Welcome to the mobile chatroom

As more and more Chinese use car-hailing apps as a convenient and economical alternative to taxis, private car owners who have signed up with software companies are not only earning a few extra yuan but making friends, too.

"It's not about making money," says Peng Guo, 27, of Beijing, who registered his Mercedes-Benz with the hailing app company Uber as a part-time driver.

"The great thing is that I can get to know different people and have very pleasant chats with them," says Peng, who is in the finance industry.

For part-timers driving for Uber in a car costing more than 250,000 yuan ($40,000), the financial pickings are slim, Peng says, given the running costs and the wear and tear on vehicles.

Many of his passengers are young postgraduates, teachers and office workers, and they talk about many different things, he says. Peng is a keen art collector, and he says one of his rides was a journalist who writes about art, and she was able to offer him a few handy pointers.

"Being an Uber driver has also turned me into a more patient person. With Uber you can't pick and choose your fares, and sometimes you have to drive a long way to pick someone up. What I like about it is that we have to be professional and responsible and do our job well."

He got a buzz in taking his first order from the app a few months ago, he says, partly because it gave him a sudden sense of responsibility.

For other car-hailing drivers, meeting people is a satisfying part of the job, too, although for them the financial returns are not to be sneezed at either.

Yuan Ding, 34, of Beijing, says that in December he earned 5,000 yuan within 10 days as a part-time driver registered with Uber. At the time, car-hailing apps companies were offering premiums in an effort to attract more drivers and passengers, and that trick seemed to work on Yuan, who immediately quit his job selling cars to drive them instead.

"What I like about the job is that it gives me flexibility with work. I am making much more money than I used to, and am not as tired. And of course, I can meet lots of different people and broaden my horizons.