中國春運搭上共享經濟順風車

The world’s biggest mass migration has hitched a ride on the sharing economy, with hundreds of thousands of Chinese turning to carpooling for their annual pilgrimage home for the lunar new year.

全球規模最大的人口大遷徙搭上了共享經濟的便車，數十萬中國人在一年一度的春節回家過年的旅途中轉向拼車服務。

The holiday season, which kicks off on Monday, will see mass criss-crossing across the country and bottlenecks at stations and on the roads, as tens of millions of migrants return back home from the cities for a fortnight of family.

在本週日開始的春節假期期間，全國各地將出現大規模人口遷移，車站和道路將人滿爲患，數千萬務工人員將從城市回到家鄉與家人共度春節。

Yan Chao, a 25-year-old mobile app developer, is one of the 300,000 travellers in the last week of January who opted to forgo these hardships and instead hitch a lift using one of the new and increasingly popular on-demand carpooling services.

25歲的移動軟件開發員嚴超（音譯）是1月最後一週30萬拼車大軍中的一員，他們選擇放棄旅途辛苦，利用日趨流行的新的汽車拼車服務搭便車。

As growth slows, state initiatives such as Premier Li Keqiang’s “Internet Plus” strategy are making an accelerated push to fill the cracks in China’s creaking old economy using big data and mobile internet to tackle longstanding problems such as traffic congestion.

隨着經濟增速放緩，中國總理李克強提出的“互聯網+”戰略等政府舉措正加緊努力，利用大數據和移動互聯網填補中國岌岌可危的老經濟的裂縫，解決交通擁堵等長期問題。

But progress is slowed by an inherent fear of new technologies being too disruptive and, as local governments and their taxi fleets are fighting hard for the status quo, many new initiatives stay semi-illegal until they prove sufficiently useful.

但出於對新技術破壞性太強的固有擔心，這方面進展緩慢，地方政府及其出租車公司正奮力維持現狀，很多新的舉措處於半非法狀態——直到它們被證明足夠有用。

Chinese new year lift-sharing was given the green light by the authorities two weeks ago when deputy minister Wang Shuiping said the transport ministry “encouraged” carpooling services so long as they were free.

兩週前，中國政府批准了春節拼車服務，當時交通部運輸服務司副司長王水平表示，只要不以盈利爲目的，交通部“鼓勵”拼車服務。

“Obviously public transport is falling short,” said Sun Liang, a spokesperson for Didi Kuaidi, China’s homegrown Uber equivalent, which operates the carpooling platform Didi Hitch and calculated the number. It predicts 1m journeys by the end of the holiday.

中國版“優步”(Uber)、打車應用滴滴快的(Didi Kuaidi)發言人孫亮（音譯）表示：“公共交通顯然運力不夠。”該公司經營拼車平臺滴滴順風車(Didi Hitch)，並對拼車數據進行了計算。該公司預測，到春節假期結束，將有100萬單拼車行程。

“Six million people standing for sometimes 40-hour train rides... our dense driver network, we thought we could help people share their resources.”

“600萬人有時要站着搭乘40個小時的火車……憑藉我們密集的私家車主網絡，我們認爲，我們能夠幫助人們共享資源。”

That chimed with Yan Chao. “Using Didi Hitch was about the same price, and it is much more convenient and comfortable,” he said.

這與嚴超產生了共鳴。他表示：“利用滴滴順風車價格與公共交通一樣，但方便得多，也舒適得多。”

Because of its established driver network, Didi Kuaidi’s service, which is currently free of charge, is among the most trusted options, as it comes with insurance and a code of conduct for drivers.

藉助現有的車主網絡，滴滴快的順風車服務（目前不收取任何費用）是最受信賴的出行選擇之一，公司還爲車主和乘客提供了保險，並對車主實行行爲準則。

The platform was launched last June as a short-range commuter sharing service that Didi hoped would relieve the “pain point” of China’s nightmare rush hours and help the environment.

滴滴順風車於去年6月推出，滴滴希望這種短程通勤拼車服務將緩解中國交通高峯的“痛點”並有利於環境。

But it is not all altruistic: non-profit services such as these help Didi Kuaidi keep customers and the authorities onside — something Uber’s various travails around the world have shown to be a valuable commodity.

但這並非完全無私：這類非盈利服務幫助滴滴快的爭取到客戶和政府的支持，優步在全球的各種遭遇表明這種支持非常寶貴。

The transport ministry’s Mr Wang injected a note of caution, saying he “hopes both sides clarify their interests [before setting off] to avoid unnecessary conflict”.

中國交通部的王水平提出了告誡，他表示他“希望雙方（在出行前）明晰權益，以避免不必要的糾紛”。

Yan Chao, meanwhile, laughs off worries of being cheated on the road. “I spoke with [the driver] many times, and confirmed details — including that he would be bringing his dog in the car,” he said. “It’s not a big issue.”

與此同時，嚴超對於在路上被騙的擔憂一笑置之。“我與（車主）交談過很多次，證實了一些細節，包括他會把他的狗帶上車，”他說道，“這不是個大問題。”