chsdbacks 011 City Ferryman
011 City Ferryman
It was already past eleven o'clock when Yu Wenhao left the Huanglong Hotel, drove around aimlessly on the street, and waited to grab an order.
Those who drive for ride-hailing services all call themselves urban ferrymen. Whether it's a sea of people and lights or a sea of desires, I take you from here to there. Once you've arrived at your destination and gotten off the car, I still have to continue searching on the streets.
Since it's a ferry service, there are both licensed and unlicensed operators. Just like when taxis were popular, there were many unlicensed taxis. Now, the ride-hailing industry also has many unlicensed taxis. In their own words, these unlicensed taxis are either fully licensed or partially licensed, operating without both required permits.
A "full savage" person has a personal identification document, which is borrowed from someone else. They register on the platform using someone else's name, not their own. A "half savage" person usually has a personal identification document but no vehicle identification document.
According to the current requirements of the transportation management department, ride-hailing vehicles must have complete driver and vehicle licenses. That is, ride-hailing vehicles must have a "Network-based Taxi Vehicle Transport Certificate" and drivers must have a "Network-based Taxi Driver's License". However, in actual operation, if both driver and vehicle licenses were complete, most people and vehicles would have to leave the ride-hailing industry, especially in previous years.
Many platforms can only turn a blind eye to this; if they were to strictly enforce regulations, probably half of their ride-hailing vehicles would switch to other platforms. In previous years, some platforms even offered humanitarian assistance: if you were caught by the transportation authorities and fined 5,000 yuan, you could apply to the platform, and they would cover that portion of the fine for you.
This is tantamount to indirectly encouraging vehicles and drivers without complete documentation to join their platform.
The driver's license is relatively easier to obtain. As long as you have more than three years of driving experience and no criminal record, you can still get it with a little effort.
The vehicle permit is quite complicated. It not only has requirements for the vehicle itself, such as the vehicle age not exceeding four years, the wheelbase of fuel and gas vehicles not less than 2650 mm, the taxable price not less than 10 yuan, and the wheelbase of new energy vehicles not less than 2600 mm.
Many vehicles don't even meet these basic requirements, so they are naturally stopped outside.
Most importantly, to obtain a vehicle registration certificate, your private car must be converted into a commercial vehicle. National regulations stipulate that commercial vehicles must be scrapped after 8 years or 60 kilometers, while private cars do not have a fixed scrapping age limit. In addition, the annual insurance premium for commercial vehicles is two to three times that of private cars, which greatly increases the cost of the vehicle.
Moreover, once a private car becomes a commercial vehicle, it is impossible to turn it back. When you want to sell your car, you can lower the price by half and no one will want it. Who would buy a commercial vehicle when buying a used car?
Yu Wenhao drove around the streets and saw many cars similar to his, also driving unhurriedly. He knew that these cars, like his, were ride-hailing vehicles, and most of them were unlicensed vehicles without complete licenses. They were all waiting to grab orders.
At this time of day, there are naturally fewer people hailing rides, and consequently, the number of ride-hailing vehicles still in operation is also limited. But recently, Yu Wenhao has been itching to try his luck; he feels there are significantly more vehicles available, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to secure a ride.
The reason is that during this period, the transportation management department has intensified its crackdown on unlicensed vehicles, cracking down during the day and also before 9 pm when there are many people taking taxis.
When traffic management authorities frequently conduct enforcement actions, or when drivers report vehicle checks at certain locations, the platform immediately establishes a "fence," effectively blocking all vehicles without complete documentation. The platform will no longer assign orders to vehicles without proper documentation to destinations near enforcement checkpoints or busy urban areas.
As a result, these unlicensed taxis received no fares during the daytime and evening rush hours, causing their revenue to plummet. They had no choice but to wait until 8 or 9 pm, when the platform's "barriers" were removed and the transportation management officers went home to sleep, before venturing out to compete for fares. Consequently, there were many more ferry drivers at night, making it even harder to find fares.
Yu Wenhao's car has all the necessary permits and licenses, so he's not afraid of transportation management or the platform's "fences," but he faces more pressure than others. Those who drive unlicensed vehicles don't incur any costs if their cars are parked and not driven, but it's different for him. He's already driven this car for over four years, and it will be scrapped in a little over three more years, at which point he'll have to buy a new car, which creates that pressure.
Since he was only a part-time driver, his car was used only half the time of a full-time driver. He had to take as many orders as possible every day during these three years so that he wouldn't lose out when the car reached its scrap age.
When Yu Wenhao first started driving for ride-hailing services, the requirements for the two certificates were not as high as they are now, whether it was the transportation management or the platform. Yu Wenhao hesitated for a long time about whether to get the vehicle certificate, because he knew he would be at a disadvantage if he did.
After much hesitation, Yu Wenhao finally went ahead and did it.
In his youth, Yu Wenhao was fearless. In group fights, he would always be at the forefront with a stick. Even if the other party had a knife, he would still rush over, showing the style of a daredevil.
After getting married and starting a family, he felt a sudden loss of confidence; he could no longer be a naive young man. After having Qianqian, he felt even more deflated, as if he had shrunk back, and in everything he did, he would think about how he was now a man with a family and children.
When Qianqian fell ill, Yu Wenhao felt that all his arrogance had vanished, and he became timid and cautious. He felt that if his car were impounded and he could no longer drive it, or if he were to be caught by the transportation authorities every few days and face huge fines, it would be something that he and his family could not afford.
Therefore, Yu Wenhao went to complete all the formalities in a proper and orderly manner.
Looking back now, it was a loss at the time, but it's a good thing now. Now he can drive on the road without worrying about being stopped by the transportation authorities. If someone suspicious gets on his bus, he doesn't have to be suspicious or worry that the transportation authorities are setting a trap.
Most importantly, his car is now over four years old. If he didn't get a vehicle registration back then, even if he wanted to get one now, the vehicle would no longer meet the requirements.
As Yu Wenhao drove, her mind wandered. Before she knew it, she had arrived at Baoshu Road. Her phone pinged with an order. Yu Wenhao quickly grabbed the order and then looked at it more closely. The customer was at The+Queen bar. Yu Wenhao knew this place; it was on the side of Baoshu Road closer to West Lake, but on the other side of the median strip.
At this time of day, you can make a U-turn at the intersection of Baochu Road and Beishan Street. Yu Wenhao stepped on the gas and sped off.
When Yu Wenhao arrived, the guest had already come out of the bar inside the alley and was standing at the entrance of the alley on Baoshu Road. A middle-aged man, who looked like he had drunk quite a bit, was leaning against a plane tree with one hand. As Yu Wenhao drove closer, the man squinted at the license plate and waved at him.
Yu asked and stopped the car. The man opened the car door and got in, bringing with him a strong smell of alcohol.
"Are you going to the Olympic Sports Center, Hangzhou No. 1, right?" Yu asked.
"Yes, yes." The other person nodded.
Although the smell of alcohol was strong, the person seemed quite sober, which put Yu Wenhao at ease.
The worst thing about driving a ride-hailing car at night is picking up a passenger who's drunk and then can't control himself and starts vomiting in the car. Not only do you end up paying for a car wash, but getting that passenger out of the car at their destination is also a hassle.