Didi, Kuaidi targeted for legal action

The city's taxi regulator vowed to take "legal measures" against the companies that run two popular taxi hailing apps after the companies refused to turn over driver information, local media reported Tuesday.

The Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority had asked the developers of the Didi and Kuaidi apps to hand over information about the drivers who use the apps, according to a report in the Youth Daily. However, the developers have not given the regulator any of the requested data.

Kuaidi representatives said that data was a commercial secret and would fatally damage the company if it was handed over to the regulator, according to a report on Shanghai Television Station (STV).

The taxi hailing apps allow users to connect directly with drivers to summon a taxi to their current location.

However, there is no way to know whether all of the taxi drivers registered on the apps are licensed because they haven't been confirmed by the authorities, the Youth Daily reported.

The regulator wants the data to ensure that the apps can't be used to summon unlicensed taxi drivers, which could pose a threat to public safety.

Over the last two months, Shanghai Qiangsheng Holding Co Ltd, which operates more than 13,000 taxis across the city, has received 300 customer complaints related to the taxi apps.

The complaints have been a huge headache for Qiangsheng because it cannot find out information about the involved drivers, which makes it impossible to resolve some of the cases, the Youth Daily reported.

The apps compete with Qiangsheng, which runs a dispatch center that residents can call to book taxis.

However, booking a taxi through the dispatch center costs passengers an extra 4 yuan ($0.64) or 5 yuan per reservation, STV reported. The apps, on the other hand, don't charge users fees for reservations.

Early this year, the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority announced that it would work with Qiangsheng and the developers of the apps to solve some of these outstanding issues.

Qiangsheng was purchased in 2011 by Shanghai Jiushi Corporation, which invests and manages some of the city's infrastructure for the local government, according to netease.com.