Online ride-hailing orders are resold at various levels, and drivers' incomes are shrinking inexplicably
2024-08-10
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Online ride-hailing orders are resold at various levels, causing drivers' income to shrink inexplicably
Some orders have been transferred many times and commissions have been charged multiple times, with the commission ratio exceeding the 30% red line and even exceeding 50%.
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Some online ride-hailing aggregation platforms secretly resell passengers' orders to other platforms without the user's authorization. The order transfer behavior not only reduces the terminal driver's income, which damages the driver's rights and interests, but also hides safety hazards and easily causes disputes between drivers and passengers.
Recently, the rapid development of aggregation platforms has added orders to many online car-hailing drivers. However, some aggregation platforms resell the orders layer by layer, and each platform takes a commission, resulting in rising commissions and shrinking drivers' income.
Many industry experts have suggested that relevant authorities should strengthen supervision of online ride-hailing aggregation platforms, standardize the platform's commission ratio, and ensure that online ride-hailing drivers receive relatively reasonable and fair income.
Drivers encounter "yin and yang bills"
Recently, Zhao Qiang (pseudonym), a Shenzhen online car-hailing driver, told reporters that at the end of June, he received a long-distance carpooling order from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport to the Vehicle Management Office of Shenzhen Traffic Police Detachment. During the commission-free period, the passenger paid 84.34 yuan for the order, but Zhao Qiang only received 61.12 yuan, and the remaining 23.22 yuan was unknown.
Zhao Qiang suspected that the platform resold the orders to another platform, which took a commission, because his colleagues had recently encountered similar situations.
Previously, Gu Dasong, president of the China Urban Public Transport Association's online car-hailing branch, posted a set of orders. The orders showed that a passenger actually paid 98.11 yuan for the trip, while the driver's end showed that the passenger paid only 71.46 yuan, and the driver actually earned 52.17 yuan. In this transaction, 26.65 yuan disappeared, which is almost half of the driver's actual income.
Recently, the issue of online ride-hailing platforms reselling orders has been exposed frequently. Some aggregator platforms secretly resell passengers' orders to other platforms without the user's authorization. In this process, due to the commissions of each platform, a "yin-yang bill" is generated with a large gap between the driver's income and the actual payment of the passenger, which damages the rights and interests of the driver.
In 2022, the Ministry of Transport launched a transparent action to regulate the commissions of new transportation platform companies, requiring major platform companies to reasonably set and disclose the upper limit of the commission rate. At that time, the upper limit of the commission rate announced by major companies was roughly between 18% and 30%. Since then, the 30% ratio has become a red line for commissions in the industry.
Now, some orders are transferred multiple times on online ride-hailing platforms, resulting in commission ratios that are not only higher than the 30% red line, but some orders even exceed 50%.
The rights and interests of both drivers and passengers are difficult to protect
It is understood that the phenomenon of order transfer has emerged with the development of aggregation platforms. In recent years, some aggregated travel platforms have appeared on the market. The platforms themselves do not own vehicles and drivers, but use technical means to match passengers with driver resources and provide travel services.
Data shows that in June this year, the online car-hailing regulatory information interaction system received a total of 971 million orders, of which 248 million were completed by aggregation platforms, up 2.7% from the previous month, accounting for more than 25%. The market share of aggregation platforms is already very considerable, and the number of orders is still growing.
Industry insiders believe that reselling orders reduces drivers' income, which in turn leads to unreasonable extension of drivers' working hours. This not only poses a safety hazard, but also easily leads to disputes between drivers and passengers.
Mr. Xu, a ride-hailing driver in Beijing, told reporters that due to various factors such as saturated capacity and order resale, the same turnover income that used to only take 10 hours may now take 13 hours.
For passengers, the multiple transfers also bring some problems and hidden dangers. Previously, a passenger called a car of a travel brand through an aggregation platform, but the company that issued the invoice turned out to be another company that he had never heard of, and the latter did not obtain an online car-hailing business license in his city.
"I'm really afraid that the platform will transfer orders to unqualified drivers, which will easily lead to disputes and is also unsafe." Ms. Shao, a Beijing citizen, told reporters.
According to Xiong Chao, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, the act of reselling orders is to transfer the obligation of contract performance to others. If the passengers are not fully informed, it may infringe the passengers' right to know. "After the order is transferred, if there is a dispute or safety issue such as taxi fares, the definition of responsibilities between the aggregation platform, the order-taking platform and the actual carrier will become more complicated," said Xiong Chao.
All sectors call for effective supervision
The issue of order resale causing online ride-hailing drivers to lose income and not get their rights and interests properly protected has attracted much attention. Industry insiders suggest that the competent authorities of the industry pay timely attention and strengthen supervision, regulate the commission ratio of the platform, set the upper limit of the number of order resale and commission, and ensure that online ride-hailing drivers get a reasonable income.
Reporters have noticed that some regions have begun to impose "tight restrictions" on the transfer of online ride-hailing orders. Recently, six departments in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, jointly interviewed the city's online ride-hailing platforms and aggregation platforms, requiring the platforms to prohibit the resale of orders and illegal commission collection to protect the rights and interests of drivers. In May this year, Guangzhou held a working meeting on online ride-hailing industry aggregation platforms, requiring the platforms to operate in accordance with laws and regulations, prohibit the resale of orders, and reasonably set the commission ratio to protect the legitimate rights and interests of drivers and passengers.
Liuzhou, Guangxi, has implemented the "one car, one platform" policy since June 1, meaning that one online car-hailing vehicle can only be connected to one online car-hailing platform, and drivers can change the connected online car-hailing platform according to their own needs. In this regard, Luo Yaohui, head of the Law Enforcement Brigade of the Liuzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau, said that this move effectively curbs the resale of orders, helps to form a healthy competition situation, protects drivers' income, and helps companies and drivers form long-term cooperative relationships, which can better guide companies to employ workers in accordance with the law.
In addition, Xiong Chao also reminded online car-hailing drivers to enhance their self-protection awareness and actively safeguard their legal rights and interests. When encountering situations such as multiple resale of orders and illegal commissions, they should be brave enough to speak out and actively safeguard their rights. At the same time, they should also pay attention to industry dynamics and relevant policy changes, and adjust their business strategies in a timely manner. (Reporter Liu Bing)
Source: Workers Daily
