Getting Around: Passengers lighting up as taxis improve service

In the news recently, Shanghai's taxis:

• "Where's the difficulty in the taxi smoking ban?" The passengers, that's where. Dazhong taxi's "Welcome the World Expo with no smoking in Dazhong taxis!" campaign has stopped taxi drivers from smoking on the job through strict supervision and heavy fines, but drivers are finding the passengers aren't as cooperative: some taxi drivers have even been fined and lost stars due to passengers' complaints of bad service after they were asked by the driver to not smoke. Smoking has largely vanished on the bus and subway because of their clear delineation as a public area and specific fines set in law. Taxis, meanwhile, lack both of these, leaving taxi drivers no recourse but to turn a blind eye to smoking in the passenger seat.
• "Dazhong performs the best among Shanghai cab firms" In both the overall rate of traffic violations per taxi and the number of customer complaints, Shanghai's taxi companies have been improving their record over the past two months. Topping the lists is Dazhong Taxi, and trailing at the end are New World and Wanzhong.

Photograph of early Shanghai taxis from this BBS thread of old Shanghai photos.

Cross-posted on the Shanghai Public Transportation weblog.