Beijing authorities still haven’t formally made a decision on how they plan to regulate private-car taxi services like Uber in the city. But on Tuesday, Beijing Transportation Committee Zhou Zhengyu reportedly made a pretty unambiguous statement to reporters:
The business model of private-car services is illegal; what we approve of is just [the concept of transportation-focused] ecommerce platforms and services.
At least in Beijing, then, there’s no more need to talk about a “legal gray area.” Uber and services like it are straight-up illegal, at least in their current form.
That may not be as disastrous as it sounds, though. In the long run this likely just means that the company will be required to jump through some additional hoops to attain legal status. Zhou said that the private-car business model is currently illegal, but Transportation Committee members have also said that the Committee believes online booking of private cars is an important developing trend in the transportation industry, and one that the Committee plans to support.
Beijing’s regular taxi companies must go through a thorough vetting and licensing process before being allowed to legally operate, and it’s likely that when Beijing does introduce new legislation on this issue, it will require something similar of online taxi and car rental services like Uber.
Tech in Asia has contacted Uber for comment on this story, and will update it if we hear back.
(Source: Techweb)
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
