Chinese passengers still prefer taking a taxi. (Photo : Getty Images)
Didi, in its efforts to further strengthen its hold in the Chinese public transportation market, formed partnerships with 50 different taxi companies in the country.
The scope of the partnership spans 10 cities in China. Didi's CEO acknowledges that most commuters take taxis and would like to take advantage of this trend.
According to Chang Wei, "Apart from sharing technology breakthroughs with taxis, Didi has been vigorously facilitating the integration of taxis and other vehicles that provide transportation services via ride-hailing apps."
The company intends to use a 100 million yuan fund to reward taxi drivers. This is to enhance more taxis to use the Didi system.
In a ceremony, Shenzhen Shangchao Taxi Service Co. Ltd., along with other taxi companies from Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Shanxi, Anhui, and Nantong, signed an agreement with Didi.
The partnership will also enable Didi to hail taxis as well as private car owners. Availing of taxis and cars will be easier for commuters.
This move followed the government's move to legalize car-hailing services. This made a fair competition between Didi drivers and taxis.
Wang Xiaofeng, an analyst at consultancy Forrester Inc., said, "With the aim to cover the whole car-hailing services, Didi need to tap further into the taxi market. If Didi did not make the move, another similar platform would take the business over."
Didi Chuxing is expected to strengthen further. They recently have forced Uber China to merge with Didi after a very long battle to gain a grip on the Chinese market.
It was also reported that major companies like Alibaba and Apple have been backing Didi.
Business analyst Karishma Vaswani believed that the Uber's merger with Didi was a sign of maturity for the company.
He wrote, "If the departure from the Chinese market means a sizeable stake in the biggest ride-sharing player in the world's second-largest economy, which currently has a potential customer base of some 750 million people, and that's only going to grow - then that's not too shabby."
