Govt hails taxi apps

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport has announced it will endorse some mobile apps used to hail taxis, the Beijing News reports.

The apps must charge 5 yuan ($0.80) for real-time taxi reservation and 6 yuan for reservations made four hours in advance - the same fee for telephone reservations. Apps must also not charge premiums to users.

Didi Dache is one of the taxi-booking apps already endorsed by transport authorities. The names of other approved apps will start with 96106, which is the taxi-booking hotline.

Meanwhile, 600 taxi pick-up zones citywide will be in service later this year. Locations of the zones will be listed at bjjtw.gov.cn.