Editorials

Disservice on wheels

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-07 07:46

It amounts to blackmail on roads and local traffic police ignore it.

A woman's car overturned in Beijing's Huairou district in September last year. Traffic police in the suburban area helped her reach a hospital in an ambulance. The traffic policeman on duty then called a breakdown van to tow her car. When she went to get her car later, the breakdown service company asked her to pay more than 5,000 yuan ($770) for towing it for just 40 kilometers. On inquiry, traffic police said that the company was the only designated service provider and she would have to dish out the money to get her car.

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It is unusual for traffic police to say there is only one designated breakdown service company and not know how much it charges.

The woman was more shocked when she paid only 800 yuan for towing her car for 80 km to a repair shop. Her protests with traffic police against the exorbitant amount being charged by the breakdown service company were to no avail. She then called the Beijing development and reform commission over the phone only to be told that there were no rules for such high towing charges.

China Central Television exposed this case on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the commission announced that it would start supervising and auditing breakdown service companies. If this is the municipal government's answer to the scandal, it is far from enough.

There are other questions that need to be answered. Why did traffic police choose such a company for towing vehicles? Shouldn't there be free competition among such companies? If traffic police want to provide service for drivers, why didn't they invite bidders before deciding on a company that quotes the lowest charges?

The list of questions can go on. And it would not be impertinent to ask if there is a dirty nexus between local traffic police and the breakdown service company. How can traffic police designate a company to do business without knowing how much it charges?

The problem is not whether charges for towing cars should be regulated. The problem is that the breakdown service company monopolizes the business thanks to the traffic police. In other words, if drivers had the freedom to seek the services of a company, the charges would be much lower.

Auditing and supervision that the commission has promised is not the solution.

Traffic police get their salaries from taxpayers' money and they should not be involved in such businesses. They have no right to guide drivers to a company that has a monopoly.

We need free competition. And if traffic police want to help drivers, which they should, they better invite open bids from companies and choose the one ready to provide the best service for the lowest charge.

(China Daily 05/07/2011 page5)