滴滴与优步合并对用户有什么影响?

The new regulations have placed a greater burden on the ride hailer drivers to provide safer cars and rides. On the other hand, the two giants are likely to cut back the subsidies they make to both drivers and passengers as a result of the merger. Inevitably drivers will see lower profits and fewer passengers.

Mr. Deng has been a full-time ride hailer driver for Didi for about six months. He says drivers get around 60 yuan - about 9 US Dollars - from the company if they achieve 22 orders a day. That represents a big part of his income, and yet this sum will shrink as a result of the hook-up of the top 2 players on the Chinese market.

"I'll keep driving for some time and observe. If it doesn't work well, I'll quit. The job is very tiresome. I have to work for over 10 hours a day. Otherwise I cannot get the subsidies, which means I cannot make money."

On the other hand, traditional taxi drivers are unhappy about the fact that on-demand ride hailing services are becoming legitimate.

Mr. Wang, a taxi driver in Beijing, says the ride hailing drivers already offer cheaper prices than traditional taxies. He believes they'll be even more popular as a result of the legitimization. So his life will get even harder.

"We taxi drivers are disadvantaged compared with hailer drivers. Their cars are better quality. We are not able to compete. Secondly, hailer drivers do not need to hand in "membership money", but we do. Taxi companies don't even buy insurance for our cars, apart from compulsory ones. The only reason some passengers choose us is that we offer receipts. If hailing service also provides receipts after being made legitimate, who will choose taxies?"

Sheng Dali, another Beijing taxi driver whose contract with his company is due to expire, said he would join On Demand drivers, carrying passengers with his private cars. Sheng said he is not optimistic about online hailing, but at least he would get rid of the "membership money" he has to pay to the company.

The recent regulations and merger will also have an impact on users. For ordinary consumers, the choice is simple. Choose the cheapest one.

Zhang Yan is a frequent user of taxis living in Beijing. She usually chooses Uber to hail private cars online because it's cheaper than Didi. But as Didi acquires Uber, Zhang says she's a little concerned about the possible price increase thereafter.

"As a consumer, I'll weigh the pros and cons of different ways. If online hailing is more expensive than taxies, I'll choose taxies, and vice versa."

Zhang said she will wait and see where the industry goes with the latest changes.

For CRI, this is Fei Fei.