Sting snares ride-hailing cheats at Hongqiao

Traffic police pulled over nine illegal online ride-hailing cars at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in just 30 minutes Monday.

Shanghai Daily was with the officers at the airport, witnessing part of a nationwide campaign against illegal ride-hailing cars.

Each officer was equipped with an app on their smartphone which determined whether the car they were looking at was registered as an online ride-hailing car or not.

Officers have access to details of all ride-hailing cars via a platform established by the traffic authority and police.

“Since all ride-hailing platforms have uploaded their data, it is much easier for us to do our job,” said officer Pan Rong.

When the cops pulled over a car as it tried to dodge the inspection, the driver said he was just an ordinary member of the public taking a friend to the airport.

Unfortunately for him, officers ran his plate and discovered he was a registered Didi driver, but not a Shanghai resident, as current law requires.

“He will probably be fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,450) and his driver’s license will be seized for three months,” said Pan.

Since September 7, 47,000 non-local cars and 13,000 drivers have been kicked off ride-hailing platforms.

More than 150 drivers have been caught using fake IDs.

“One thing for sure is that they will be banned from driving ride-hailing cars for life,” said Zhou Guangyu of the city traffic authority.

“For those who are Shanghai residents but haven’t applied for certification, we urge them to do it as soon as possible.”

According to the traffic authority, there are 26,000 authorized drivers in the city.