Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
Not every trip needs four wheels.
In China's smaller cities, two is often just enough, faster and cheaper.
We dive into the rise of motorcycle ride hailing apps, spinning into markets where car hailing apps are feeling the heat.
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm He Yang. For today's program I'm joined by Yu -Hsuan and Li Yi in this studio.
First on today's show.
Motorcycle ride hailing services are now offering affordable, speedy transportation in China's smaller cities, contrasting with the glossy cosmopolitans such as Beijing and Shanghai.
However, questions surrounding safety regulations and oversight remain unanswered.
How will these services change the travel habits and the transportation landscape in these regions?
So first of all, let's go to you, YuXuan.
How and why are motorcycle ride -hailing apps taking off in China's smaller cities?
When we're talking about ride -hailing, mostly you were thinking about getting a car or taxi, right?
And in this case, motorcycle ride -hailing services have recently begun to emerge in some small cities and counties in China.
These services are offered through online mini programs and slightly or just cheaper than traditional car -based ride -hailing.
The way that they used it is similar to what we have been getting so used to, the car ride -hailing apps, users enter their starting point and destination And then wait to be matched, if this motorcycle driver will like to take this order.
One of the platforms Mo Di Yi Xia, which began promoting its service in December 2024, has been steadily orders has seen steady orders in a small city in Guangdong.
It's called Maoming and plans to expand.
Drivers receive safety trainings, insurance and are monitored for route and speed compliance.
Another platform, DaoMoXin, currently operates in Luchang in Guangdong Province as well as in Guiyang and Yijiang in central Hunan province.
Both of them are in the southern part of China and they are smaller cities and counties.
As we say, they don't have that huge capacity of traffic jam i would say, so this could be the better environment for this motorcycle ride -hailing service to promote and develop.
Li Yi, when you first saw this piece of news, did you like this idea or you at all surprised that this is going on?
Yeah, I actually, I actually like this idea and just before the show, we just have a little catch up with Peter Yu -Hsuan and I believe you had tried the motorcycle taxi services in Thailand, right, and also I've tried that in Bali.
So I think this service has been quite popular especially in Southeast Asian countries.
Of course, their climate is good and also the streets are pretty narrow, which are not really that friendly to regular car -hailing business.
So that's why people use motorcycles a lot and, in this case, motorcycle taxi service as well.
In China, I think although in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, motorcycle is not that popular especially in downtown areas but I do know that motorcycle taxi used to appear in 1980s and 1990s in China especially in suburban areas around big cities and you know people would just use this motorcycle taxi to travel between rural areas and to cities Because back then, I believe buses were not really at its full scale and then private car ownership was not really that high.
So, you know, there will be a lot of this motorcycle taxi.
Maybe not formal one, but informal ones, you know, waiting for passengers at major bus stops and maybe transport you to major cities.
So this motorcycle taxi used to be a major way of transport for people living in areas like this and then of course you see we have services but now it's for me it's somehow I can make a comeback right but it's just a very very at very very early stage as you said and only in smaller much smaller cities and counties and have to sort of admit and I'm blushing a a little bit of the locations that you should mentioned just now.
I had to look up a few of them online because I've never heard of these smaller cities or counties and also China is such a vast country with very different landscape and different areas and it's always sort of like a delight to discover more about your own city and your own country when we're doing research for the show, at least that's a personal takeaway from me and also just just quickly to offer you sort of paint the picture a little bit in the usage of these two -wheeled transportation options here in China.
Yes, there's the motorcycle, and we talked about this right before the show, Yu Xun.
You mentioned that the motorcycles, they are powered by fuel, like often traditional fossil fuels, and we're probably quite familiar with electric bikes in big cities.
you see a lot of people riding them and that's a different type of two -wheel option, I suppose.
Obviously it's operating on a battery and also it has that the place where you rest your legs and feet, you know, you're sitting on this without your legs open.
That sounds a bit wrong but with the traditional motorbikes, you know, it's different and also there are heavily regulated if not banned in a lot of Chinese cities.
So all in all, this is very interesting and kind of like a comeback of an old phenomenon of a haunting story that young people might not even be very familiar with anymore.
