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Transport authorities have put the brakes on paid for hitchhiking, a practice that is becoming increasingly popular in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province. The local public transportation administration warned last week that it was illegal for private car owners to offer lifts in exchange for money.

 

The announcement was made after a local newspaper promoted hitchhiking as a "public welfare program." So far about 1,000 car owners and commuters have begun sharing lifts to work after meeting through newspaper hotlines earlier this month.

 

"According to state rules, private cars can not engage in profit-making services. Violators can be fined 20,000 yuan (US$2,500)," an official with the Nanjing Public Transportation Administration was quoted by Nanjing Morning Post as saying. "The illegal service will disturb the taxi market," he added. And many taxi drivers agree.

 

"Most of our customers are from the middle class. We've already lost some of them who have bought their own cars. If they begin offering cheap lifts they will take away our customers and cause big losses to our business," Zhou Yonglin, a 46-year-old taxi driver with Zhongbei Taxi Company, told China Daily. Zhou said some private car owners now work full time offering an unlicensed service at lower prices than taxi fares.

 

According to the city's transportation regulations, unlicensed taxis can be punished heavily with penalties ranging from seizure of their vehicles to a fine of 500,000 yuan (US$62,500). But many citizens have welcomed the service.

 

He Linfu, a middle-aged office worker, bought a Hyundai Elantra last July. But rising petrol prices, reaching 500 yuan (US$62.5) a month in his case, forced him to find a new way to use his car. "Now I can get 300 yuan (US$37.5) a month giving two people lifts. I'm partly relieved of the burden of the cost of fuel. And I have someone to talk to on the road," he explained.  

 

Wu Di, a resident in Houzhaimen District, said paid hitchhiking had made life much more convenient for him. "Metro lines are being built along a long section of road on my way to work, so no taxi drivers want to pick me up," he said. "The public buses are slow and crowded and thumbing a lift is my only choice."

 

Nanjing now has 6,000 people offering paid lifts with several companies involved, according to the city's Lanyu Hitchhiking Service Company.

 

But transport experts are careful when analyzing the issue.

 

"These unlicensed taxis should be prohibited," said Liu Zhengcao, a lawyer with Nanjing's Modern Security Law Firm. "But office goers sharing cars is a good way to save energy and protect the environment,” said Liu. ”It could also help alleviate traffic jams."

 

Many foreign countries promote hitchhiking and even ban drivers hitting the road alone at peak hours, according to Liu.

 

(China Daily August 28, 2006)