Taxi price boards to tackle overcharging
Print Edition
BILINGUAL information boards have been installed in the Lujiazui area in a bid to crack down on taxi cons and driver demands for high fares, officials said yesterday.
Signs in 20 locations, in Chinese and English, display taxi fares and mileage from that spot to places such as transport hubs and hotels.
Sixteen lightbox-type signs are located at major intersections in the Lujiazui area, three LED displays are at taxi stands at Jin Mao Tower, Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Super Brand Mall, with a fourth in front of the newly opened Disney store.
These were all in place by Thursday, the city’s transport enforcement team said yesterday.
Passengers can check the fare and mileage to six major business areas including Wujiaochang Square and Xujiahui, and 12 scenic spots, such as People’s Square and the Bund.
They also include fares to 11 hotels.
Lujiazui has long been one of the city’s most difficult areas to get a cab, with numerous complaints about drivers overcharging.
However, it remains to be seen how effective the initiative will be.
Yesterday afternoon, a couple heading for Shanghai Railway Station stopped a taxi next to an information board on a taxi stand located on an intersection near Jin Mao Tower.
The taxi driver asked for 150 yuan (US$23.4) for the ride, while the board showed the 9-kilometer journey should cost about 30 yuan.
Despite the huge price difference, the couple, who asked not to be named, told Shanghai Daily that in the end they got in the taxi as there were no others.
“I once spent nearly an hour to get a cab home,” a woman surnamed Han, who works in the Lujiazui area, told Shanghai Daily.
She believes that the information board won’t work, as the problem is that there’s always a shortage of cabs.
Han also said that the useful information rolled too fast on the board, while advertisements lasted too long.
Providing fare information was first introduced in the city’s high-end hotels in 2011, with cards with details left in guests’ rooms.
“This measure is effective as the hotels involved had fewer complaints about taxi services The number of complaints has declined by half almost every year,” said an official surnamed Chen from the transport team.
Fare information was later provided at the city’s airports and Hongqiao Railway Station.
Chen said transport officials are working with other authorities to promote the boards in more business areas.
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