Limited transportation options frustrate late-night travelers at Hongqiao

For late-night travelers at Shanghai's Hongqiao Transportation Hub, it is a struggle to escape the airport and railway hub and reach downtown.

With limited transportation options available late at night, including jam-packed overnight buses, excruciatingly long wait times for taxi and the prevalence of unregistered taxis demanding exorbitant fares, travelers are left stranded and frustrated by the imminent challenge of reaching their destination, Shanghai Television reported on Monday.

For example, on July 17, when the last metro train at Hongqiao Airport ceased operating, there were still four trains and nearly 50 flights arriving at the Hongqiao hub, according to the report.

The only choice of public transportation left for late-arriving passengers are overnight buses, which runs as late as 5am. But they are not enough to meet the late-night needs of passengers.

Those who cannot get on a bus can choose to take a taxi or use ride-hailing apps.

However, at the four taxi-hailing spots at Hongqiao, waiting times exceeded one hour, and the waiting list for car-hailing apps exceeded 175 customers.

Some illegal taxi drivers also take the opportunity to raise their fares.

They claim to work for taxi or car-hailing companies, but are not willing to use their meters. One driver even asked for 200 yuan (US$27.83) from each passenger for a single ride, where the normal taxi fare would only be 40 yuan (US$5.56), the report said.

One driver told Knews that they would wait in line for two to three hours to get to the taxi-hailing spots at the Hongqiao hub.

"No one is willing to wait that long to just get a passenger whose destination is within the starting fee," a driver said.

It has become common practice for car-hailing app drivers to cancel their orders at the Hongqiao hub area. One passenger said that a driver cancelled his order after learning that he was not willing to pay a fare of 100 yuan.

Long waiting lines inside the underground parking lot for passengers, compounded with the line for drivers to enter, have worsened the situation.

This is especially true when there are no staff members of the Hongqiao hub to direct traffic late at night.

Those who want to try their luck outside the hub have expressed their dissatisfaction that they have been waiting for more than an hour, or cannot get a ride even if they offer increasingly generous tips.

The Hongqiao transportation hub became operational in 2010, however, it has met its limitations in terms of software and hardware among the ever-growing passenger numbers, according to Shanghai TV.