Cabbies use quake donation excuse to cheat passengers

By Yang Jian  |   2008-6-4  |     ONLINE EDITION

SOME taxi drivers in Shanghai have reportedly charged passengers extra for "bridge maintenance fees" and claimed they were gathering the money for earthquake victims, the city's taffic law enforcement teams have said.

A passenger told police recently that a cab driver demanded 10-yuan for "bridge maintenance fees" when taking Nanpu Bridge.

The driver said the taxi company will collect the money and send it to the Red Cross Society of China for quake victims in Sichuan, the passenger said.

Bridge and tunnel maintenance fees were canceled in 2003. No maintenance fees will be charged to use bridges, tunnels and highways, traffic teams have said.

Meanwhile, no organizations, including the Red Cross, have entrusted taxi drivers to collect earthquake donations.

The police told passengers not to believe taxi drivers who demand extra money.

The police said they will severely punish these cabbies.

Shanghai's taxi companies have launched many campaigns to support relief work in quake-hit areas. On May 16, taxi drivers donated one day of income to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

The death toll from the May 12 earthquake in Wenchuan County of Sichuan has reached 69,107 as of yesterday. The 8.0-magnitude quake was the country's deadliest natural disaster since 1976.