The taxi watchdog is investigating an airport-shuttle bus station in Pudong, Shanghai, following complaints about cabs touting for business at the spot.

Almost all the complaints are to do with dark-red colored taxis, a color used for self-employed drivers or small taxi companies. Complaints have come from bus drivers and cab passengers.

The bus station on Deping Road is serviced by Shuttle Route 4, which takes passengers to Pudong International Airport.

However, there are long intervals between buses and there have been complaints about cabbies trying to pull passengers into their cars, waiting to pick up other people after someone has already got into their cabs, and parking at the station for long periods of time, disturbing the operation of the shuttle buses.

The transport administration in Pudong sent a traffic assistant to the scene to persuade taxis to leave quickly, but the situation proved too much for one person to handle.

Taxis are not allowed to stop by bus stops.

From 30 to 40 percent of the city's 46,000 taxis are operated by licensed individuals and small taxi fleets.

An official with the city's taxi-industry association said some cabbies from this group could be breaking rules more freely because they were less well supervised than those at larger firms, but stressed that accusations should be investigated case by case.

"We could not label this group as bad taxi drivers," he said.

Cabbies from Dazhong Taxi said they knew some self-employed cabbies who were breaking the rules.

"I knew a friend who was a self-employed cabbie and he said the service hotline printed in his cab was in fact answered by his wife," said one Dazhong cabbie.

(Shanghai Daily December 16, 2008)