On April 1946 and 1 day, the Public Utilities Bureau of Shanghai Municipal Government issued the following notice:
Check the taxi charging standard in this city, and take into account the rising oil price, the bureau has made adjustments. The charge is 2400 yuan every 20 minutes, and every 5 minutes after the deadline, 600 yuan. Implemented from now on. Unless you know that the taxi trade association will charge according to the regulations, if there is a floating charge, you will report it to hell to pay and urge you to publicize it.
April 1 day is April Fool's Day, but this notice is not a joke on April Fool's Day. It sends us two messages:
First, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the inflation rate accelerated and oil prices rose sharply. Therefore, the government has raised the taxi charging standard and required all taxi companies in the city to implement it uniformly.
Second, the new charging standard is 2400 yuan every 20 minutes, and the part exceeding 20 minutes is priced according to the standard of 600 yuan every 5 minutes.
Two months later, the Shanghai Public Affairs Administration Bureau posted another notice:
Check the taxi fare standard in this city, and the bureau will make adjustments after considering the rise in oil prices. The charging standard is 3,600 yuan for every 20 minutes' delay and 900 yuan for every 5 minutes' delay, which will be implemented on June 3rd.
It used to be 2400 in 20 minutes, but now it's 3600 in 20 minutes. In just two months, the taxi fare of Shanghai residents has increased by one third.
At the end of 1946, a third notice was posted:
According to the petition of the taxi trade association of this city, in order to raise the oil price, please adjust the taxi price to maintain the cost and so on. It is now approved that a fine of 6,000 yuan will be imposed for every 20 minutes, and a fine of 1500 yuan will be imposed for every 5 minutes, with effect from 65438+February 25th.
Six months ago, it was 2400 yuan every 20 minutes, and after six months, it was 6000 yuan every 20 minutes. The cost of taking a taxi is getting higher and higher.
Taxis were very popular in the Republic of China.
After reading these three notices, I think everyone has a perceptual understanding of taxis in the Republic of China: at that time, it was popular to charge by the hour, not by the kilometer like most taxis today.
As early as the early years of the Republic of China, taxis in Shanghai were charged by time. Just like Chen Boxi's anecdote in Shanghai: it costs four or five yuan to take a taxi for an hour. It costs four or five yuan an hour to take a taxi.
1933, the comprehensive office of the Jin-Pu Railway Committee issued the Jin-Pu Railway Travel Guide, in which a paragraph introduced how to charge taxis near Nanjing Railway Station:
Between Shimonoseki and Confucius Temple, ordinary cars and pheasant cars are used to amuse tourists. The fare is about 40 cents per person, but only five people can drive. Regular taxis charge three yuan per hour, two yuan per hour for more than one hour and one yuan for half an hour.
This passage shows that there were both regular taxis and illegal black taxis at that time. Black taxis are charged by people, and regular taxis are charged according to the ride time: the starting price is three yuan, and then two yuan per hour.
Because of the popularity of time charging, some taxi companies printed a large number of time sheets during the Republic of China. When the driver is operating, he puts the time sheet in the car. When passengers get on the bus, first fill in the start time on the time list, and then fill in the end time when they get off the bus. Finally, the two parties calculate the length of time and settle the expenses according to time. There was no meter at that time. If there is, I believe it must not be a kilometer, but a time meter.
It is not that all taxis in the Republic of China are charged by time, but also by mileage. 1September, 923, Yu Dafu was hired to teach in Peking University. He burns bags and wants to go to work by bus. He called a taxi from the hotel. The operator told him to charge by the mile, and the cost per mile was ocean triangle. He felt for his wallet, so he had to give up his plan to take a taxi.
Taxis in Hong Kong in the Republic of China should also be charged by mileage. 1927 in may, Zheng Zhenduo went to study in Europe. The ship docked in Hongkong for one day, and he went ashore to visit and took a taxi to queen street. The charge is-0/0 cents per mile/kloc. The ocean is a little cheaper than the ocean, a corner of the ocean
As we all know, during the Republic of China, Beijing and the United States were economically backward, with extremely cheap prices and a much lower cost of living than Hong Kong. It's just that the taxi fare is higher than that in Hong Kong. Why? First, because there are too few taxis in Beijing, taking a taxi in Beijing is purely a luxury consumption of the very rich; Second, because of the convenience of shipping in Hong Kong, the price of gasoline is cheaper than that in the mainland, and the operating cost is low.
Taxis are the patent of the rich.
On July 9th, 1925, Professor Wu Yu of Peking University took a colleague to the Summer Palace and called a taxi. Afterwards, he made a list of expenses in his diary:
Round trip fare 10 yuan.
Pay the driver drinks 1 yuan.
Pay the parking fee, 0.3 yuan
Taxi fare, parking fee and driver's tip add up to more than ten yuan.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this money is not a small amount. Lu Xun invited his third aunt to his mother's house to eat and drink. Besides, everyone only earns two yuan a month. Yu Dafu's brother Yu Hua hired a chef who was also responsible for eating and drinking. His salary is only $6 a month. When he worked in the library of Mao Zedong University, Li Dazhao only paid him eight dollars a month. 1926 Zhao, a student of Xu Zhimo, translated a novel in two months, and the remuneration was only forty yuan. If grandma Lu Xun, American chef Yu Hua and young Mao Zedong take a taxi, can they afford it? I can. I can't afford it.
When Lu Xun worked in the Ministry of Education, his monthly salary was close to $300. Is the income high enough? But he still can't bear to take a taxi, because he has to support his family, serve his mother, take care of his brother and go shopping in Liulichang to buy ancient books, so he doesn't want to spend money on taking a taxi! Brother Zhou Zuoren often takes a taxi. He can't stop, but he is disgusted with this behavior.
It is no exaggeration to say that taking a taxi in the Republic of China is a very extravagant consumption, something that ordinary people will not do. I dare not ask. Only those who are extremely rich or burn bags will take a taxi. Wu Yu can occasionally return by carriage, because he is a professor at Peking University and his income is particularly high; Zhou Zuoren, Lu Xun's younger brother, often takes a taxi because he and his Japanese wife burn too many buns and think they are upper class.
The three notices copied at the beginning of this paper clearly state that the Shanghai taxi fare standard ranges from 65438 to 0946. At that time, the working class in Shanghai could only look at the figures and sigh.
Take the ending of 1946 as an example. It takes 20 minutes to take a taxi to get 6,000 yuan, but in February this year, the skilled workers in Shanghai Dagong Dyeing and Weaving Factory only got 50,000 yuan. If they take a taxi on the street with their wages, they will be penniless in less than three hours.