London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Sep 28, 2025

China's top ride-hailing company introduced a 'curfew' for women after riders were killed. It's being forced to backtrack

China's top ride-hailing company introduced a 'curfew' for women after riders were killed. It's being forced to backtrack

China's top ride-hailing firm is walking back one of its newest features after users accused the company of discriminating against women by preventing them using one of its services in the late evening.
Didi Chuxing earlier this week announced it would resume its controversial carpooling service, Hitch, for the first time since taking it offline last year following the killings of two female passengers. In a bid to improve passenger safety, it said it would only let women book rides until 8:00 p.m., while men could use the platform until 11:00 p.m.

Following a huge backlash on Chinese social media, the company has backpedaled fast. Didi said on Friday that the earlier cutoff would now apply to all customers regardless of gender.

"We agree that the public trial service for Hitch should be available to all users on the same schedule and decided to set the service time between [5:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.] for everybody," the company said.

As of Friday morning, the hashtag "#WomenCan'tTakeDidiAfter8PM" was trending on Chinese social network Weibo, generating over a thousand posts on the Twitter-like service.

"Crazy," one user wrote. "That's total discrimination, and it says this is for the sake of females' safety."

"Men committed crimes, but they put a curfew on women instead of on men," said another user.

Didi has been treading carefully since last year, when it was forced to suspend Hitch after two female riders were killed in four months.

The company spokesperson said Friday that its 8:00 p.m. cutoff for women was because its data showed that "sex-related complaints, predominantly from women users" are 45% higher between then and 11:00 p.m.

Feng Lai, a professor of public relations at Shanghai Normal University, said Didi probably had good intentions but should have anticipated the public outcry.

"This shows that their PR management is weak," he told CNN Business.

Didi has rolled out several other safety measures. They include more rigorous checks on both drivers and passengers, a virtual "safety assistant" and a hotline that allows users to speak to support staff in real time.

Prior to the crisis last year, Hitch had boasted a sizable user base. Before it was suspended, Didi said the service had logged over a billion total rides and frequently clocked in up to two million daily orders.

The company says it will continue to try and improve safety and is asking its users to stick by it.

"Please bear with us as we continue to explore different ways of making your rides safer," the spokesperson said. "User safety is our number one priority and we will closely monitor the Hitch service during this trial period and beyond."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
Corrupt UK Politician Ed Davey Demands Elon Musk’s Arrest for Supporting Democracy
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
×