New policy on online ride-hailing: Who is being “regulated”?

The era of online taxi-hailing is over, and legal status means that industry supervision is being strengthened. The Ministry of Transport officially released the "Interim Measures for the Management of Online Taxi Booking Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interim Measures") yesterday. Compared with the draft for comments released in October last year, some conditions have been relaxed, but the core issues such as the prohibition of private cars from being used as special cars are still an insurmountable gap. However, after the release of the "Interim Measures", major online taxi-hailing platforms instantly applauded. In fact, my country has become the first country in the world to recognize the legal status of online taxi-hailing nationwide. After the new policy is passed, companies with legal status face stricter supervision. Vehicles and drivers need to break through the qualification threshold. In the context of a clear ban on "price wars", it is still a problem for users with no loyalty to maintain stickiness. Huge capital investment is "eyeing" and waiting for cash. It may be too early for online taxi-hailing companies to applaud. The real test is the introduction of local policy details.

Private cars: Tightened access conditions

After much anticipation, the new policy on online ride-hailing, the Interim Measures, has finally been implemented. At yesterday's press conference, Liu Xiaoming, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transport, said that online ride-hailing does have very obvious characteristics of "Internet +", and the development of online ride-hailing is more encouraging. Regarding the Interim Measures, the outside world is still concerned about whether private cars can engage in online ride-hailing operations. Beijing Business Daily reporters checked the details of the newly issued Interim Measures and found that most of the new policies are to regulate the development of the online ride-hailing industry and strengthen guidance. However, there is not much mention about whether private cars can be used as online ride-hailing. It is only stated in Article 28: "No enterprise or individual shall provide information connection to vehicles and drivers that have not obtained legal qualifications to carry out online ride-hailing business services. Online ride-hailing business services shall not be provided in the name of private carpooling." And Article 38 mentions: "Private carpooling, also known as carpooling and ride-sharing, shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant regulations of the municipal people's government." This subsequently led to the outside world interpreting the Interim Measures as private cars can also be used as online ride-hailing.

The reporter checked the details of the "Interim Measures" and found that Article 12 of the policy stipulates the following conditions for online car-hailing operations, including passenger cars with 7 seats or less, installed with vehicle satellite positioning devices and emergency alarm devices with driving record functions, and vehicle technical performance meets the relevant standards for operational safety; Article 13 stipulates that the taxi administrative department in the service location shall, upon application by the vehicle owner or the online car-hailing platform company, issue an "Online Pre-booked Taxi Transport Certificate" to vehicles that meet the conditions and are registered as pre-booked taxi passenger transport. According to the above statement, private cars still have to pass review before they can become online car-hailing vehicles, which is a far cry from the days when private cars could be transformed into online car-hailing vehicles by signing a "four-party agreement".

Ride-hailing platforms: partying with pain

After the release of the Interim Measures, online ride-hailing platforms expressed their support. Previously, there was a lot of fighting among online ride-hailing platforms, but after the release of the Interim Measures, it surprisingly triggered a carnival in the entire industry, and it seemed that the release of the new policy had no impact on every company.

Didi Chuxing said that the Interim Measures clarified the legal status of online ride-hailing for the first time from the national regulatory level, which is a milestone for the stable and healthy development of my country's transportation industry, and is an affirmation and encouragement of the mobile travel field under the new sharing economy. Uber China said that the promulgation of the Interim Measures reflects the government's recognition and support for the new online ride-hailing business model, making my country the first country among the world's major economies to issue such national regulations. The promulgation of the Interim Measures is in line with the trend of technological innovation, incorporating the platform into the construction of the national information infrastructure, and marking that the online ride-hailing industry has officially embarked on a new journey of standardized and healthy development. Yidao said that the Interim Measures is an official recognition of the online ride-hailing industry, which truly gives the online ride-hailing industry a legal status. This is a huge policy progress that is conducive to promoting the standardized development of the industry. Yidao is very pleased to see the release and implementation of the new online ride-hailing policy.

Shenzhou Special Car, which mainly operates online taxis, said that the policy has important positive significance for promoting the healthy and orderly development of the online taxi industry. Shouqi Taxi, the only regular online taxi company in Beijing, said that the policy has condensed the wisdom and consensus of all sectors of society and will create a fairer legal competition environment for the development of online taxi booking.

