Striking taxi drivers in the eastern city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, returned to work Wednesday as the local government considered checking the rising rental fees.

Taxi services had resumed as usual without further incidents of vandalism Wednesday, said Zhang Wenwei, deputy head of the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau.

Two thirds of the 3,329 taxis in Wenzhou were off the road Tuesday. More than 20 cabs were attacked after their drivers refused to join a strike in the protest against low incomes because of rising rental fees.

The cost of a permanent license for a taxi has risen from more than 200,000 yuan (30,000 U.S. dollars) in the 1980s to 1.2 million yuan, but the licenses are hereditary and can be passed down from generation to generation.

Taxi owners usually subcontract cars to agents who hire drivers from Anhui and Hunan provinces. As owners and agents charge high rental fees, drivers said they could only earn 2,500 to 3,000 yuan a month even if they worked for 12 hours a day.

The authorities were open to ideas of taxi drivers and owners from Wednesday to Friday and supported the drivers' "reasonable" demands, the city government spokesman told a press conference Wednesday.

The government had drawn up a new schedule of transport prices and would start consultations soon. A limit would be set on rental fees to raise drivers' incomes, he said.

Wenzhou Airport on Wednesday stopped charging fees when drivers were waiting for passengers, he said.

The police are to charge eight suspects who allegedly vandalized taxis.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2009)