The online car-hailing incident at Shanghai Pudong Airport ushered in a 180-degree turn.
On January 29, the Shanghai Municipal Road Transport Administration issued the "Notice on Prohibiting Online Ride-hailing from Operating at Pudong Airport", mentioning that during the Spring Festival travel period, online car-hailing is strictly prohibited from soliciting passengers in the Pudong Airport area.
Notice on Prohibiting the Operation of Online Ride-hailing at Pudong Airport
For a moment, there was an uproar. In just a few days, events were "reversed".
On February 4, the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission announced that according to the suggestions of the general public passengers, the online car-hailing operation service in the Pudong Airport area will be resumed from February 4, and citizen passengers can make reservations for cars in the Pudong Airport area through various online car-hailing platforms. The Municipal Transportation Commission will require all online car-hailing platforms to standardize their operations and actively organize transportation capacity to meet the travel needs of the general public.
The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission announced that it will resume online car-hailing services in the Pudong Airport area from February 4.
In less than a week, the operation of online car-hailing at Pudong Airport has gone through the whole process from prohibition to recovery.
However, online ride-hailing has resumed, but "Airport Travel", which could have operated during the ban period, has ushered in a "reversal" - the ride-hailing platform can no longer provide ordering services.
As of press time, the Yan Finance reporter found that the WeChat applet and official website of "Airport Travel" could no longer be opened, and the content of its social ** accounts such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin was also emptied.
But we still have to ask
What is the origin of airport travel?
Who is Zheng Xiuli, who is being searched for by the whole network?
Who should have the choice?
Whose "choice" it is
After the resumption of online car-hailing, Pudong Airport has added online car-hailing pick-up points in Terminals T1 and T2 respectively.
At 12 noon on February 4, the salt financial reporter found that on platforms such as Didi Chuxing and AutoNavi Taxi, the starting point was set as Shanghai Pudong International Airport, and car orders could be successfully sent. The relevant person in charge of AutoNavi also told the salt financial reporter that the current support policies of Shanghai Pudong Airport and other places in the country are the same.
On February 4, 2024, at the T1 terminal of Shanghai Pudong International Airport, citizens use the Didi Chuxing app to take a taxi Source: Visual China.
Just a few days ago, the Shanghai Municipal Road Transport Administration issued the Notice on Prohibiting the Operation of Online Ride-hailing at Pudong Airport (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The Notice stipulates that online car-hailing is strictly prohibited from soliciting passengers in the Pudong Airport area, and online car-hailing platforms and online car-hailing aggregation platforms are prohibited from publishing ride-hailing information that starts in the Pudong Airport area and the border roads involved.
After the issuance of the Notice, many leading ride-hailing platforms, such as Didi Chuxing, AutoNavi Taxi, and Shanghai's local ride-hailing platform "Dazhong Chuxing", no longer support receiving orders originating from Shanghai Pudong Airport.
The billing pages of AutoNavi Taxi (top) and Didi Chuxing (bottom).
In an interview with CCTV, Wu Xuecheng, deputy director of the passenger transport department of the Shanghai Municipal Road Transport Bureau, said that the capacity of Pudong Airport cruise taxis is very sufficient, and drivers have to wait for five or six hours to receive a business, and passengers queue up for 10 to 20 minutes. "Because online car-hailing is looking for an 'exclusive' car, the driver and passengers wait for each other, and if the large passenger flow is backlogged in a narrow area, there will be a great safety hazard. ”
To put it simply, Pudong Airport believes that the current taxi capacity is sufficient, so there is no need for online ride-hailing.
At first glance, no problem.
But in fact, what this means is like someone saying that offline supermarkets can meet daily consumption, so we won't engage in e-commerce.
The so-called market economy should return the right of choice to consumers.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport is one of the major international aviation hubs in eastern China and one of the busiest airports in China. With two main passenger terminals and four runways, the airport offers numerous international and domestic routes, and is an important hub for many airlines, known for its large flight network and huge passenger traffic.
Panorama of the apron of Shanghai Pudong International Airport Source: Picture Worm Creative.
However, the Hongqiao hub, which is also an airport in Shanghai, does not prohibit online car-hailing operations. Wu Xuecheng responded that because of the high-speed rail in Hongqiao hub, the volume of passengers arriving in a short time is much higher than that of Pudong Airport.
