During this year's New Year's Day holiday, nearly 130 million passengers were sent by railways, highways, waterways and civil aviation across the country, and data from Didi Chuxing showed that the demand for taxis increased by more than 150% over the same period last year, and the demand for taxis in large transportation hubs such as airports and railway stations increased by more than 160% year-on-year. With the approach of the Spring Festival, the passenger flow in various places has increased, and the situation of "difficulty in taking a taxi" in transportation hubs has become prominent.
There are long queues at the cruising taxi stands, black car drivers solicit passengers at the exit gate "without a meter, a fixed price", and repeated communication with online car-hailing drivers still can't find the pick-up point...... What is the crux of the problem? How to take effective measures to make the problem of taking a taxi in transportation hubs no longer become a travel embarrassment?
Face up to the problem of difficulty in taking a taxi in transportation hubs
"It's too difficult to take a taxi at the airport late at night", "The taxi driver sits on the ground and increases the price, and is unwilling to use the meter", "The driver refuses to take the car because he feels that the distance is close"...... Recently, there have been many feedback from netizens on social platforms. Mr. Zhang said: "The fastest way to take a taxi at Beijing South Railway Station in the middle of the night is not to take a taxi at Beijing South Railway Station. The fast taxi strategy of Beijing South Railway Station summarized by netizens is to take a taxi on the side of the road outside the train station, which is more convenient for passengers and drivers to locate and find each other's location.
Ms. Li, who often hails taxis at Shanghai's Hongqiao hub, feels the same way, and she is used to taking taxis near shopping malls outside the station. "It's all people coming out of the train station to get a taxi," she said. Because I hailed a taxi in the station, the driver would usually ask me to get on the bus at the designated floor, which was very difficult to find. ”
According to the guidance of the street signs, the Banyuetan reporter came to the P10 parking lot of Shanghai Hongqiao hub to find a pick-up point, which is divided into B1, BM2, BM1, 1F four floors, although the relevant departments set up a pick-up point on the B1 floor, but most of the drivers are reluctant to pick up passengers here. Master Xian, an online car-hailing driver, said: "The free parking time in the station is only 20 minutes, and it is easy to get stuck in traffic with many people near the pick-up point, so there is no time to pick up passengers." ”
Banyuetan reporter's investigation found that many passengers choose to wait for traditional cruise taxis, but at night or during peak hours on holidays, the queue time is often an hour or even longer. There are also many netizens who said that they encountered short-range refusal at Shanghai Pudong Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Hangzhou East Railway Station and other places. Many taxi drivers admit that it takes them more than half an hour from queuing up to enter the transportation hub to picking up passengers, so they are reluctant to take short-haul orders and find various reasons to shirk.
Image source: Visual China
Taxi supply-side optimization should be "multi-pronged"
The reporter found that at present, local traffic management and other departments are taking a number of measures to optimize the travel experience of residents from the supply side of taxis.
——Tapping potential and creating new space for passenger flow. During the New Year's Day holiday, the Shanghai Hongqiao hub strengthened the command and dispatch mechanism with taxi companies, and launched a number of new taxi pick-up points and storage yards on a pilot basis. On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday in 2023, Hongqiao Railway Station will open 1,000 new parking spaces and 2 entrances and exits to the public, and relevant departments will simultaneously coordinate the addition of 32 temporary pick-up areas, and optimize driving routes to release space potential. Online ride-hailing platforms such as Didi guide drivers and passengers to meet and set off faster at transportation hubs through offline waiting areas, real-life pictures of boarding points, and AR navigation routes.
– Increasing transport capacity and strengthening the supply of public transport services. Many places have strengthened the service supply of public transportation such as subways and buses in transportation hubs, and adopted methods such as extending operating hours, encrypting departure times, and adding special bus routes to improve passenger evacuation capacity. For example, Beijing Metro Line 4, which passes through Beijing South Railway Station, has repeatedly extended its operating hours on weekends or during peak traffic periods. On the basis of mobilizing the airport express line and airport bus, Urumqi Diwopu International Airport will coordinate the introduction of supplementary capacity such as buses, BRT and ring city express lines.
-- Deal with black cars and do not leave room for the chaos of taxis. Illegal passenger transportation, soliciting and shouting, sky-high prices, short-distance refusal to take passengers and other chaotic phenomena have seriously affected the taxi experience of passengers. Traffic law enforcement authorities in some cities have stepped up their supervision. In Shenyang, the transportation department focuses on strengthening the law enforcement work of taxi stations, drop-off areas, entrances and exits in the station area, implements a 24-hour duty system at Shenyang Station and Shenyang North Station, and carries out duty work at Taoxian Airport and Shenyang South Railway Station according to the operating hours of the station, supervises the operation order of the passenger transport market in real time, and investigates and punishes violations.
Maintaining the façade of urban traffic should be "the right medicine"
"Taxi is the façade of a city, if you just leave the station and encounter a black car to solicit passengers, you can't get a regular paid taxi, the first impression of this city on me is not very good. Mr. Zhang, a passenger, said. During the interview, many passengers said that they could understand the relative shortage of taxi resources in the transportation hub during peak hours, and hoped to make the vehicles move instead of being stuck in the parking lot.
The relevant person in charge of the Shanghai transportation department said that through field research, the "congestion point" was found, and then measures such as adding taxi pick-up points, strengthening taxi capacity guarantee, and optimizing traffic organization were taken to solve the problem. At Hongqiao Railway Station, the relevant departments found that the departure speed of the taxi pick-up point was 1,300 vehicles per hour, and the slow loading of passengers caused by problems such as low departure efficiency, so they added a pick-up area and arranged staff to help carry luggage and guide passengers, and the departure efficiency was increased by about two percent.
To alleviate the dilemma of taking a taxi, we still need to work on some details. For example, many online ride-hailing drivers have reported that the network signal in places such as Beijing Daxing Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station is poor, resulting in reduced traffic efficiency, inconvenient positioning and finding passengers, and even causing vehicles to gather in areas with signals.
The problem of difficulty in taking a taxi in transportation hubs does not exist independently, and it is necessary to sort out the problems existing in the overall transportation system of large stations and surrounding areas, and implement precise policies and solve them comprehensively. Industry insiders suggest that the intelligent management of hub station traffic should be strengthened. On the one hand, through reasonable estimation and monitoring of passenger flow, matching and dispatching corresponding taxi resources, balancing the supply and demand relationship between drivers and passengers, and on the other hand, through digital means, improve the identification of stubborn diseases such as illegal passenger transportation and illegal charges, crack down on industry chaos, and create a healthy and orderly taxi market environment.
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Pudong Airport resumes online car-hailing operations: listening to the voices of the people is the only way to go smoothly
After full discussion from all walks of life, the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission revised its policy to resume online car-hailing services in the Pudong Airport area from February 4. Whether it is to consider the actual needs of passengers or to maintain a fair environment for market competition, it is necessary to restore the orderly operation of online car-hailing in Pudong Airport. At present, the taxi order at Pudong Airport is stable, which shows that the best way to optimize and improve various measures is to put the needs of passengers first.
This controversy has also reminded the relevant departments that the introduction of policies should not simply follow the old ways, but should fully investigate and understand the voices of the people. The peak of the Spring Festival is approaching, and the cold wave weather has occurred in many places recently, and the staff who stick to the traffic front have worked hard, hoping that everyone can embark on a safe and smooth journey home.
Half Moon Talk Reporter: Wang Chenyang
*This article is the original content of Half Moon Talk
![Yuncheng Transportation promotes ride safety[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)