Chinas transport ministry censures Didi after murder
AFP
Chinas transport ministry yesterday slammed Didi Chuxings safety lapses as the ride-hailing giant said it would suspend its Hitch service after the rape and murder of a passenger, the second such killing this year, reports AFP from Beijing.
A 20-year-old female passenger was raped and killed by her driver on Friday in the eastern city of Wenzhou, barely three months after a similar incident in May.
These two vicious incidents that have violated the life and safety of passengers has exposed the gaping operational loopholes of the Didi Chuxing platform, the Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
The Ministry demands that Didi... stops making empty promises and takes concrete steps to ensuring passengers safety.
Among a list of demands, the ministry called on the Chinese firm, which calls itself the worlds leading mobile transportation platform, to improve its driver vetting and driver education process.
The statement was released after a meeting yesterday between the company, the public security ministry and the transport departments of Beijing and Tianjin.
Didi said earlier Sunday that it would suspend the Hitch servicewhich links up commuters travelling in the same directionbeginning midnight on Monday.
The announcement came a day after the company admitted it bore responsibility for the crime, failing to act on a complaint about the same driver from another passenger.
She claimed he drove her to an isolated area and followed her in his vehicle after she left the car.
The incident shows the many deficiencies with our customer service processes, especially the failure to act swiftly on the previous passengers complaint and the cumbersome and rigid process of information-sharing with the police, Didi said in a statement yesterday.
