Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A9

October 18, 2018

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Business » Transport

Qiangsheng joins ride-sharing boom

By Xu Lingchao | 00:01 UTC+8 October 18, 2018 | Print Edition

Qiangsheng Taxi, one of the city’s major taxi firms, is entering the ride-sharing business in an alternative way.

Joining hands with LSS Leasing, a financial leasing company established by Shanghai-listed Shenhua Holdings, the taxi firm founded “Qiang Sheng smart-e,” a platform which, according to the joint venture company, provides cars and manpower management to ride-sharing companies.

Zheng Yongqing, manager of Qiangsheng Taxi, said that service quality will be crucial to the ride-sharing industry — including traditional taxis and burgeoning online ride-hailing.

“Qiang Sheng smart-e will not compete with other ride-sharing companies, but will instead work out a cooperative relationship with them,” said Hu Leilei, director of LSS Leasing.

The joint venture company is focusing on ride-sharing platforms around the Yangtze River Delta region. It plans to expand to some 100 cities nationwide by 2019.

So far, LSS Leasing has been working with ride-sharing platforms such as Caocao Zhuanche and Weltmeister Motors.

Meanwhile, Qiang Sheng smart-e is also eying freight transport. Hu said most ride-sharing companies focus on passenger transport, so more opportunities may lie in the freight business.

Previously LSS Leasing provided new vehicles and financial services to Huolala and Kuaigou Dache, two freight service providers.

While LSS Leasing aims at expanding its business, Qiangsheng, the other partner of the joint venture, is seeking a structural upgrade of its business model, as well as expansion of business nationwide.

In 2016, Qiangsheng was among the first companies in Shanghai to acquire a license to run an online ride-hailing business. It also introduced its own app, Qiangsheng Chuxing.

But according to Tang Jian, assistant manager of the taxi company, only about 25 percent of all orders come from the app, because more passengers prefer to book a ride with Qiangsheng via its call center.

“The call center receives more than 14,000 orders on a daily basis,” Tang said.

On the other hand, Tang added that more than 70 percent are still hailing taxis on the road, so there is still huge space for ride-sharing business to blossom in the traditional taxi industry.

Transport


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend