For more cool timelapse videos, click here. more ›

Shanghai taxi drivers are now increasingly pulling some magician stunts by swapping out your fully charged jiaotong ka (public transportation card) with an empty one using sleight-of-hand. more ›

A few links to start off your day: more ›

With effect from tomorrow, taxi flag fares go up from 12RMB to 13RMB, plus another 1RMB fuel surcharge. That means the meter shows 14RMB -- which works out to be a 16.67% increase -- the moment you get in the cab. more ›

O Dear God, no. You're taking our taxi touchscreen mutant humanoid neck stretch woman away from us?! Nancy Pon, the mystery fitness instructor who was inexplicably the subject of massive internet chattering recently, has been replaced in taxi video screens by a video featuring a male fitness guru doing shoulder exercises. more ›

Remember all that speculation over the WOW fitness lady teaching us how to keep it loose in a Shanghai taxi? Well the mystery is finally solved! Both City Weekend and China Daily ran interviews with her this week, only a few days before her stint as wacky aerobics guru comes to an end. And as it turns out, aside from the occasional push ups session at the airport, she's surprisingly normal. more ›

There are currently nine taxi colors in Shanghai (is "Expo" a color?) and the city is now promising to gradually consolidate the hues to one main industry color, according to the Shanghai Port Authority. Under instructions from the CPPCC, Shanghai's five major taxi companies will eventually switch to a uniform color to promote the "overall image of the taxi industry in Shanghai." They are also considering ways to make passes for the various companies universal, to save you the hassle of waiting around for the correct company's cab. Anyway, what do you say Shanghai? Which color should our cabs be? Sandstorm sepia? Communist Cadre Crimson? Propaganda Periwinkle? Expo Emerald? Swill Oil Saffron? Xiaojie Cerulean? more ›

If you've taken a taxi recently, it would have been almost impossible for you to miss the somewhat masculine, retro-looking aerobics lady encouraging you to exercise by stretching her bulging neck side to side (video below.) According to Shanghai Daily, she's started quite the flurry of debate online. Chinese netizens have been arguing on Weibo as to whether they think she's totalz crazy and personally disturbing, or whether they think her retro 80s-era aerobic motif is cool. more ›

Either the left hand isn't talking to the right hand or Sun Jianping, the head of the city's transport watchdog, was lying about the taxi fares not rising. more ›

"THE head of the city's transport watchdog, Sun Jianping, yesterday denied a rumor taxi fares would rise. Sun stressed a public hearing would always be held before any decision to raise taxi fares. According to the rumor, the taxi fare for the first 3 kilometers would be raised from 12 yuan (US$1.84) to 15 yuan. Sun did say the government is mulling a plan to lower the monthly dues taxi companies are allowed to collect from cabbies. The concern is to ease soaring work pressure on cabbies due to fuel price hikes." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Remember that cabby who died on Nanjing Road after two passengers hit him, then ran away? Apparently those two passengers have been found:

POLICE have found two cab passengers who disappeared after their driver dropped dead on Nanjing West Road during a dispute over the fare yesterday. more ›

A taxi driver died yesterday on Nanjing Road West but not from a traffic accident. more ›

It seems as though, despite the various efforts to spread English in the city before the World Expo, expats are still having trouble communicating in Shanghai's taxis, buses, shopping venues and elsewhere. Of the over 200 foreigners living in Pudong and Hongqiao that were interviewed, roughly 49% said they were dissatisfied with cabs for not speaking English, and 34% said they weren't happy with buses (34% of foreigners take buses? Get out of town!). Surprisingly, the one thing we would've thought was most important for practitioners to know English - medical care - only garnered a 15% complaint rate. more ›

Seems like taxis in Shanghai have been getting a whole lot of attention lately. Chinese in-taxi media company, Touchmedia, is launching an interactive map in more than 10,000 taxis around Shanghai next month, all in preparation for next year's Expo. more ›

• Once seen as spies, Taiwan eases China media curbs [Reuters] "Taiwan has relaxed rules for Chinese media, long regarded as spy organizations for the Communist government, as relations warm between the two long-time political rivals, officials said on Wednesday. Effective immediately, Chinese media, which include state-run giants such as Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television, can increase staff from two to five people apiece and travel to any part of Taiwan or its outlying islands, officials said."
• Chengdu traffic gives rise to new profession: taxi chasing [GoChengdoo] "We've written before about how frustrating catching a taxi in Chengdu has become in the last few years. And although 800 cabs were allegedly added to Chengdu's streets last month, it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. But now help is on the way, in the form of a "chubby figure" who chases down cabs for passengers, collecting 2 RMB each time."
• In modern China, no place for totalitarian anthems [China Media Project] "How should we best understand the extravagance that marked China’s recent National Day celebrations? In the wake of the pomp and circumstance, a good friend of mine summed it up with a single phrase: “Four portraits and four anthems.” By portraits he was referring of course to the four massive portraits of state leaders - Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao - that gazed over the celebration."

