DiDi:Ride-hailing app in China - China ride-hailing service

A Gentle Reminder: DiDi Ride-hailing App/Mini Program services are exclusively accessible in Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR.

DiDi is a prominent mobility technology platform that simplifies travel within China. The DiDi ride-hailing app allows you to secure rides with ease. Featuring an English interface and round-the-clock in-app English customer service, DiDi operates in more than 400 cities throughout China, offering secure, cost-effective, dependable, and convenient ride-hailing services!

Quick guide on how to take a trip in ten steps

    Insert your starting point or confirm your location on DiDi through GPS

    Insert your destination in Chinese characters or in English

    Choose the type of car you want to use and how many seats you’ll need if you choose ExpressPoll

    Confirm the call

    Wait for the car assignment: at times, in the most crowded period, you’ll be shown your position in line and an estimated wait time; you can count on these not being overly precise…

    Check if the driver has sent you a message in the “message” section, which is also in English (I usually ignore it and have never been left to go on foot)

    If you’ve changed your mind, cancel within two minutes of an assignment

    Take the ride

    Confirm payment only once you’ve arrived at your destination and check that the driver ends the ride on his App

    Rate the service

What you need to install Didi

First of all you’ll need a Chinese cell phone number, which must be active and works. In fact the drivers will identify you by the last four digits of your cell number, and will call you if they have any doubt. Don’t worry, you can always fake that you don’t hear your phone…

The drivers can also contact you through DiDi’s own messaging system: there are a series precomposed messages so that you can have an easy exchange without falling into a lost in translation situation.

Moreover, the recent security system activated by Didi, the so-called DiDi Safeguard, makes a direct call to the closest police center and automatically notifies the emergency number you’ve inserted with a quick click. So your cell phone will be useful even if you run into an emergency situation.

You need to enter a method of payment that is one of the ones listed on DiDi. Some have told me that a foreign credit or debit card will work, but I don’t have any direct experience with that. The other forms of payment, are all tied to a Chinese card or an Alipay or Wechat account connected to a Chinese card.

I’ll give you a little tip: think opening an account in China is crazy? If you already have a friend that lives there, they’ll surely already have everything necessary for managing money: Alipay, Wechat and a bank account. You can opt for a transfer from your Wechat wallet, which you can connect with DiDi. This means that you can use Wechat’s debit function to pay for your DiDi rides.

Obviously DiDi works on smartphones with a GPS system without a hitch.

The type of rides that DiDi offers

Express: in a few words these are private cars that offer transportation services. They are divided into ExpressPoll, Express and Select. The first is a ride shared with other passengers that “should” be on the same road as your destination, or a reasonable distance away, or are headed beyond your destination. The price is the lowest you can find on DiDi, other than special offers, which they have once in a while; but the savings isn’t always worth sharing the ride or taking a longer one.

With Express it indicates a ride from a private driver where you’re the only passenger and there are no intermediate stops before your destination.

The car Select is a very popular service that is vaguely similar to the other categories, yet still served by private drivers. They could be drivers with very high ratings or those who have made many trips and offer a higher category car. Obviously the price is higher than the Express.

Premier: just to be clear this is the option for a private professional driver. They present themselves much better than the Express drivers and should guarantee you a more comfortable drive and a more popular service. These are usually the choice for even long distance work trips and are in cars that are preferably booked in advance. On board you’ll find water, battery chargers, an umbrella, tissues, etc. You can also choose the type of car: Comfort, Business Van (six seats) or Executive Class. The price doubles from the first to the third type, and the service becomes even more refined. There’s no guarantee that if you decide to use a Premier car for your trip that it will be immediately available since there aren’t many of them; this is why I said that it’s best to book them in advance for planned trips.

Luxe: DiDi Luxe is a service that at the moment is only available in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. This is a top notch car with professional drivers that will greet you in a uniform and white gloves.

Taxi: returning among common people, DiDi has a big advantage in that you can also call for taxis, which remain the primary means of subsistence in certain cities. DiDi doesn’t calculate the hypothetical expense in advance, but sends you the meter at the end of the ride; nevertheless, the rides with private drivers will generally be cheaper. Taxis can also be paid with cash as long as it was called via DiDi, and you have the advantage of being able to get a paper receipt immediately after the end of the ride.

Frequently asked questions

1. Can you use cash for DiDi?

Yes, as mentioned above, you can use cash if the car was booked via Didi.

2. Does Uber work in China?

No, Uber decided to pull out from the Asian market, due to too high competition from other companies like Grab (the most popular taxi hailing app in Southeast Asia) and Didi.

3. Is it safe to travel with Didi in China?

Yes, it’s considered safe to travel with Didi, even if there’s been some incidents in the past. As China is such a big country, it’s unavoidable.

4. Do you tip taxis in Shanghai?

No, you don’t need to tip taxis in China, the drivers don’t expect any tip.

5. Can I use LYFT in China?

No, LYFT does not operate in China and Didi is basically your only option, if you want to book a car via an app.

6. Did Didi buy Uber?

Yes, Didi decided to buy Uber’s China Business for around 35 billion US dollars. The Uber Chief Executive of Uber China at that time decided to join the board of Didi.

7. How much is Didi Chuxing worth?

Didi Chuxing was worth 7.95 billion US dollars at the end of 2018. The value of the company has increased much in the past years and was valued at 5.97 billion US dollars at the end of 2017.