Experts: Online ride-hailing operating costs have increased significantly

In the view of an analyst who wishes to remain anonymous, it is unrealistic that the release of the Interim Measures will trigger a carnival in the entire industry. The mere fact that private cars are eligible to be used as online ride-hailing vehicles will cause severe damage to the current major online ride-hailing platforms. The analyst believes that online ride-hailing vehicles must be registered as scheduled taxi passenger transport, changing the nature of the vehicle to an operating vehicle, which is fundamentally different from private cars. "Compared with private cars, operating vehicles have stricter annual inspections. They are inspected once a year within five years, and once every six months for vehicles over five years old. Private cars are inspected once every two years within six years, and once a year for vehicles over six years old. At the same time, operating vehicles are very different from private cars in terms of insurance costs, management fee payments, transaction processes, and second-hand car transaction values. The cost of operating vehicles is several times or even dozens of times that of private cars."

It is worth noting that yesterday evening, China Youth Network also published an article stating that "the new policy on online ride-hailing has been seriously misinterpreted, and private cars are still prohibited from being used as special cars." The article stated, "Changing the use of vehicles to operational nature is a prerequisite for private cars to engage in online ride-hailing. In addition to requiring the replacement of driving licenses, private car owners must also purchase more expensive operational vehicle insurance, and the cost of maintaining and driving the car will increase significantly. Prohibiting private cars from being used as online ride-hailing has been a consistent policy of the Ministry of Transport and traffic management departments at all levels since the day online ride-hailing was born, and it is also a key target of crackdowns."

In addition, the total number of vehicles is not completely relaxed. An online car-hailing company executive who did not want to be named said that the national-level "Interim Measures" only set up a large framework for the development of the industry, and the specific implementation details will depend on the local policy details. It is foreseeable that in major cities with serious congestion such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as second-, third- and fourth-tier cities with saturated taxis and limited market growth space, private cars will face many challenges when they are transformed into online car-hailing vehicles.

Yesterday, the reporter checked the "Interim Measures" and found that its third article shows that we should give priority to the development of urban public transportation, moderately develop taxis, and orderly develop online car-hailing services in accordance with the principles of high-quality services and differentiated operations. Beijing Business Daily reporter Wu Wenzhi Sun Qixiang

Capital: Seeking cash

With the introduction of the new policy for online ride-hailing, profit-seeking capital may become the first end of the travel market chain to seek change. For investors, on the one hand, the way to realize capital is to hope that the company will go public; on the other hand, they expect new investors to enter and unwind themselves. The introduction of the new policy for online ride-hailing has not only rectified the industry's reputation, but also brought stricter supervision. Among them, the qualifications of vehicles and drivers have become obstacles to the progress of many platforms. Under the background of the new policy, capital is most eager to seek realization. Cai Jingzhong, partner of Shanghai Qingkui Investment, said that the introduction of this new policy will stimulate the pace of capital withdrawal to a certain extent. Since there are profit requirements for listing on the domestic main board, and it is difficult for online ride-hailing to make a profit in a short period of time, the New Third Board and overseas have become two ways to go public. At the same time, with the pattern set, it is not ruled out that capital will promote mergers and integrations between large platforms.

User: Check the price

The most difficult link to overcome in the travel market chain may be user stickiness. After the new policy is introduced, each platform will not be able to spend money arbitrarily to subsidize. It is necessary to reasonably determine the fare of online car-hailing and implement clear price marking, but it is not allowed to engage in unfair competition at prices below cost. Since the price war between Didi and Kuaidi, users in the travel market have become "spoiled children", and they often tend to whichever platform has more subsidies. Internet analyst Yu Bin believes that consumers, like drivers, have a profit-seeking mentality. They tend to whichever platform has more subsidies, and there is no loyalty to speak of. After the new policy is introduced, the special car platform can no longer "arbitrarily" spend money to grab users, and prices may be more stable and rational in the future.

Driver: I need income

The new policy proposes to allow drivers to sign flexible work contracts with various platforms, and both full-time and part-time jobs will be feasible in the future. However, subsidies have always been the main source of income for drivers. With the implementation of the new policy, subsidies from various platforms will be reduced, and the easy monthly income of 10,000 yuan that drivers hope for is almost impossible. In the view of Zhang Xu, research director of the Analysys Internet Travel Research Center, in addition to income, the threshold for private cars and private car owners to transform into online car-hailing drivers has been greatly increased, which will also help improve the overall quality of drivers.

Taxi: Keeping your job

While the emergence of online ride-hailing services has impacted the traditional taxi market, it has also indirectly promoted the reform of the traditional taxi business model. The new policy that has just been implemented shows that in the future, the contract fee standards or quota tasks will be determined and dynamically adjusted by all parties through negotiation, and the excessive contract fees and mortgages will be reduced through the reform of the business model. Ma Qiji, a researcher at the New Media Marketing and Communication Research Center of Peking University, said that the introduction of the new policy will bring about earth-shaking changes to the traditional taxi industry. Its policy relatively fully reflects the central government's support for the sharing economy and the new economy, and provides a demonstration from the regulatory perspective. This also means that the reform of the traditional taxi industry has truly arrived.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.