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Back in 2014, Didi and Kuaidi, the other big ride-hailing service in China, had a price war. This forced 20 smaller ride-hailing companies out of business. In 2015, Didi and Kuaidi merged.[1] They managed to escape antitrust review by claiming their revenue was below the $65 million threshold for antitrust reporting in China. With their price war, they were both losing money, so the deal was not subjected to antitrust review by the Ministry of Commerce. Unclear if the Uber deal will get through the same loophole. Anyway, Uber exits from China, with a minor stake in Kuaidi. Now Kuaidi can jack up prices.

[1] http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/antitr...



You can order taxi on Didi and pay on cash on a metered fare; surge pricing is not possible.

For me, it is a convenience app to hail a taxi, nothing more nor less. Taxis in China are very inexpensive.

For ride shares, also pay outside the app, having hailed via it one-time. Driver is happy to have a regular ride-share.

And frankly, I'm happy to pay taxi-rate fares, that again are nothing in comparison to North American or European rates, for the convenience.


Not really. Didi doesn't control the taxi industry, and black cabs have always existed inside of the formal taxi business. This doesn't give them a lot of pricing power, they can't jack very high until people start finding alternatives and competition springs up again.




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