China's car hailing app launches bus-booking service

Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, which is competing hard with Uber, said it has added an online bus-booking service to its platform.
This service has attracted more than 500,000 subscribers and offers more than 700 routes following tests in Beijing and Shenzhen in July, the company announced yesterday.
Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, already provides taxi-hailing, chauffeur and ride-sharing services.
Currently, the service charges on a pay-as-you go basis at a price of around seven to 13 yuan (USD 1 to 2) per ride, which is three to five times the price of public buses.
The company uses shuttles that sit idle at travel agencies and car rental companies to cover predetermined routes.

Users, mostly office workers, can select the routes and travel times that suit them after submitting their travel needs through the app.

They book the ride online and arrive at the designated stop to wait for the bus.
Users are also able to initiate new routes through the app if there are enough commuters with similar needs.
In addition to individual commuters, the company has cooperated with enterprises including Huawei, OPPO and Lenovo to launch special lines for their employees, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
Didi Chuxing dominates China's online taxi-hailing market.
The commuter shuttle is the latest addition to its transportation offerings, providing an alternative to public buses and subways.

The company plans to bring the bus-booking service to more Chinese cities and invest more to launch new routes.