Getting Paid For Taking A Taxi

Riding a taxi and getting paid for it? Well, it happened in China, or at least in the southern city of Shenzhen (深圳), according to Chinese writer Tu Qiao (涂俏) in her book 生存体验, 当代中国边缘阶层生存状态实录 (Experiencing Survival - A True Record of Survival Among The Marginal Class in Contemporary China, Xinhua Publishing Press, 1999)

Apparently, at the Luohu checkpoint (罗湖口岸), in order to ensure "orderly control of traffic" at one time, no empty taxis were allowed to enter the railway station. But given the huge demand for taxis from mainly Hong Kong visitors and tourists, taxi drivers discovered a way to beat the system.

They picked up "passengers" at a location about 200 - 300 meters from the station, and "pay" their "passengers" 1-2 RMB each for their "efforts." The "passengers" would then be let off at the railway station, and the taxi driver could then pick up bona fide passengers, especially Hong Kong visitors. Certainly a mutually beneficial "deal."

According to Tu, this fake passenger phenomenon started in 1992, and reached its peak in 1995 - a time where Hong Kongers were eager to purchase property in Shenzhen. It was also a time where many rural dwellers with few employable skills had swarmed into the city hoping to look for jobs. Unable to find jobs, many of them turned to living on what Tu described as the "fringes of society", and resorted to various legal and illegal ways to make a living.

I suppose the arrangement in this case is neither legal or illegal. Just an ingenious and mutually beneficial way of finding loopholes in, and beating the system.

As Tu pointed out, even though the "passengers" were hauled up and questioned by railway police from time to time for "disturbing social order", these "passengers" had to be let off after a warning, since there were no related laws to either charge or indict them.