Key to New Vehicle Modes

09/11/2016

barryshares

Image: auto.oeeee

The technological transport revolution now upon us should completely change our lives for the better. However, quite where it is leading and quite what that future might look like remain uncertain. In these circumstances history teaches us that people resist change, fear the unknown and suppress what is different. Especially those in government who feel the weight of responsibility.

And so it is that we find technology today repeatedly trying to escape a regulatory environment that envelops it, but all too often does not actually directly apply to it. First it was e-bikes, then drones, now ride sharing. Regulation takes time, but innovation waits for no man. And so regulators suppress change in order to manage it, and in doing so, manage to suppress innovation.

Image: hangzhou.com

Image: zjol.com

E-bikes and their variants have tremendous advantages for urban use in terms of accessibility and affordability coupled with pollution control. Yet safety concerns have led to them being blacklisted, with complaints of them being too fast, too quiet and too dangerous. Governments have failed to quickly and sufficiently provide suitable new regulatory environments coupled with education for their use, hindered by the fact that the technology continually and rapidly adapts into many varied, non-conventional vehicle forms. The reaction, as found in China's primary cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou has simply been to ban them rather than provide new guidelines to industry for their adaption and appropriate regulations for their safe further use. Where regulations have been introduced, they seem to lack joined up thinking and be overly onerous, effectively destroying the benefits they introduce. Limited speed e-bikes with noise emitters, licensing and safe-use regulations can address most issues.

China can be seen perhaps as the perfect primordial soup for new transport development, and yet it continues to contradict its own vision. Central government is pushing smart city and environmental responsibility on one hand but continues to regulate at a local level based on outmoded thinking on the other. The ride hailing, public vehicle revolution should be the backbone of sustainable city development for China, yet the proposed new regulations for this massive growth area seem deliberately intended to destroy it. At the same time roads are widened, car parking is unnecessarily required, congestion increases out of hand, air quality deteriorates under roadside pollution, private car ownership is promoted and ever more young people are queueing to take their driving tests.

Image:gxnews

E-bike censoring and monitoring can take mobike as a reference by using public report. Image: mobikeapp

The key to new technology transport adoption has to be based around these 3 E’s: 

Education 
Any new product comes with guidelines on how to use it safely. New transport modes need the same and the population continually needs guidance on how to behave safely and with civic responsibility in these new environments. Education starts in school and should continue with training at and after purchase.

Encouragement 
Creating a sensible regulatory environment that encourages continued innovation, adaption and adoption above traditional frameworks should be valued. Rules based on business-as-usual principles only promote outdated systems.

Enforcement 
Licensing with remote censoring and monitoring will be the big data future. Why design vehicles that can break the law? Private vehicles should be able to self-regulate and provide real time information, feedback and accountability. Civic behavioral codes and public policing generated through education can go a long way to set the tone.

Related article:

​The Cheap Days of Didi Are Numbered

Image: guancha.cn

Image: ifeng.com

A lot of changes have taken place in the last five months regarding ride hailing apps. First,China legalized ride hailing apps in late July. Just days later, Didi announced that it was buying Uber China’s operations. This was followed a noticeable price increase in early September.

In mid-September we ran a story about the rising prices of Didi. In that article, we highlighted the fact that prices have increased by as much as 30%, with China’s biggest cities seeing the largest increase in fares.

In the weeks following the hike, conventional taxi drivers saw their daily income skyrocket. One driver in Beijing told ECNS that his daily income had nearly tripled during the month of October.

Image: news.duote.com

Higher prices, less cars

The legalizing of ride hailing apps was applauded by platforms like Didi, Uber, and Yongche. They thought it would be nothing but smooth sailing in China. But along with legitimizing the apps the government also placed regulations on the companies and drivers.

Those regulations went into effect on November 1st.

Many of the regulations are common sense measures and greatly improve the safety of using the apps-essentially getting into a stranger’s car. It enacted requirements such as demanding drivers have at least 3 years driving experience, no traffic casualties, no dangerous driving, no criminal record, and no violence record. It also forces private cars to be equipped with satellite positioning and emergency alarm devices. In addition, cars that have over 600,000 kms cannot be used. The new law also places the responsibility of customers’ safety and interest onto the platforms themselves.

Drivers that meet all of the requirements must now obtain specific licenses before offering their driving services. These new regulations that heighten the threshold for drivers, though providing more safety, are sure to decrease the amount of available drivers on the road.

So ride hailing apps were dealt a double blow, along with less demand from customers, many drivers simply can’t meet the new requirements and are forced to quit. Other drivers are doing so on their own because they aren’t making the amount of income they were before.

Three of China’s largest cities- Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen- have all proposed more regulations. Image: ofweek.com

Hukou or ‘no go’

There is yet more bad news on the horizon. Three of China’s largest cities- Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen- have all proposed more regulations. The regulations, which haven’t been approved yet, may drastically reduce the amount of available cars. Which means even higher prices for customers.

The proposed legislation includes restrictions on the vehicles themselves. Wheelbase requirements (the distance from the center of the front wheels to the center of the rear wheels) and minimum engine size requirements limit the cars allowed to be used to virtually only Volkswagen Passat and Audi A4 class vehicles. Many of the small to mid-range cars that are currently used by Didi drivers will be barred.

Luxury brand vehicles that cannot meet the wheelbase requirement including Benz, Volvo, BMW and Lexus. Image: pintu360.com

On Weibo, Didi claimed, “In Shanghai, for instance, less than 20 percent of existing rideshare vehicles meet the proposed wheelbase requirements…Operating costs are bound to rise sharply if only [Volkswagen] Passat or Audi A4L-level luxury sedans are allowed. In some cases, rideshare fares might rise to twice as much as comparable taxi fares.”

Unfortunately, that isn’t even the worst of their worries. The proposed regulations also say that only drivers who have residency registration (known as hukou) in the city can drive.The measure is aimed at controlling urban migration but is expected to significantly reduce the 15 million drivers that Didi currently has. Didi’s Weibo post went on to say, “Of over 410,000 activated driver accounts in Shanghai, only less than 10,000 are residents with Shanghai residency registration.”

It seems that the honeymoon period of cheap ride-hailing apps in China is drawing to a close.



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Source: PandaGuidesOfficial