Didi has suffered a bolt from the blue, as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen each rolled out specific regulations for the car hailing business on Saturday. The rules are harsh, to say the least, and has brought the ride hailing behemoth to its knees, arguing for possible remedy from the authorities.
The newly published draft interpretations from the three largest cities–all with tremendous migrant populations–have stipulated that drivers must of local Hukou, or family register. This is a heavy blow for Didi, as it eliminates more than half of the drivers in Beijing and Shenzhen, and dispels an overwhelming majority of Shanghai drivers from the platform.
The draft laws from these cities also raised the bar for cars in the business. Didi bemoaned that the higher standards would disqualify more than 4 out of 5 existing vehicles.
Artificially holding down supply would “more than double prices”, and the waiting time for rides would increase from the current 5 minutes on average to a whopping 15 minutes, warned Didi.
It also threatened of the adverse effects of droves of unemployed drivers, which could pose a “mass risk”and become a “social unstable factor”. Naturally, in a state of desperation, the company pulled out its trump cards– “innovation” and the “sharing economy”, both espoused by the premier himself, and predicted that such measures would brutally crush the buds of the sharing economy.
“Didi sincerely urges local governments and authors to give citizens with and without local Hukou equal employment rights. We should not let citizens lose heart and passion in innovation and entrepreneurship”, appealed the company after the new regulations rolled out.
Perhaps the most fatal of blows is the rigid Hukou specifications. “Of the 410 thousand registered drivers in Shanghai, only 10 ten thousand have a Shanghai Hukou” bleated Didi in a statement. However, these figures may be exaggerated for its own convenience, creating a victimized image and implying more severe consequences. Only 30% of Shanghai drivers were nonlocal, according to Didi’s“Mobile Transportation Employment Promoting Report” published last month, as it congratulated itself on the ability to attract local drivers who are better acquainted with roads.
More than 65% of the drivers in Shenzhen and more than 50% of that from Beijing do not possess a local Hukou, the report found.
Once the guidelines, which are still in an opinion solicitation phase, kick in, cars on the platform must have a vehicle age under 2 years, a wheelbase longer than 2700mm, and an engine capacity of more than 17.25L–specs that mid-high end cars are more likely to meet. On the bright side, this means there were be fewer creaky manual-windowed surprises pulling up when you hail a ride.
Unlike the desolate future which Didi fears, with all but luxury sedans plucked from the platform, Technode has found that it’s possible to get qualifying Chinese models that cost as little as 80 thousand Rmb.
Just how much leeway do these local draft regulations leave before they are set in stone? That remains a question. The company has proved that it carries a lot of clout–surprise, some of the top executives in the company like Zhang Bei come straight from the government bureau of transportation– Didi’s outspoken objections to the national draft for car hailing led to an eventual version which are largely in favor of the company. Didi’s recent buyout of Uber China has been (so far) exempt from anti-monopoly investigations, again attesting a solid relationship with the authorities.
But these local interpretations have clearly come as a shock, or at least a case of failed lobbying on the local level. Will the law be in favor of Didi in the China’s mega cites? Though Xinhua has published an commentary proposing that draft laws should leave “windows for revision” and emphasizes that even “provisional guidelines” are subject to modifications, the window of opportunity this time is short. Suggestions and objections to the draft must be made within one month, while Beijing left merely a week-long opening for rants and complaints. Didi had better start pulling some strings, or hold its peace–at least for the time being.