The Chinese government has fined Didi Chuxing and launched a wider crackdown on the ride-hailing industry after the murder of two female passengers by male drivers earlier this year, Reuters reports.
China’s Ministry of Transport singled out Didi Chuxing, the world’s second-largest ride-hailing firm after Uber with more than 30 million passengers per day, for its violation of safety standards that created a “major safety hazard.”
Didi has received blistering criticism during the past few months after it emerged that the drivers who murdered two passengers were not properly registered and had circumvented Didi’s safety checks with little difficulty.
“The driver’s qualifications and background checks are not in place. The company’s management of people and vehicles is out of control,” the ministry said in a statement.
Didi has already been affected by a crackdown by local authorities on drivers who are not registered as residents in the city in which they are working, with wait times for passengers markedly higher than previously.
Beijing believes that there are still large numbers of drivers flouting these registration rules and is encouraging cities to target cars more strictly, suggesting that Didi and other ride-hailing firms will find their services even more severely affected in the coming months.
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