Harbin launched its own taxi booking app “Yaoyaoxing” on Nov 1, adding a convenient new method for local residents to hail a taxi.

With this app, users can not only hail a taxi in busy streets, but also can ensure their safety since all drivers’ information has been recorded in a database.

The local government has developed this app to increase consumer choice in Harbin, and ensure competition in the industry.

A credit file has also been built for every taxi and driver, thus reducing risks for passengers and encouraging drivers to focus on customer service.

The Harbin taxi industry management system has collected information of more than 15,000 taxis and 30,000 taxi drivers.

The app is easy and convenient to use. Users can get the location of their driver with a positioning function. Furthermore, they can find how many taxis there are nearby.

The app can not only provide car-hailing services but also car-booking services. Passengers can pre-book for a later time or day. Users can make their payment with cash, WeChat or Alipay.

Unlike other car-hailing software, Yaoyaoxing doesn’t require users to input their destinations, and in a twist, the software also provides a function whereby users can hail a taxi with a shake of their mobile phones.

At present, a total of 5,000 people have downloaded this software since trial operations began 10 days ago, with most of them Android users. Most of the people who use the app are under the age of 34, accounting for almost 70 percent of the total.

A majority of the users hail their taxis in major areas such as Shanzhi Street, the business district, the provincial museum and Lesong Square. Monday is the app’s busiest day, according to data that has been collected.

Guang Yue, vice-president of Yaoyaoxing, claims that more data will be obtained in the near future since the number of people using the app is increasing.

More than 7,000 taxis are currently using the app software from more than 20 different taxi firms. In the future, it will be installed in 15,000 taxis from 74 different taxi companies.