Taxi Service in Shanghai

In Shanghai in October 2005, three features of its taxi service impressed me. One, its ready availability (I was told, by a taxi driver, that the three leading taxi firms, alone, have a total of over 20,000 vehicles). Two, its low fare (about one-third of that in USA). Three, the drivers' refusal to accept tips (indeed, they prefer fare cards used by locals, thus, no cash). In today's Wall Street Journal, there is a news report that the Chinese government has made a sizable grant to the Chinese National Petroleum Company to compensate for its loss in revenue due to low price it charges -- this might account for the taxi's low fare; in any case, it inspires me to post this as my very first entry in this space.
Posted 11:49 pm Thursday, December 29, 2005