“Asian Review 008” Shanghai part8
Situation of Taxi in Shanghai-Leading the mobile society With regard to taxis, the situation have changed significantly in recent years. Until two years ago, it was relatively easy to catch a vacant taxi except during the peak hours of commuting in the morning and the evening. The first ride fare was also affordable, around 14 RMB (about 1.2USD).
After Uber’s service and other smartphone application to call taxies and other cars appeared, you cannot catch a taxi without the applications on the streets, except at airports, stations, and major hotels.
Furthermore, a Chinese company “DiDi” acquired the Uber business in China, and the SNS chat major leader “WeChat” and the e-commerce leader Alibaba (Alipay) introduced electronic payment, a system has been established in which users can accumulate benefit points, and the service provider and the user can evaluate each other. With WeChat and Alipay, payment for daily meals in restaurants, goods in convenience stores, and grocery stores can be made through the smartphone. With this convenience, many people do not carry a wallet when they go out. You can also find public rental bicycles called “Mobike” throughout the city, which is also premised on the use in electronic payment.
Mobile society like this is spreading rapidly throughout China. The background of this situation is that China’s penetration rate of mobile phones were earlier than the landline phones. Japanese taxis and restaurants are also beginning to support WeChat and Alipay, and Mobike is likely to spread to other Asia regions as well.
For the 2020 Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, social infrastructure development such as the private accommodations and free Wi-Fi is a hot topic, but in reality Tokyo also has some points to learn from Shanghai.
