parties and repeatedly conducted research and demonstration.
The relevant departments of the central government and the State Council have also participated in the drafting and revision of the taxi reform document throughout the process. In late June 2015, the Ministry of Transport held a special symposium on deepening the reform of the taxi industry. On July 20, a demonstration meeting on deepening the reform of the taxi industry was held, and the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reform and Further Promoting the Healthy Development of the Taxi Industry" and "Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Booking Taxi Business Services" were formed. The exposure draft of these two documents has been open to the public for one month since October 10 last year. The reason why this opportunity was chosen for reform is to take into account the interests of the people, that is, to adhere to the people-oriented, that is, to take the passenger as the center. This is the starting point and the end point of this reform.
The direction of reform has two aspects: first, to improve the service level of traditional taxis and better meet the needs of the people to travel. In the 1990s, our country’s taxis experienced rapid development and played an extremely important and positive role in alleviating travel difficulties. The majority of business operators and taxi drivers have made positive contributions and become a business card of the city, which should be fully recognized. With the passage of time, there have also been many new situations and problems. In some cities, it is difficult to take a taxi, the quality of industry services is not high, and the people’s multi-level travel needs cannot be effectively met. At the same time, the problem of industry instability is sometimes more prominent. These all urgently need to reform the taxi management system and mechanism to improve and improve the service level.
The second is to encourage the innovation and standardized development of new business forms of online car-hailing, which is also to better meet the needs of the people. In recent years, the rise of new business forms such as online car-hailing has indeed brought new experiences to passengers, but also led to the intertwining of old and new contradictions, the collision of interests, and even caused a series of industry problems. In the process of development, outstanding problems in the safety protection of passengers and fair competition in the market need to be solved urgently. While encouraging innovation, we must seek advantages and avoid disadvantages and standardize its development. The General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out that the people’s yearning for a better life is our goal. The people’s expectations and voices for improving travel needs are the direction of our work. We must make this the focus of our work and step up the reform of the taxi industry to better serve the people’s transportation.
The comprehensive deepening of taxi reform this time involves a wide range of areas and the public is very concerned about it. In the process of promoting reform, we have earnestly implemented the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, taking innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing as the development concept, and taking the "Internet +" action plan as an opportunity, adhering to the reform principles of people-oriented, encouraging innovation, overall consideration, and legal norms, and have studied and formulated relevant specific content around this principle. At the same time, we also promote the idea of stock reform and market segmentation to improve transportation services by increments, especially through "taxi + Internet" to promote the improvement and improvement of traditional taxi services and achieve transformation and upgrading; through "Internet + taxi" to build a diverse and differentiated taxi service system, promote the classification management and dislocation of new and old business formats, and gradually integrate development.
The main content of this reform is reflected in the two documents exposure draft. For the entire taxi industry, there are mainly six aspects: First, it is necessary to clarify the positioning. Taxi is an integral part of the urban comprehensive transportation system and a supplement to urban public transportation. It provides personalized transportation services for the public. Priority should be given to the development of public transportation and the appropriate development of taxis. Second, it is necessary to establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism for the scale of transportation capacity, adjust the scale of transportation capacity in a timely manner, and solve the contradiction between supply and demand. Third, it is necessary to reform the management of operating rights, implement restrictions on the period of operation rights and free use, and shall not speculate and transfer without authorization. Fourth, it is necessary to build a diversified service system including cruise taxis and booking taxis to meet the travel needs of the people at different levels. Fifth, reform the system of molecular money, from the past government regulation to equal consultation between enterprises or industry associations and drivers or trade unions, and encourage and use the technology of the Internet to build a reasonable distribution mechanism for the interests of enterprises and drivers. Sixth, we must improve the price formation mechanism and give full play to the leverage role of freight rates in regulating market supply and demand.
In response to the management of online car-hailing, the Interim Measures mainly clarify the core content of four aspects: First, clarify the positioning of development. In accordance with the high-quality and differentiated business principles, develop online car-hailing in an orderly manner. Second, under the current legal framework, license management is implemented for online car-hailing operators, drivers and vehicles. Third, standardize the business behavior of online car-hailing. Fourth, establish a multi-departmental joint supervision mechanism to strengthen supervision during and after the event.