Around Town

Your news round-up for the month of October

Disney Calling

The happiest place in the world is hiring performers this month, in Shanghai! Shanghai Disney Resort will be looking for dancers, comic actors, singers and musicians. Is it time to leave your desk job for the bright lights of… Pudong? The talented among us can send their CVs to [email protected].
 

London Cabs

This month, don’t get confused and think that you are on the streets of England when you see the synonymous shape of a famous London cab. Shanghai is launching a new version of the taxis, which will be given a gold makeover. The charge is expected to start at a relatively steep price of RMB 19, although this price has nothing on their London cousins. The cabs are aimed at providing service to elderly and disabled customers with a ramp fitted for easy access. However, it may initially prove hard to spot them, as only 50 are being released in the first batch.

Taxi Tipping Apps Over

Last month, the Shanghai Transport Commission stated that the tipping function on third-party taxi booking apps such as Didi and Kuaidi must be discontinued. It remains to be seen how strictly this rule will be adhered to and how it will effect third-part taxi booking apps. However, it is worth keeping in mind, even during this bad weather that violators could be fined from RMB 30000 to RMB 100000.

A Car For One And All

A recent report has predicted that car ownership in China will reach 400 million in the near future. Although no date was given, the forecast was made after taking into account the fact that China is speeding towards becoming a moderately prosperous nation. Currently, there are 130 million automobiles in China, including trucks and buses, which is roughly one motorised vehicle per 10 people. The annual production of cars is estimated to double to meet future demand. This is not such good news for rush hour traffic jams.

Metro Checks Yield Results

Between June 2014 and last month, almost 10000 prohibited items were detected during security checks on the city’s metro. Items including firecrackers, gasoline, alcohol, knives and replica guns were amongst the haul. We feel safer in the knowledge that these security checks are actually working.