When Didi returns, will it be cheaper or more expensive for us to take a taxi?

*This article is the original content of “Sanlian Life Weekly”

Text｜Xie Jiu

Recently, Didi announced the resumption of new user registration, and the Didi APP can be downloaded normally in the application system stores of Apple and Android. One and a half years after being taken off the shelves, the online car-hailing giant Didi has returned. How will this affect consumers? Will Didi Taxi be cheaper or more expensive than before?

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In June 2021, Didi rushed to the market in the United States, triggering strong domestic supervision. Only 4 days after the listing, Didi was asked by the regulatory authorities to remove it from the app store because of “serious violations of laws and regulations in the collection and use of personal information.” . After being taken off the shelves, Didi suspended the registration of new users, and old users can still use it normally. In June 2022, Didi delisted from the United States, and its stock price plummeted by 90% from the beginning of its listing.

In July 2022, the regulatory authorities imposed a fine of RMB 8.026 billion on Didi, and announced the main violations of Didi, mainly including excessive collection of user and driver information, such as illegal collection of screenshots in user mobile phone albums; excessive collection User clipboard information, application list information; excessive collection of passenger face recognition information, etc.

In addition, Didi also has “data processing activities that seriously affect national security, as well as refusal to fulfill the clear requirements of the regulatory authorities, overt compliance, malicious evasion of supervision and other violations of laws and regulations. Didi’s illegal operations have provided key information to the country. Infrastructure security and data security pose serious security risks.”

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Didi responded at the time and said, “sincerely accept, resolutely obey, strictly follow the punishment decision and the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, conduct comprehensive and in-depth self-examination, actively cooperate with supervision, and earnestly complete the rectification.” Big Internet platforms have entered an unprecedented period of regulatory rectification.

Several major Internet platforms have gradually been recognized by the regulatory authorities after strong rectification. At the same time, the Chinese economy also needs Internet platforms to play a greater role. The Central Economic Work Conference at the end of last year proposed that “we must vigorously develop the digital economy. , improve the level of normalized supervision, and support platform companies in leading development, creating jobs, and showing their talents in international competition.”

After entering 2023, the severely rectified Internet platforms began to usher in a policy spring breeze. On January 13, at the press conference of the State Council Information Office, a person from the central bank said, “Most problems of the 14 large platform companies have basically been rectified. The companies operate in compliance with regulations, compete fairly, and the awareness of consumer protection has increased significantly. Business is constantly being regulated.”

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Shortly after the central bank’s statement, on January 16, Didi publicly stated that, with the approval of the Network Security Review Office, it would resume new user registration for “Didi Chuxing” from now on. In the future, the company will take effective measures to effectively guarantee the security of platform facilities and big data, and maintain national network security.

Soon, the app of Didi Chuxing appeared in major app stores and could be downloaded and used normally. Didi’s return, what impact will it have on ordinary consumers?

In the one and a half years since Didi was rectified, the online car-hailing market has undergone tremendous changes, and more new forces have emerged, and Didi’s monopoly power has been weakened. Didi was taken off the shelves that year. A week later, Meituan, which had withdrawn from the online car-hailing market, quickly restarted its taxi-hailing business. Didi’s old rivals Caocao Chuxing and T3 also received more financing, and even ByteDance and Huawei And other giants have also begun to enter the online car-hailing track. According to data from the Ministry of Transport, by the end of 2022, there will be 298 online car-hailing platforms across the country. Compared with the 57 new ones when Didi was delisted, the increase rate is about 24%.

Stills of “We Who Couldn’t Be Beasts”

As more and more new players took advantage of the situation, and Didi was unable to attract new users to sign up, Didi’s market share began to decline significantly. Before Didi was rectified, Didi’s market share was as high as 90%. After a year and a half, Didi’s market share dropped to about 70%.

For consumers, the decline of Didi’s monopoly position is actually a good thing. When Didi was first born, it brought a good user experience to consumers, especially in 2014, when it was shopping with Kuaishou, it gave passengers and drivers a lot of red envelopes and subsidies, and Didi received rave reviews from users.

However, with the merger of Didi and Kuaidi in 2015 and the acquisition of UBER China in 2016, Didi began to dominate the world of online car-hailing, and Didi’s negative problems began to increase. First of all, the passenger experience is getting worse and worse. Didi’s car prices are constantly rising, and it is getting more and more difficult to get a taxi, especially during peak hours. Take the action of uninstalling Didi.

Stills of “Little Joy”

What’s more serious is that there have been many vicious incidents in which drivers injured passengers on Didi vehicles. In 2018, the Haidian Court Network released the “Disclosure of the Criminal Situation of Didi Travel Drivers”, saying that the number of criminal cases derived from the Didi platform in recent years is much higher than the level known to the public, and the time range is concentrated in the past three years. , The nature of the crimes ranges from vicious cases such as homicide and robbery to intentional injury, fraud and theft.

The reason why Didi had a large number of vicious incidents at that time was also directly related to Didi’s super monopoly. After Didi gained a monopoly position, it began to significantly reduce subsidies to drivers, and the decline in income led to the loss of a large number of high-quality drivers. In order to attract enough drivers, Didi lowered the qualification review standards for drivers. As a result, the quality of drivers on the Didi platform varies, and even criminals are mixed in. In the sensational murder of a girl in Yueqing in 2018, the murderer happened previous criminal record.

Due to the many problems caused by Didi’s super monopoly status, many consumers even called for the regulatory authorities to deny Didi’s acquisition of Uber China on the grounds of anti-monopoly. However, no one would have guessed that it was not the appeal of netizens that finally triggered the regulatory forces to crack down, but Didi’s heavy fines for listing in the United States.

As Didi restarts to resume new user registration, out of the need to regain market share, it is not ruled out that it will re-attract users through preferential means such as red envelopes. After all, this is what Didi Qiqi was best at back then. In the short term, the return of Didi may bring certain benefits to consumers.

However, once Didi’s position is re-established, consumer welfare may slowly decline. Although Didi’s market share is not as high as before, it still controls as much as 70% of the market, and it is not impossible to regain its former position.

But for consumers, they don’t want to see the online car-hailing market return to a super-dominant situation. Only when there are more and more competitors, consumers can enjoy more benefits and convenience, and gain more respect. and security.

Typesetting: Xiaoying/ Review: Tongtong

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