Chongqing cab drivers go on strike

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-11-3  |     ONLINE EDITION

SOME people missed flights and buses were packed today as taxi drivers went on strike to protest a number of issues in Chongqing Municipality.

Insufficient supplies of natural gas, the fuel for most taxis in the city, competition from unlicensed cabs and hefty fines for traffic violations ignited the strike, said a worker at the municipal transport administration.
Sources with the city transport authority said the cab drivers were incited to go on strike, according to Xinhua news agency.

Chongqing has 16,000 licensed cabs with almost 9,000 in the urbanized areas of the country’s fourth biggest city.
``Taxi companies usually charge every private cab driver 7,000 yuan (US$1,000) to 8,000 yuan monthly,’’ said an employee with Chongqing Road Transport Administration. ``Meanwhile, a taxi driver will pick up about 10 tickets every month.’’

The starting fare in Chongqing is 5 yuan for the first 3 kilometers. It usually costs less than 20 yuan to get to most places in town by taxi.

Today’s strike started early this morning and some drivers who continued to work were forced to return to company parking lots after they witnessed some people vandalizing vehicles still in service. The assailants even pulled passengers out of the cabs, the report said.

``Some of us do not want to strike, but we are just afraid to be attacked if going out to work,’’ a driver surnamed Wang was quoted as saying.

Police are investigating the attacks, which they believed were schemed and controlled by a small number of people, Xinhua reported.

People trying to get to work said it was chaos.

``The buses were jammed,’’ said Chen Jie, a Shanghai native who works in Chongqing. ``With no taxis, some people missed their flights and other travelers could not leave the airport.’’
The taxi industry has been a source of many complaints from both drivers and passengers, Chen told Shanghai Daily this morning.