Wuhan’s taxi management body has called the attention of the Chinese taxi and private-car application Didi Dache and urged the firm to “clean up” its operations such as the services of its Uber-style private cars, Sina Tech reported.
According to authorities, such operations are viewed as illegal and uses unregistered "black taxis."
One of China's local taxi-hailing firms, Didi said that it is already communicating with Wuhan's Ministry of Transit. The two parties are in talks about the company's private-car operations.
The company is adamant on its claim that its alleged private-car services are regarded as rental cars. It furthermore argued that it serves the interests of both the city and the app subscribers.
The attention-calling, though not as dramatic as the police raids in Uber offices, mirrors the issue that taxi-hailing apps face: the sole small-passenger automobiles allowed to take fares the way taxis do are the registered taxis in such companies.
While there is continuing rise in taxi-hailing services in the country, the sector's players still face heavy competition from domestic taxi firms that are endangered by the said facilities.
However, the final verdict of Chinese authorities on this issue is still unclear. But China's Ministry of Transport has long reiterated that private cars are not allowed to commercially operate.
Nonetheless, the government still lauds and recognizes the efficiency brought by these mobile applications.
Didi Dache currently leads the domestic taxi-hailing services market. In China, the market is witnessing a rise in its popularity because of the issue of congestion in major areas.