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Harbin taxi driver volunteers contribute greatly to the city

Updated : 2017-06-07

By Zhou Huiying and Wang Wei ( chinadaily.com.cn )

Harbin’s Nangang district has a taxi service team which helps residents to deal with emergencies.

The team was founded in 2008 and consists of 713 people. Of these taxi volunteers, 35 are members of the Communist Party of China. The team now boasts 426 taxies.

Over the past nine years, the taxi drivers have took part in many volunteer activities, including taking a pregnant woman from Changchun, providing help to Fan Xinyu, a sick girl, and picking up students taking part in examinations.

The taxi team has also helped to crack a criminal case involving a Russian woman suffering a robbery. It even helped to solve Harbin’s biggest fur theft case. The people of the city describe the team members as a “movable camera”, which can monitor urban safety.

On the Double Ninth Festival, volunteers such as Xue Shouping and Pan Qingping, take seniors to tour Harbin’s downtown area to experience the great changes happening in the city. On Labor Day, taxi volunteers pay visits to model workers. In winter, they drive taxies to dsitribute 1,500 articles of clothing to Acheng elderly nursing home, which is 80 kilometers away.

Over the years, they have provided traffic dispersion work for major events, such as the China-Russia expo, the Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, and Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. They provided car services 32 times, dispatching more than 300 cars and providing free services for 12,000 people. They have also donated goods and materials worth 160,000 yuan ($23,500).

Providing services of high quality is their continuous task. They pay great attention to minor things. For example, they put an umbrella in each of the taxis. Besides, a banner is posted on the windscreen, reading “Please take my car and I will never refuse to take passengers”.

Their objective is to create a civilized and elegant urban environment. Thirty of the taxi team members, including Party members Hao Lanjun and Fan Dali, do regular cleaning work at bus stations. During the ice and snow festival, they provide language and tourist guide services for foreign guests.

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Taxi volunteers gather in front of their office building in Liaoyuan Street, in Nangang district, Harbin, on June 2. [Photo/my399.com]

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Reporters interview a taxi volunteer in Harbin on June 2. [Photo/my399.com]

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A commentator explains activities the taxi volunteer team has taken part in to build a more civilized and harmonious Harbin. [Photo/my399.com]