Life of Guangzhou - Why is it difficult to hail a taxi?

1. Now it is the time for Guangzhou's taxis to upgrade themselves for a new generation. Some of the old taxis were sent away and the new ones haven't come out yet.

2. The motorcycle ban leads to more and more citizens choosing taxis as their main source of transportation.

3. Shift changes for taxi drivers hasn't been set properly usually switching between 5pm. to 6 pm. Unfortunately this is the peak time for traffic as people finish their work and head to dinner.

4. The long traffic jams are another problem which is one of the reasons that cause long waits for taxis.

5. As the numbers of gas stations are increasing in Guangzhou, the pressure of extra time for refueling has somewhat been eased. Unfortunately, taxi drivers are still complaining that they have to wait for 15 to 20 minutes sometimes up to 30 minutes to refill their tanks during peak traffic times.

6. Some drivers refuse to take customers after inquiring their destination. Drivers think it is not a good profit to take people to where they want and often refuse them.

7. During rush hour, drivers often drive their cars into the city's CBD (Central Business District) while at night, most of the taxis wait outside popular restaurants and bars. For this reason, other less busy places in the city experience the inconvenience of lacking of taxis.

(by Carrot Chan and Kimberly Barteau)