As recently as February 3, the Shanghai Hongqiao hub announced that online car-hailing services would be free to park for one hour throughout the day.
Shanghai Hongqiao Airport has piloted the setting of online car-hailing fast pick-up locations Source: Xinmin Evening News.
The rapid adjustment of the policy in a short period of time reflects the challenge of how to balance management efficiency and public service quality at Shanghai Pudong Airport and the wider urban traffic management. Effective traffic management requires not only reasonable planning and scientific scheduling, but also the role of market mechanisms and the optimization of passenger experience.
"Zheng Xiuli" on what basis
However, after the resumption of online car-hailing at Pudong Airport, airport travel, which had bypassed supervision during the implementation of the Notice, has become a platform that cannot provide services at present.
According to a number of ** reports, Airport Travel was founded in early 2015 and is a large platform that relies on the Internet + smart transportation O2O model to provide travel services.
As of the evening of February 2, "Airport Travel" can still provide services such as airport drop-off, carpooling, and chartered cars, and its customer service responded at the time, saying, "We are not online car-hailing, we are airport service butlers."
At present, the platform's WeChat Mini Program page shows "Updating and Maintenance", and the link to its official website cannot be opened.
At present, the WeChat mini-program page of Airport Travel shows "Updating and Maintenance".
At 4:30 p.m. on February 4, a Yan Finance reporter contacted the customer service of Xiaohongshu Airport Travel as a passenger, and the other party said, "Recently, the mini program and the official website are under upgrade and maintenance, so they may not be able to open it temporarily."
If you need to make an appointment for service, passengers need to add WeChat to customer service, scan the code to pay to the company, and after filling in the car information, the customer service will help you book a car, and if the distance is within 60 kilometers, you can enjoy the pick-up service of Xiaohongshu ***280 yuan.
It is understood that Pudong Airport was unable to provide pick-up service at that time, and the specific reason was not explained by the other party.
At the same time, after 6:30, the Xiaohongshu account of Airport Travel emptied all content, and its Xiaohongshu customer service on WeChat no longer replied to any messages.
Subsequently,Salt financial reporter called the official customer service of the airport travel, the other party said that the current airport travel system is being upgraded and maintained, there is no order channel for the time being, can not receive new car orders, existing car orders will provide normal services, if you need a refund, you can add customer service WeChat to provide relevant proof, offline service points will provide airport internal guidance services as usual.
As for when the system will be upgraded and maintained, the other party immediately repeated that the problem is not within its business scope.
The airport travel platform is subordinate to the "Airport (Shanghai) Automobile Service*** hereinafter referred to as Airport Auto"), Tianyancha information shows that the company was established on December 1, 2022, mainly engaged in the air transport industry, and the legal representative is Chen Weiguo.
Source: Tianyancha.
In addition, the company set up branches in Chengdu and Beijing on January 12 and 23 this year, which are also engaged in the air transport industry, and the legal representative is Zheng Xiuli.
But Zheng Xiuli is not just the legal representative of the newly established branch.
Zheng Xiuli's status in the company Source: Tianyancha.
Airport Automobile is wholly owned by Shanghai Airport Tourism Service *** hereinafter referred to as Airport Tourism). According to public information, the company was established in 1996 by Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, headquartered in Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, mainly engaged in international tourism, bus rental, car rental (commercial car) and other services, and was once affiliated to Shanghai Airport (Group)**
But there is no shadow of Shanghai Airport Group on the list of shareholders of Airport Tourism, and Zheng Xiuli's name appears again.
Airport Tourism is controlled by Shanghai Xinjiaogang Industrial Co., Ltd., which is actually controlled by Zheng Xiuli. This also means,Zheng Xiuli indirectly holds Airport Tourism and Airport Motors, and owns about 8993% of the shares.
Zheng Xiuli's equity path Source: Tianyancha.
In addition to Airport Cars, Airport Tourism established one car rental company in Wuhan, Guiyang, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou around December last year, and the legal representative is also Zheng Xiuli.
Salt financial reporters combed and found that before, Airport Tourism and Shanghai's airport reached many cooperation.
