Shanghai sets up complaint hotline for taxi drivers

By Chen Qian  |   2008-11-11  |     ONLINE EDITION

SHANGHAI will set up a 24-hour complaint hotline for taxi drivers to improve communication with government officials, a local newspaper reported today.

About 10 percent of the city’s 100,000 taxi drivers quit every year due to work-related stress, low income and other reasons.

The hotline comes as cabbies in Chongqing Municipality and the provinces of Gansu and Hainan went on strike in the past week to protest high company rental fees, short contracts and competition from unlicensed cabs.

In Shanghai, many taxi drivers said they need to work 18 hours a day to earn 2,000 yuan (US$294) to 3,000 yuan per month, Youth Daily reported.

Taxi drivers in Shanghai should pay their company a 600 yuan fee per day, the report said. They also face competition from illegal cabs, especially at night.

On Monday, cab drivers in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, and Sanya, Hainan Province, went on strike following a two-day strike by cabbies in Chongqing Municipality one week ago.

All striking drivers demanded lower monthly rental fees and crackdowns on illegal cabs.

Sanya police said today that 15 taxies were damaged yesterday as those drivers tried to work despite the strike. Police caught 21 suspects in the disturbance.

Cabbies in Lanzhou complained they can only earn 20 yuan a day due to fierce competition from unlicensed motorcycles and cabs.

Xinhua news agency reported that Yongdeng County in Lanzhou has 280 legal taxies while as many as 700 unlicensed motorcycles and cabs operate on the streets.

About 160 cab drivers attended yesterday's strike in Sanya. They said they will continue the strike until the government announces an exact date to crack down on the illegal cabs, Xinhua said.