Authorities clamp down hard on illegal passenger transport

Local traffic authority has joined hands with the police to carry out a city-wide inspection to crack down on illegal taxis and online ride-hailing cars.

Officers have been deployed at 22 spots where illegal drivers were more likely to show up since Thursday. By midnight Friday, 83 illegal taxis and 15 illegal online ride-hailing cares have been nailed.

A group of law enforcement officers and Yangpu police went down to Wujiaochang in Yangpu District in the morning for routine inspection. They spotted three illegal online ride-hailing cars within 40 minutes.

The law enforcement officers said after doing it long enough, they have found some tricks in spotting an illegal car.

“We will pay more attention to certain car types that are widely used in online ride-hailing,” said Zhang Keng from the traffic authority. “Illegal drivers often get nervous and don’t communicate much with the passenger.”

Moreover, they tend to escape when the officers ask them to stop.

A driver surnamed Zhou tried to flee but failed. When officers asked him to show identification, Zhou refused and attempted to delete the online car-hailing app on his phone.

“Zhou is not a Shanghai local, which means he’s not qualified to be an online ride-hailing driver,” said Zhang. 

After being warned to cooperate, Zhou still behaved recklessly. The police arrested Zhou and he is facing a 10-day detention in addition of getting his driver’s license revoked for three months and a 10,000-yuan (US$1,569) fine.

Another group of officers also encountered illegal drivers that were reluctant to cooperate in Pudong.

A Dazhong taxi with plate FM9321 was stopped by officers on Zuchongzhi Road. Officers double checked the plate with the database. GPS showed the car with that that plate was operating, except it was miles away.

Officers soon realized the taxi in front of them used a fake plate. But the driver locked his door up and refused to get out of the car.

Police officers had to force the driver out of the car. He will face detention for forging car plate.