Should foreign visitors use Didi, taxi, metro, or hotel pickup from a China airport?

The taxi rank and the app are two legally distinct services — this is the taxi half

A cruising taxi is defined by this regulation as one that may tout along the road and wait at ranks, carries taxi markings, seats seven or fewer, drives where the passenger asks, and charges by distance and time. Ride-hail is defined in the next item of the same article as the non-cruising, pre-booked service. So the choice this page frames is not “which app” — it is a choice between two services written into two different regulations, each with its own duties.

Where in the source: Article 52(1) for the cruising definition, including “根据行驶里程和时间计费”; Article 52(3) for the non-cruising booked service

At an airport, taxis must queue and obey the dispatcher — and may not tout outside the designated area

When picking up at airports, railway stations, coach stations, ports, public-transport hubs and other passenger-concentration points, a cruising-taxi driver must queue in an orderly way, follow dispatching, and must not tout for passengers outside the designated area in breach of the rules. Touting privately instead of following dispatching at those places carries a fine of 200 to 500 yuan. That is the published basis for walking to the marked rank and declining the person who approaches you in the arrivals hall.

Where in the source: Article 23(9): “在机场、火车站、汽车客运站、港口、公共交通枢纽等客流集散地载客时应当文明排队，服从调度，不得违反规定在非指定区域揽客”; penalty at Article 48(8)

The meter and the receipt are legal duties, not customer service

A cruising-taxi driver must use the fare-metering equipment as required, charge the published rate, and hand over a valid fare receipt on their own initiative; and must take a reasonable route to the destination the passenger names, without refusing the fare, haggling over it, dumping the passenger mid-route or deliberately detouring. Each of those terms is separately defined in the regulation, and the penalty for any of them — including not using the meter properly or not issuing a receipt — is an order to correct plus a fine of 200 to 500 yuan.

Where in the source: Article 23(11) and 23(8); definitions at Article 52(5)–(7); penalty at Article 48

Four situations let you refuse to pay the fare outright

The passenger may refuse to pay when the driver does not use the meter as required or keeps operating with a faulty one, does not issue the fare receipt, cannot deliver you on time because they are being processed for a traffic offence, or refuses to accept card payment as required. The last item is the one to remember on a first night with no cash: card refusal is not a negotiation. Read it as written, though — this is a right to refuse payment, not a right to a refund or to compensation.

Where in the source: Article 27, all four items

The rate card and the complaint number are required to be visible inside the car

A taxi in service must carry compliant metering equipment, a satellite positioning device with trip recording and an emergency alarm, must be painted and marked as required, must show a roof light reading “出租汽车” in Chinese and English along with a status sign, and must display the fare standard, passenger notice, operator name and service supervision telephone number in a conspicuous place. All of that must still be intact and working while operating. Reading the rate card and noting the supervision number is therefore an action the regulation was designed to let you take.

Where in the source: Article 15(2); Article 22(5) on equipment being intact in service

A far-out airport or cross-city leg is bounded by the same licensed-area rule on both services

A cruising taxi operates inside its licensed area, and for a trip leaving that area one end must still be inside it; operating with both origin and destination outside carries a fine of 3,000 to 10,000 yuan. The ride-hail measures set the identical shape. So when a long airport or cross-city run cannot be completed, the licensed area is often the reason on either service, not the driver being difficult.

Where in the source: Article 21(1) and penalty Article 46(1); same shape at Articles 22 and 35(4) of the ride-hail measures

A complaint has published deadlines: 10 days with the operator, 10 or 30 with the authority

A cruising-taxi operator must run a 24-hour complaint duty system, accept a passenger complaint promptly, finish handling it within 10 days and tell the passenger the outcome. A complaint received by the county-level-or-above transport authority must be concluded within 10 days, or within 30 days if the situation is complex. If something goes wrong in the taxi leg, those are the clocks that already apply.

Where in the source: Article 29(2) and Article 43(2)