Why aren't Japanese taxi drivers afraid of losing their jobs to Didi and Uber?

Car fans who visit Japan for the first time will find a strange phenomenon: most private cars on the road are small "vans", while sedans are usually taxis. The answer is simple. For the practical Japanese, those small light cars have large interior space, small footprint, fuel efficiency, and no tax, so they are naturally more popular than sedans. The reason why taxis choose sedans is naturally to consider the ride comfort.

However, as both are sedans, there are huge differences between Japanese taxis and Chinese taxis. This is not surprising. In Japan, where private cars are very popular and service requirements are high, how can consumers recognize a taxi without making it unique? As my country's national income increases, the quality of travel is becoming more and more important. Japan's taxi model may give us some inspiration.

Most taxi drivers in Japan are energetic old gentlemen. No matter how hot the weather is, they always wear wide-brimmed hats, driver uniforms with ties, and white gloves. They are neatly dressed. When they see you carrying luggage, they will get out of the car to help you move it up and down. No driver will ever pick up passengers in a T-shirt, shorts, or flip-flops. There will be no taxis that don't turn on the air conditioner to save money, and the smell of cigarettes will linger for a long time. This is the first difference from domestic taxis: the professionalism of the drivers is different.

The second difference is the hardware configuration in the taxi. In Japan, automatic doors are standard in taxis, so passengers do not need to open and close the doors by themselves, which is convenient for passengers with luggage. It is worth mentioning that although there are automatic doors, the driver will usually take the initiative to get off the car and protect the position of the door above his head with his hands to prevent passengers from getting injured. The car is equipped with an on-board GPS, which automatically plans the route by entering the address. There is no need to worry about the driver not knowing the way, let alone worrying about the driver taking a detour. Taxis will not only display the sign of an empty car (empty car), but also the sign of someone (taken away), which is convenient for passengers to confirm from a distance. In the background system of the taxi company, Japan has long introduced a vehicle dispatch system similar to Uber and Didi. Make a call for a taxi, and the dispatch center will automatically arrange a nearby taxi to pick you up and arrive within ten minutes.

The third difference is Japan's taxi system. Japanese taxis have long been allowed to be operated individually, and there is no access system for taxi companies in various regions. It has been completely market-oriented. For self-employed taxi drivers, all expenses such as the cost of purchasing vehicles and fuel are borne by the driver himself. Although there is no membership fee, the requirements for individual drivers are not simple: different age requirements are different, but generally they need to have more than ten years of experience as a full-time driver in the ordinary passenger transport industry, and the working time of other full-time car drivers is converted at 50%; no traffic accidents within ten years, no violation of traffic rules; if these systems are introduced to China, only some old drivers will meet the requirements.

The mainstream of Japanese taxis is company-operated. The company is responsible for the purchase of vehicles, fuel costs, insurance and parking. Drivers go to work for the company after on-the-job training, receive a basic salary, have a fixed number of attendances and attendance times each month, and enjoy the normal insurance benefits of the taxi company. The treatment is much better than in China. (The picture shows the "Moo Moo Taxi Company" in Hakodate, Japan. The exterior of the vehicles are painted in cow colors)

With such good services and such a strict professional access system, the cost of Japanese taxis is not low. Take Tokyo as an example, the taxi fare is 730 yen for the first two kilometers, and 80 yen for every 280 meters thereafter. In addition, there is a time fee of 90 yen per 1 minute and 45 seconds, which is not cheap compared to China. In reality, ordinary Japanese people rarely use taxis, mainly because public transportation is very developed. Unless it is late at night or in a hurry to catch a plane, it is not cost-effective to take a taxi.

However, the small number of users does not mean that this market segment has no future. As of December 2013, there were 15,271 taxi companies in Japan, 203,943 taxis operated by companies, and 39,304 taxis operated by individuals. Among them, there were 50,494 taxis in Tokyo alone. If Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama in the Tokyo metropolitan area are included, there are more than 70,000 taxis, which is no less than Beijing. The operating income of Japan's taxi industry reached 1.776 trillion yen (about 115.194 billion yuan) in 2009, and the average annual income of Japanese taxi drivers was 2.9802 million yen (about 193,500 yuan). It can be seen that there is huge potential in this market.

Looking back at China, with the rise of the middle class, a group of wealthy people with incomes comparable to those in Japan have emerged in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. They are willing to pay for safe and high-quality travel. However, the existing taxi market in my country has shortcomings such as dirty interiors, drivers taking detours, and poor service attitudes, which cannot meet the needs of this group of high-quality customers. Didi and Uber, on the one hand, have begun to focus on the bottom market and develop carpooling businesses; on the other hand, their high-end projects are mostly non-professional drivers, and the service quality is obviously not comparable to that of professional drivers.

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.