So guys, could you remind us in what ways do motorbikes or motorcycles offer advantages over cars and other transportation options?
I think I've mentioned some of these before.
It is quite cheap compared to just car ride hailing services in southern China's Guangdong province platforms like Mo di Sia charge 6 yuan or that's about 83 cents for the first 2km and only 0 .8 yuan for every 500m, roughly half of the starting fare for car hailing services in cities like Guangzhou, which is the provincial capital and safety rules both require both driver and passenger to wear helmets and limit each ride to one passenger and avoid restricted areas which means that you can only have these kind of services in designated areas.
I would assume most Most of them are not allowed in as we said downtown areas and Dao Mo Xing, another regional operator I mentioned before, used a more complex pricing model with an affairs starting at 5 yuan, and fluctuating between 4 .6 to 7 .5 yuan.
That's about 0 .6 dollars to 1 dollar depending on the time of the day and the price advantage is very attractive to passengers who value the cost of performance and need a ride for short distance trips, especially when you are going out or going to somewhere alone because you can only order for one seat from one motorcycle, right?
I think price is definitely one advantage of motorcycle taxi and I think another one would be flexibility, especially in cities and you know smaller counties where streets are pretty narrow and you see a lot of bikes, scooters, on the road and in this case it can be extremely difficult for normal car taxi to enter in those areas so in this case you can just easily grab a motorcycle taxi and you don't really have to wait for a long time because drivers can easily navigate their vehicles as well.
Also in major cities especially you see a lot of traffic jams. In this case motorcycle taxi also offers another level of flexibility as well so that's also part of the reason why you know people might like it.
Yeah but in big cities they're not allowed at least the motorcycle taxis are not allowed. Yeah.
Yeah see we're in theory it could work best because when you see all those cars literally parked in the main streets because of the traffic jam and sometimes I really envy those folks on an electric bike or on a motorcycle.
I assume that they are riding that motorbike with a proper driver's license and a license for the vehicle itself, but they can just zoom away and then you're kind of stuck in the traffic.
But in big cities in China the motorbike taxi is rarely allowed if not just completely banned.
Yeah about that, for two listeners who are not living in China or do not know the history of the motorcycle industry.
In the 1990s, 185 cities across China implemented this kind of ban on motorcycle policies.
and initially aimed at addressing traffic accidents, public safety concerns, and also emission pollution.
However, this approach gradually revealed its shortcomings because restricted mobility for low -income groups and the declined motorcycle industry and also excessive substandard electric bikes.
So in 2017, Xi 'an replaced rigid bands with flexible governance becoming the first provincial capital in the country to lift restrictions on motorcycles.
So what we are seeing right now is not only motorcycle taxis, but also motorcycle itself in some areas they are banned.
Yeah, the thing about motorcycle taxis in big cities, it just, it creates havoc for city management.
And I think that's, and also safety is a huge issue here here.
If it was a motorcycle taxi running in cities like Beijing or Shanghai, which is already very busy, just imagine this guy or this person on a motorcycle suddenly just stops by the street to pick somebody up and then just quickly drives away.
And then if it's already really busy traffic, then you can kind of picture how potentially that could be kind of dangerous and creating not wanted congestion or adding to the problem.
And that is part of the reason why they're not allowed in these big cities.
But also one reason why the smaller cities welcome at this kind of service is that maybe the city is quite small to start with, meaning that, you know, it's probably just a four kilometer radius of a area that these services are operating and that's sufficient and everybody's making money getting delivered from A to B and people are happy about that so maybe there is that really practical need of the local people which makes this work?
I think it's somehow a similar case when you look at the shared e -bikes business across China, right?
When you look at some smaller cities, especially in the southern part of China.
Shared e -bikes is a pretty popular business there already.
But in Beijing, we don't have these shared e -bikes because of the safety concerns, as I said, and the difficulty it brings to the regulation processes.
Of course. So I think it's always this case.
