Taxi operating platforms need to be supervised

A draft document on technical requirements for taxi safety in Beijing was recently made public by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau’s official website to solicit public opinion. The newly revised standards deal with the security monitoring system and technical requirements regarding vehicle positioning, vehicle robbery and anti-theft alarm, with the latter two clearly requiring the installation of audio and video monitoring devices in taxis.

Audio and video monitoring is an effective technical measure to realize the security and standardization of taxi services. That addition of such devices is like installing “eyes and ears” in a taxi, thus giving the taxi operating platform access to remarks and actions of the driver and passenger(s) during rides. This is conducive to passenger and driver safety, besides providing evidence for settling driver-passenger disputes, if any.

In 2018, several cases of serious infringements of passengers’ personal safety were reported in online ride-hailing cabs from across the country, leading to the promotion of audio and video monitoring in such cars. Similar incidents have been reported from some taxis over the past few years, leading to increasing calls for the compulsory installation of audio and video surveillance devices in taxis.

Guangzhou, capital of South China’s Guangdong province, has already installed audio and video monitoring equipment in local taxis. Now Beijing has followed suit.

Passengers will feel secure when they hail cabs equipped with such devices. According to the new standards, the taxi operating platform will monitor, track and position the networked vehicles, so that the safety of passengers as well as their other rights and interests are better guaranteed. The same system can prevent the taxi drivers’ rights and interests from being infringed upon by passengers.

However, while monitoring taxis in this manner, the taxi operating platform, too, needs to be monitored to ensure it is operating in a standardized way and the privacy of drivers and passengers is protected. Who should monitor the taxi operating platform and how needs to be made clear, so as to form a multilevel supervision network in which taxis are supervised by the platform and the platform is supervised by relevant departments.

A corresponding system should also be formulated to punish drivers, passengers and platforms that violate the standards and regulations.