Taxi driver refuses passenger’s request to adjust air conditioning temperature, slammed by netizens
A ride-hailing taxi driver drew widespread criticism after refusing to turn up his vehicle’s air conditioning upon a passenger’s request last Thursday (2 Oct).
The passenger, surnamed Chen, reportedly said he had asked to turn the temperature down about six or seven minutes into the ride, but the driver, surnamed Wu, said it wasn’t working.
As his back was covered in sweat, Mr Chen tried to open the windows five minutes later, but found that it was locked shut.
The driver later turned down the temperature to 27°C or 28°C, but when Mr Chen said he still felt stuffy and couldn’t breathe from the heat, he was met with a tongue-lashing from Mr Wu.
Source: Douyin
Driver allegedly threatens passenger
Based on a video Mr Chen took of the incident, Mr Wu told him things such as “I have the final say on my car” and “You’re asking for so much for a flat price”.
The driver even told the passenger to shut up, as he became increasingly irritated, Tencent News reported.
Worse, Mr Wu’s words reportedly escalated to threats such as, “If you don’t agree, you’ll die.”
Following this, Mr Chen chose to get off the vehicle, even though he had only five minutes left on his ride.
Source: Douyin
As the car drove away, the driver continued to berate the passenger.
Mr Chen then filed a complaint on the ride-hailing platform, attaching his recording of the incident, and posted it on social media, where it quickly gained attention.
Authorities demand driver’s suspension
After the video went viral, the Xiamen Municipal Transportation Bureau’s Transportation Centre intervened in the investigation.
On 3 Oct, they confirmed that Wu’s behaviour violated Article 24 of the “Taxi Operation and Service Management Regulations”, which requires drivers to “raise and lower windows and use air conditioning according to the passengers’ wishes”.
Additionally, he also breached the civilised service clause of the “Xiamen Online Ride-hailing Operation and Service Management Standards”.
The transportation bureau summoned the management of the ride-hailing platform, demanding the driver’s suspension.
The bureau also said it will strengthen its efforts to address problems in the ride-hailing industry and improve drivers’ service quality to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Drivers dissatisfied with fixed-price fares
According to Tencent News, the conflicts between drivers and passengers in the past couple of years are said to be due to drivers’ dissatisfaction with low, fixed-price fares.
However, netizens believe that the actions of some drivers are damaging the ride-hailing industry’s image.
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Featured image adapted from Douyin.