Smaller places are always the best place to pilot a new service.
and in this case motorcycle taxi there are still like this a lot of safety concerns even for motorcycle as usual site I think a lot of local authorities especially in bigger cities they can be pretty cautious in terms of lifting the motorcycle ban sometimes you see those local cities they sort of swing between and then a tolerance amid the safety and license concerns as well.
So in this case, if you come to a motorcycle taxi business, it also involves the platform and then the drivers.
So the training of the drivers might be a major challenge.
Do we provide enough and qualified training to those drivers?
because you when you see the discussion of this emerging motorcycle taxi business it is major one major concern coming from the public saying that although platforms they are already offering say platform rules and safety protocols to train drivers and of course to train the passengers as well to tell them that you have to wear the helmet however that's not really enough because in reality, as long as you wear the helmet and do not really overload the traffic, or the local authorities might not really punish you for other reasons, for other misbehaviors, which could also cause risk and safety
concerns as well. So that's also one challenge for this business mode, I think.
Yeah, that's also the point that I would like to mention.
Just like car handling services, they will also have some operational issues even though they have very complete platforms that we can use.
And now it is such a new, it's not that new, but the platforms is quite kind of new.
So it's still in that kind of gray area in terms of regulations.
Of course, we have regulations on the motorcycle usage, but the local transportation bureau said that in the areas that we just mentioned before, there are currently no relevant regulations in place about the operational regulations and also according to local news outlet Red Star News, one staff member from the Guiyang County Transportation Bureau mentioned that the issue of motorcycle services in the county has always been difficult to resolve because it involves the travel and employment needs of many people and also the traffic police are also in a tough position, should they manage the whole
situation or the situation or the employment of a lot of people may be also affected?
Yeah yeah that could be quite the pickle of a situation and I wonder though, just trying to be in the shoes or let's just say the pillion.
That's the backseat of motorcycle taxi.
Is this for everyone?
I mean as a woman who's wearing a nice skirt today, I don't think...
Well then it's not for you.
Not for me, huh? I don't know how I can get onto that motorbike and also you're kind of hugging the shoulder or the belly of a stranger or if you're you know a little uncomfortable in doing that then I've seen you can put your hands sort of hold on to this handle thing at the back of the vehicle.
But is that even safe?
I don't know. I mean just try to portray the picture and do you think that this is I guess as common as a choice for people to replace maybe hailing a car or just as a local travel option?
I can totally, totally picture that because I experienced exactly what you just said.
You know, I don't feel comfortable with you know, holding or hugging another man in front of me so I have to hold the handle at the back of the motorcycle when I was in Thailand using this motorcycle held in service and I have to you know grab some cash in my hand and they're just scratching my hand I cannot even.
But I cannot lose my money because I need to pay for the driver.
Don't you have a pocket?
No It's really hot In Thailand, so I do not have a pocket unfortunately But anyway, so the hygiene and also the safety issue is something that we need to concern You know both the driver and passenger need to wear helmets right, but who can ensure the hygiene condition of the helmet?
More do start by that It's reusable helmet right.
And you have to wear the one that the previous passenger just used and you don't really know will they you know...
You'll be breathing.
Stereotypes it or anything.
Of course not. You'll be breathing the same breath as the person who just used it.
So... He doesn't want to comment on that.
That's what we say.
If the driver doesn't pay attention to personal hygiene the experience could also be quite unpleasant because if it's in the summer right you need to get so close to another person that is sitting in front of you.
You have a lot of stories to share it sounds like well for me I don't really think it's a very very big issue because I've also tried this business in Bali.
Of course I agree with you Huiyan at the very first place you might feel this you know discomfort you have to be very close with the driver and they can drive really fast so it's really impossible for you to only hold even when you use a normal car ride the air inside the car is fresh or not and then whether to put the driver which is clean the seat frequently.
So you just need maybe you know more regulation and more you know a clear policies from the platform side to push drivers to push drivers to you know do the hygiene thing best so this sort of problems can be solved actually.
So we've listed a few possible issues not for everyone, but some are, you know, more for me, not for Lee, maybe.
So for this service to really become a success, this motor bike hailing app business, what should be done or what needs to, um, to be fixed in that sense.