According to the airport travel VIP service WeChat***, the account name was originally "egobus Yijiu Bus", which was renamed "Airport Travel VIP Service" in 2021, and the account has stopped updating in June 2022.
Egobus is the first service company in Shanghai to be approved by the transportation department to open a new energy line from the airport to the hotel. According to the CCTV report, Egobus was officially put into operation in 2016, with a total of 5 lines and more than 20 new energy buses, and at that time opened the T1 and T2 terminals of Pudong Airport to all five-star hotels in Lujiazui, People's Square, Jing'an Temple, Xujiahui and Hongqiao in downtown Shanghai.
Egobus's airport pick-up point Source: Airport Travel VIP Service.
In addition, the main body of the above-mentioned *** account is Shanghai Yibu Network Technology *** enterprise check information shows that the company was established in August 2015, and at the same time registered and established Shanghai Yizun Automobile Service *** The legal representative and actual controller of the two companies are He Xinlong. Prior to June 2018, this person was the controlling shareholder of Airport Tourism.
At the same time, Airport Tourism also appeared in the list of shareholders of Shanghai Yizun, with a stake of 899%, on the enterprise check platform, the above two companies and the airport tourism declaration of the ** number, Shanghai Yibu Network Technology *** profile content is a lot of overlap with the airport tourism.
It is worth mentioningIn the past two years, Airport Tourism has cooperated frequently with Shanghai's airports, and has won the bid for airport car rental projects twice.
According to the company's information, in September 2022, the airport tourism cost RMB 5920,000 yuan won the bid for the vehicle leasing project issued by Shanghai Pudong International Airport Import and Export.
Three months later, Airport Tourism was the second winning candidate with 4560,000 yuan became the "vehicle leasing project of the Ministry of Transportation Security" issued by Shanghai International Airport Co., Ltd. The other two winning candidates were "Shanghai Youbora Car Rental***" and "Shanghai Naomi Car Rental***".
Shanghai International Bidding*** Announcement of the winning candidates for the vehicle leasing project of the Ministry of Transportation Security.
The three winning bidders have a close relationship.
Shanghai Youbora Car Rental*** was established in 2015, Zheng Xiuli is one of the shareholders, holding 49% of the shares, and is the company's supervisor; The other shareholder is Han Zhengyue, holding 51% of the shares. In 2021, the company won the bid for the same project also released by Shanghai International Airport Co., Ltd. ***.
Shanghai Naomi Car Rental*** was established in 2021, and its company supervisor is Ge Yundi, who is also the supervisor of Shanghai Yizheng Car Rental*** and Shanghai Lijia Car Rental***. The former legal person is Chen Weiguo, an airport automobile legal person, and Han Zhengyue is the actual controller; The latter is actually controlled by Zheng Xiuli and serves as a legal person, and the enterprise has now been deregistered.
This also means that in the announcement of the winning bid at Shanghai International Airport, the first, second and third winning candidates may have a certain degree of cooperation or common interests behind them.
Ge Yundi's related party association map Source: Qichacha.
A legal industry practitioner told the salt financial reporter that according to the second paragraph of Article 34 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Bidding and Bidding LawThe person in charge of the unit is the same person or different units with a holding and management relationship, and shall not participate in the bidding of the same bidding section or the same bidding project without dividing the bidding section, and if the relevant bidding is invalid if the provisions are violated, the relevant bidding will be invalid.
It can be seen that only if the person in charge of the unit is the same person or different units with a controlling relationship or a management relationship, they will be prohibited from bidding for the same project, and the law does not restrict the bidding of bidders with other related relationships. As long as the bidding activities are lawful, compliant, open and fair, and the bidding entities of related parties do not harm the interests of the state, society and individuals, such bidding activities are in line with the requirements of market competition. The above-mentioned legal practitioner said.
Although the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission has subsequently adjusted the online car-hailing policy to allow online car-hailing to enter the airport in compliance with the regulations, the special status of airport travel during the policy ban periodIt still arouses public concern about fair competition in the market
The experience of this policy adjustment shows us the importance of policy adaptability, fairness and transparency in the rapidly changing social environment and complex public management field.
The buzz about "airport travel" is not only a story about how a company can survive within a regulatory framework, but also a discussion about how to maintain fair competition and efficient services in a rapidly changing market environment.