Cabbies named and shamed in city crackdown

Cabbies who refused to take passengers at Lujiazui area were named and shamed by the taxi watchdog yesterday. The drivers, caught in a crackdown on Tuesday which the watchdog said would become a regular practice, included Li Jingbao and Di Huping from the major Haibo taxi fleet and Xu Zhengjun from the Jinling Taxi Co. The two companies are among the city's biggest taxi fleets.

The drivers were also fined 200 yuan (US$29.25) each and ordered to suspend business for 15 days.

The public exposure, which brought shame on their employers, could cause the drivers to lose their jobs. Dazhong Taxi, the city's biggest taxi service provider, ruled that a driver convicted of turning down passengers once would be dismissed.

The 11 drivers were from the Jinling, Zhenxing, Haibo, Xinxia, Shuhai, Jiangong, Wanzhong, Youlian, and Wuqi Guanzhong taxi companies.

Drivers turning down passengers has become a serious issue in the Lujiazui area.

During the crackdown on Tuesday evening, two women, traveling with a child, reported to the investigators that Li Jingbao, one of the two cabbies from Haibo Taxi, said he didn't know how to drive them from Lujiazui to the JW Marriott Hotel on Nanjing Road W.

When the passengers said he could just drop them off anywhere along Nanjing Road W., he still turned them down.

The Jinling company driver, Xu Zhengjun, had been ordered before Tuesday night's crackdown to suspend operation for traffic violations, investigators said.

Investigators found it was difficult for passengers in Lujiazui area to get the waiting cabbies to drive them to venues such as the Bund in Puxi, the City God Temple or Nanjing Road, yet the destinations were must-know spots for cabbies to pass their professional training.

TAG: and city crackdown in cabbies named shamed