Riding high on car-hailing services

I learned of the difficulties of late night travel in Beijing even before I boarded the plane to my new job more than two years ago.

In a booklet I was given to prepare me for life in the Chinese capital, I was told the city's Sanlitun downtown area was popular with foreigners but getting a taxi there at night could be tough.

It was advice I soon found to be true, but far from limited to only Sanlitun, and the problem only became worse with the rise of local ride-hailing services. It was now not only a problem getting a cab at night, but during the day they were all on their way to rides organized via the services, which Chinese users took to instantly.