Mobile taxi payments heat up
Print Edition
Heated competition in the mobile payment sector has spread to calling for taxis as two Chinese Internet giants offer incentives to passengers and taxi drivers to boost usage.
Alipay, the payment service linked to China’s largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group, is providing 10 yuan (US$1.6) cash coupon for taxi passengers and 15 yuan for drivers per ride through Kuaidi Taxi to boost its market position.
Since the partnership started in May last year, Alibaba-backed Kuaidi Taxi’s service now covers more than 400,000 cab drivers in 40 cities. In Shanghai, Kuaidi Taxi and Alipay are connected to over 60,000 cabs.
“The mobile payment service is the next hotspot for Internet giants to connect their existing service with other offline merchants,” said Zhang Meng, researcher with Analysys International.
Tencent-backed and Beijing-based Didi Taxi, another popular mobile taxi calling software, also provides incentives of 10 yuan for both drivers and passengers for each successful order paid through Tencent’s WeChat payment service.
Didi Taxi said it dealt with about 500,000 orders daily in the past week with nearly one third coming from WeChat payment channels. It plans to expand to 100 cities by the end of this year.
Tencent earlier this month announced it has joined hands with CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co to invest US$100 million in Didi Taxi.
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