Carpooling in Beijing will soon be grounds for a fine of up to 100,000 yuan ($15,000), according to new road laws approved Saturday by the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

The rules, which are to be enacted December 1, stipulate the new penalty for operating a "black taxi" – any car that charges passengers illegally and without a license.

An unnamed employee from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau told the Beijing News last week that the fines will apply to car owners who charge people for rides without a proper license.

The employee said tax loopholes exist when a driver receives payment through sharing cars, which has disturbed the normal business order. Furthermore, there is little guarantee of passenger safety.

Calls to the bureau were unanswered yesterday.

Before the approval, the draft had sparked a lot dispute on whether to officially identify all shared cars as black taxis.

"Sharing cars is different from running black taxis, and I do not agree to punish them as black taxis," Zhang Yin, director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress, was quoted by the Beijing News Friday as saying.

He said carpooling has been good for environmental protection and energy saving, but it is difficult to manage those cars.

"If any accident take place, it is hard to fix the responsibility and determine the compensation among the driver and the riders," he added.

But he said he thinks carpooling shouldn't be classified as a black-cab operation or be punished.

Chen Tianben, an associate professor with the Public Order & Security Department of the Chinese People's Public Security University, disagreed with what is being done by the bureau.

"Those sharing cars couldn't be treated as black taxis since the riders share cars for convenience instead of profit," he told the Global Times.

He also contended that there is no difficulty in defining the responsibility when accidents take place.

"No matter if they're black taxis or shared cars, the drivers and car owners should take all the responsibility when accidents occurred," he said yesterday.

Residents who share cars also argue that it has other benefits.

"Using a car is faster and more convenient than taking buses or subways," a woman surnamed Xu, who declined to gave her full name, told the Global Times yesterday.

She had just released an advertisement on a car sharing website to find a rider to share the journey from Tianzhu Garden in Shunyi district to the Asian Games Village in Chaoyang district every morning.

"It's fair and reasonable to pay the driver for the oil and his service," she said.

A private car owner surnamed Li, who lives in Yangfang, Changping district, is offering paid rides to two people living in the same neighborhood.

"I do it just to offset part of my gas fee, not to get extra income. In addition, it helps me make more friends," Li told the Global Times.

She also expressed her worries.

"I would be in a hard situation if an accident takes place and the riders get injured, since they are not covered by my car insurance," she said.

She said that several days ago she refused two pregnant women who wanted to get a ride with her.

In some countries such as Germany and Singapore, the government encourages residents to share cars, and the cars without any riders in the rush hours will even be punished, people.com.cn reported yesterday.

In Australia, even a taxi driver is allowed to have a second passenger as long as the first passenger in the car agrees. And the passengers will each pay 75 percent of the original fees.

On February 26, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, became the first city to encourage private car owners to share cars for free.

The policy said no fees should be charged for sharing cars, or the driver could be fined between 3,000 and 30,000 yuan.

(Global Times July 27, 2009)