Londoners living in major Chinese cities may find themselves feeling a little more at home in the near future. Geely Automobile Holdings, a Hangzhou-based budget car maker, plans to manufacture and sell about 1,000 of London's iconic black cabs throughout China by the end of the year. more ›

The days of the hallowed Volkswagen Santana, long the automobile of choice for basically all Shanghai taxi companies, may soon be screeching to a full stop. more ›

Under debate right now at the city transportation bureau: whether taxi fees need to be rejiggered. According to Xinmin, the bureau is considering abolishing the “night time fee” since low demand and strong supply was causing passengers to negotiate directly with drivers for lower fares. Instead, they would consider increasing fees during rush hours - a sort of “peak time fee” instead - that would hopefully help decrease demand for taxis during the most crowded parts of the day. The bureau said that since new regulations will effect everybody, they would conduct comprehensive feasibility studies before passing anything. more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

Shanghai officials have issued a warning against taxi drivers that may be using black market devices to scam passengers. The gidgets, which can be had for "several dozen yuan" either make the meter tick faster or increase the distance traveled. more ›

City Weekend brings us murmurs that the Shanghai government may soon crack down on those taxi televisions that broadcast ads nonstop (with nary an off button in sight). Declarations by the local government and officials from the World Expo Environment Improvement campaign hinted that taxi commercials could fall into the category of visual and audio pollution. more ›

Photo from Laurence&Annie more ›

Last Thursday, an irate passenger stole the taxi he had been riding in after having to wait in a blocked street. According to the Shanghai Daily, the man, surnamed Wang lost his temper when a truck blocked the traffic of Wanping Lu in Xuhui District. After arguing with the truck driver he "broke off the taxi's rear-view mirror and hit himself over the head with it", and then proceeded to smash the taxi's meter. Subsequently Wang injured the taxi driver, managed to take his keys and drove off. Wang was soon detained and the taxi later found abandoned. more ›

Taxi driver strikes have been spreading from city to city lately. China Digital Times tells us of the latest one that took place in Guangzhou:

Cabbies in Guangzhou took to the streets Monday to protest the alleged beating of a fellow cab driver by a government official yesterday evening. The cab driver was beaten by three men after a traffic accident. Related photos, video clips and blog posts were all over Chinese cyberspace. The official media also quickly put out its own version of this protest. Read these stories from Xinhua and Shanghai Daily.

"Although senior citizens would be happier if their family visited more often, they are generally satisfied with their lives in the city, a survey by the Shanghai Quality Association revealed on Monday." more ›

• In a Beijing-inspired move to reduce traffic, Shanghai civil servants will not be allowed to drive their cars on certain days of the week, decided according to their cars' license plate numbers.
• This Tuesday, government officials declared that more than RMB 4 billion will be invested in a move to improve Pudong New Area, the site for the 2010 World Expo. Among other measures, 200 square meters in 25 old neighborhoods will be "reconstructed", ie., torn down and replaced with skyscrapers.
• In a crackdown this Thursday cabbies who refused to drive customers to destinations in the Lujiazui area were named and shamed, as well as fined and cut off from work for 15 days. Some taxi drivers have avoided driving in this area since the distances are considered too short or because traffic is slow.

Photo by 2 dogs. more ›

Another great production from Daedalum Films, this one directed by Arnaud Kamphuis:

There are over 45,000 taxi drivers in Shanghai. Zhou Senlin is one of them. Following him around the city, we learn more about a difficult profession many take for granted. Over his long shifts, Zhou tells us about his life as he observes and adapts to the metamorphosis of an entire city, bringing better opportunities for him and his family.

You know about getting tea-housed, you've heard about the 'art student' exhibitions, and now it's time to talk about fake red cabs. more ›

The Maglev station in Pudong has long been a breeding ground for taxi drivers eager to rip-off new arrivals. You step off the train, and into a den of thieves. more ›