East China city limits number of taxis, ride-hailing vehicles

East China's Nanjing city announced measures to limit the number of taxis and for-hire vehicles Thursday.

A man uses the bike-sharing application on his smartphone to unlock the bicycle from bike-sharing company Ofo parked on the sidewalk in Beijing, China. [Photo: AP]

From Saturday, Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, will approve no new licenses for vehicles for hire, which include taxis and Internet-based ride-hailing vehicles. The restriction is not permanent and it may be loosened at "an appropriate time."

Some Internet-based ride-hailing platforms recently used incentives to recruit a large number of unlicensed drivers, causing chaos in the market and putting pressure on traffic in the city.

Since last year, the number of ride-hailing vehicles soared in Nanjing to nearly 20,000, bringing the total number of vehicles for hire to 30,000, according to an official with the Nanjing transport bureau.

Ride-hailing developed fast in China. DiDi, the dominant player, claims more than 25 million rides each day through more than 21 million registered drivers and car owners, according to the company.