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People explore new way of carpooling in Wuhan

2009-11-23 16:39 BJT

An agreement to carpool is signed to avoid being mistaken for an unlicensed taxi service.

To guarantee the standardization of "Carpooling with neighbors" and distinguish carpooling cars from "unlicensed taxis," Changqing Garden Community has made a sign of "Carpooling with neighbors" to stick in cars and has also recorded the detailed information of participating car owners and passengers.

The biggest concern of car owners is whether the "carpooling" will be mistaken for an "illegal taxi service." In response, the community has specially formulated carpooling application and commitment letters to be signed by the car owners and "passengers" respectively after consulting with legal experts.

Car owners promise in the carpooling application letter not to "charge passengers in any way" and passengers promise to "be totally responsible for their own personal security while carpooling and to not require car owners to take responsibility for safety accidents that may occur while carpooling."

A government official reminded that "carpooling is illegal if a fee is charged."

"Carpooling with neighbors" has quickly become popular. The activity has been launched in many communities including the Modern Community in Qingshan District, Wuhan.

"Carpooling with neighbors" has not only been supported by ordinary citizens, but also advocated by the administrative authorities. An official from the Wuhan Transport Management Office said, "If 'carpooling with neighbors' can be carried out across the entire city, traffic pressure will be significantly alleviated." He emphasized however that "carpooling is illegal if a fee is charged."

Reporters learned that the urban public passenger transport management regulations and the urban taxi passenger transport management regulations successively issued by the Wuhan municipal government both stipulate that "vehicles without a taxi operating license are forbidden to engage in taxi transportation."

 

Translated by LOTO

Editor: Shi Taoyang | Source: CCTV.com