Did Didi change pricing method for drivers? Media reports say 'maybe'

Whether online ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has a new pricing method for drivers was the talk of the media on Thursday.

Some reports said Didi is now charging 0.5 yuan (8 cents) and 1.77 percent of the total fare per order as a commission.

Thepaper.cn cited the company on Thursday as saying that the new method will put an end to the previous one, where 20 percent of each fare went to Didi as a commission.

When contacted by the Global Times, Didi's public relations representative didn't say directly whether the 20 percent commission had been abolished. The company also declined to discuss the new method.

The person would only say that after the reform, drivers would no longer need to calculate their incomes by themselves but could see it directly through the mobile app.

The adjustment is meant to appeal to drivers' increasing demand for a more transparent pricing method, said the report.

Following the adjustment, there will be no change in the income of drivers, and some of them will even see a 10 percent to 18 percent increase, the report noted.

The new pricing method went into effect in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai on Thursday and will be extended to other cities, said the report.

However, a number of drivers who work for the platform in Beijing said Thursday they have not seen any increase in their income, according to domestic news portal 163.com.

Domestic news portal techweb.com cited a "senior manager of Didi" as rebutting the report. The person said the "new" method actually represents an existing way of calculating the platform's service fee.

Didi recently took over the China operations of its former competitor Uber.

If fare changes have been made, that can be regarded as a response to public pressure, thepaper.cn noted, citing an employee of Dazhong Chuxing who preferred to be unidentified.

The merger has also raised monopoly concerns in the legalized ride-hailing industry.

The Ministry of Commerce told a press briefing on Wednesday that if the merger eliminates competition in the sector, an investigation will be launched.