Prohibiting taxi drivers from driving out of town is unreasonable

Local authorities should not solve livelihood problems at the expense of taxi drivers' legal rights, according to an article in Beijing Youth Daily. Excerpts:

As Spring Festival approaches, Guangzhou and Zhenjiang governments have launched a new policy to alleviate the taxi shortage in their cities during Spring Festival.

Local authorities may have good intentions, but the method they have adopted is too arbitrary and unreasonable. In Guangzhou and Zhenjiang, taxi drivers sign leasing contracts with taxi companies and pay them rental fees monthly. Within the leasing period, taxi drivers have the right to operate independently. Such contracts are protected by law.

But local authorities arbitrarily intervene in taxi drivers' operations through administrative means. Guangzhou authorities have stipulated that if taxi drivers take taxes out of town, their contracts with the taxi companies will be terminated.

Local authorities intervene in taxi drivers' operations through administrative means that have no legal basis. This is an example of how administrative power tramples citizens' legal rights arbitrarily. The new policy that seems benefits local citizens is actually at the cost of violating taxi drivers' rights.

There are many other ways to ease the taxi shortage in local cities without trampling the rights of taxi drivers who come from other areas, such as providing free bus transportation during Spring Festival and encouraging citizens to use public transportation. Or the authorities could pay the rental fee during Spring Festival for taxi drivers, in order to encourage drivers from other areas to stay in the cities during the holiday. Whatever method local authorities adopt, it should not be at the cost of taxi drivers' legal rights. Administrative power should not go against the law, otherwise it will face criticism similar to the backlash that Guangzhou and Zhenjiang authorities have experienced.