Editing As China Seeks To Spark Night Economy On-demand Chauffeurs For...
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| − | <br>By Colin Qian and Thomas Peter<br> <br>BEIJING, Jan 20 (Reuters) - It was freezing and the streets were slick as substitute driver Liu Pengfei bade farewell to his mother, wife and son before riding into Beijing on his tiny scooter.<br> <br>Liu, 33, and his | + | <br>By Colin Qian and Thomas Peter<br> <br>BEIJING, Jan 20 (Reuters) - It was freezing and the streets were slick as substitute driver Liu Pengfei bade farewell to his mother, wife and son before riding into Beijing on his tiny scooter.<br> <br>Liu, 33, and his fellow drivers make their living getting drunk people safely home.<br>And with Beijing urging restaurants, entertainment venues and public transportation to extend hours in a bid to boost consumption, Liu's clients on DiDi Chuxing, China's biggest [http://www.blogher.com/search/apachesolr_search/ride-hailing%20service ride-hailing service] platform, have multiplied.<br> <br>"My orders after midnight have grown a lot, and a third more of my customers are asking me to drive them to the next entertainment spot instead of going home," Liu said.<br><br>"(Our) business makes the most money in the later half of the night."<br> <br>His rates triple after midnight.<br> <br>The high payoff has lured Liu to travel 20km (12 miles) from his home in nearby Hebei province daily. He earned 12,000 yuan ($1,742) a month on average last year.<br><br>In some months, he raked in nearly 19,000 yuan, more than two times the average Beijing salary.<br> <br>He and other drivers hang around night spots - less than 100 metres (100 yards) away, 12 men at a table were gorging on meat and downing beer - and when hired, use their clients' own cars to drive them home.<br> <br>The drivers check their phones as they wait, ready for their first customer of the night to contact them through a mobile app.<br> <br>It is too soon to say whether extending opening hours of malls, creating food streets, and putting on late-night cultural performances will boost China's consumption, with the economy still languishing at near 30-year lows.<br><br>But on-demand drivers seem to be one early beneficiary.<br> <br>Data from DiDi shows night-time orders for drivers increased 20% in Beijing's central business district last year compared with a year earlier. In other cities like Dongguan, Changsha and Zhengzhou, orders jumped even more, as much as 50%.<br> <br>Liu said he sees his business as promising, and [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html kynghidongduong.vn] plans to stick with it for [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html tour trương gia giới] the next few years.<br> <br>But, inevitably, family life suffers.<br> <br>"Some weekends, my son would hug my leg when I leave, crying and asking me to play with him," Liu said.<br><br>($1 = 6.8883 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Colin Qian and Thomas Peter. Editing by Gerry Doyle)<br> |
