Masks required for all taxi and bus passengers

Effective immediately, all taxi and bus passengers in the city are required to wear masks as a precaution against the spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia, the Shanghai Transportation Commission said on Monday morning.

Passengers not wearing masks will be refused service, and those disobeying orders will be reported to the police, according to the commission. Drivers on duty must also wear masks.

Among other new virus-prevention measures introduced by local transport authorities, passengers are encouraged to pay fares via Alipay and WeChat, instead of cash and transportation cards.

Meanwhile, all operating enterprises should further strengthen the disinfection of crowded places such as bus terminals and taxi stations.

Shanghai taxi drivers are also prevented from taking passengers outside of the city's borders.

All online transport firms should also follow the same prevention measures for taxis mentioned above.

An ID registration system for taxi passengers will be introduced next to encourage online payments.

During the epidemic period, passengers are advised to use telephone taxi booking services as follows – Qiangsheng 62580000, Dazhong 96822, Haibo 96933, Jinjiang 96961.

All passengers are currently required to wear masks as well when entering Metro stations.