Airport cuts wait for taxis by half

By Dong Zhen  |   2008-6-18  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

PLANS to improve the taxi service at Hongqiao Airport have proved successful with passengers now waiting less than 20 minutes for a taxi, less than half the previous waiting time, the Shanghai Airport Authority said yesterday.

The authority expanded the number of taxi lanes and increased assistants and coordinators in the taxi service area in May.

"Generally passengers need only wait for about 10 minutes to get a taxi at Hongqiao Airport and even in rush hours the waiting time is no more than 20 minutes," said Su Weiwei, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Airport Authority.

This is a great improvement for travelers heading for downtown Shanghai who used to have to spend up to an hour waiting for a taxi.

The old system also stressed taxi drivers. The slow system saw many drivers turning down short rides as they sought higher fares to make up for the lengthy waits.

"The improved efficiency has already helped curb these taxi violations," she said.

The taxi service area had been running beyond its designed capacity for years as a result of rapidly increasing passenger flows. Last year, the airport served 22.63 million passengers which exceeded its original design capacity by 135 percent.

In 2005, the airport spent 5 million yuan (US$725,447) to streamline facilities for taxis and set up seven taxi spaces at the waiting area.

In May an extra taxi space was added and the number of taxi lanes were doubled, while 20 specially trained traffic assistants were also put on patrol, airport officials said.