From my perspective, it is a, it is a huge thing.
It is a new, um, transportation style that we're going to have in the future.
Right. So, there are a lot of experts are listing and suggesting a lot of things that we need to actually address.
Zhang Xiang, secretary general of the International Intelligent Transport Technology Association, said that there is a certain demand for motorcycle passenger carrying in small county towns, and it is not recommended to ban them all.
Instead, they should be included in the regulatory system to ensure safety.
So regulation or more refined regulation is something we urgently need.
Related departments should accelerate the improvement of relevant laws and regulations to clarify the operating qualifications and regulatory rules for motorcycle ride hailing and strengthen driver qualification review and training.
Also enhance their safety awareness and service capabilities.
also urged platforms to purchase I think for me maybe we should really encourage more tolerance from the consumer's side.
I think no business is perfect at the very first place it was launched so in this case we might just adopt a developer -first and later approach to this online motorcycle ride -hailing business.
And in the meantime, safety concerns and all the hygiene concerns also deserve to be considered.
So that's why we might also need a more specific regulation for the online motorcycle ride -hailing industry.
Because so far there isn't really a very readily available regulation in this sector.
So we also need that clear policies from the local authorities as well and in terms of that I also think we need a more unified policy in terms of motorcycle sector as a whole as well because so far different cities really have their own different policies in terms of the motorcycles some cities have lifted the motorcycle ban some are not and some restricted some are really restrict some are not So, which will also affect the confidence of you know this motorcycle market as well and as well as the drivers and the platforms as well.
So, if you really want to encourage more platforms, agencies to come into the market maybe we also need a little bit confidence coming from the policy side as well.
Well see, I wonder whether that confidence is all that warranted in the sense that, well, every city could have a different situation.
Some cities, like Beijing, it's just hard to imagine these motorcycle taxis to be full flourishing.
Do you want the streets to be more chaotic?
Do you want more traffic jams and traffic accidents?
and maybe even you know driving on the pedestrian sidewalk you know we've if you've been around long enough you probably have witnessed that happen in prior the ban years ago so in this situation maybe this particular service doesn't seem to be all that needed but in smaller cities and counties it seems like, yeah, this is really helping people with the last mile issue, and people are enjoying it, and businesses are making money from it.
It seems like not much interference is all that needed, but, Lee, I agree with you that the regulation is kind of, it's not completely in place yet, and I wouldn't be surprised that the authorities would step in some time soon.
And if you look at the international situation, it seems like it's more of those developing countries and the southeastern, southeast Asian countries that you guys mentioned that are where we see most of these motorbike taxis sort of zip lining in the in the streets, So maybe that's more of the reality for this kind of service?
Maybe those cities have this kind of service, or maybe...
Actually, I haven't done research, so I don't know for sure.
So do you guys have some observations about the international situation?
Yeah, of course. The modal taxi service market was valued quite huge internationally and it is valued at around $15 billion dollars in 2023 and is poised to grow from $16 billion in 2024 to about $29 billion by 2032 growing at a CAGR of about 8 % during the forecast period.
And as I think we experience some of these services, the platform is playing a very, very important role in this kind of situation because they need to have a very complete mechanism to not only ensure the safety of the passengers, but also the rights of all of these motorcycle drivers.
So the whole thing needs, I think, a long time or quite a time for development.
Also, I think there is one common misconception about motorcycle drivers, the group as a whole, because usually when we mentioned motorcycle drivers, especially in bigger cities, you think about those really fashion -forward young people who just wear maybe really cool suit, and can be really driving fast on the road.
But in reality, especially in China, most riders of these motorcycles and maybe motorcycle taxis in the past can be from low -income groups.
They can be farmers, migrant workers, and people who have to travel between rural areas and urban centers for work, and also some informal taxi drivers, motorcycle taxi drivers as well.
So it also has something to do with their employment in Korea and the family hold as well So that's also one factor to be considered as well Definitely now is the humble motorcycle that's quietly Redrawing the map of mobility in the smaller markets in China while the big names chase big city lights these new nimble platforms are proving that understanding the overlooked can sometimes be the smartest business move.
