15 orders per day on average, revenue of 200 yuan: A ride-hailing driver in a third-tier city scrounges for orders within the algorithm
"The 8-Hour New Rule That Turned Out to Be a False Alarm"
After driving a ride-hailing car for nine years, Xu Quan thought he was an emotionally stable driver.
That was until he received a complaint. One day, he had a packed stinky mandarin fish on the front passenger seat and advised the passenger to sit in the back row. After the passenger got off the car, they filed a complaint, saying, "There was a smell in the car, and the driver had a bad attitude. It felt like I owed the driver money in my past life."
Xu Quan couldn't help but curse. He felt wronged. "I'm only making this little money. Who can always put on a smiling face?"
He said that driving in Lianyungang over the years had been really annoying. There were more and more cars, but fewer and fewer orders. Many drivers were online for more than a dozen hours a day, but their daily earnings were only half of what they were a few years ago.
The Lianyungang Transportation Bureau also noticed this. In recent years, it has issued several warnings about the oversaturation of ride-hailing vehicle capacity, reminding companies and drivers to "be cautious when entering the market."
Notice issued by the Lianyungang Transportation Bureau
But in reality, new drivers are still constantly joining.
Xu Gang, a staff member of the Transportation Center of the Lianyungang Transportation Bureau, has years of on - the - spot research experience. He told a reporter from Times Weekly that as of March 2026, the total number of ride - hailing cars in the urban area reached more than 3,500, and there was a trend of adding 20 new cars every month. "The proportion of ride - hailing cars on the roads in the urban area is already very high, significantly exceeding the local travel demand."
The "Rules for Identifying Fatigue Driving of Motor Vehicle Drivers" (hereinafter referred to as the "Identification Rules"), which will be implemented on June 1st, once attracted a lot of attention from drivers. It stipulates that if a passenger vehicle driver drives for more than 8 hours within 24 hours, they will be identified as fatigued driving.
Previously, some people interpreted this as applying to ride - hailing and taxi drivers. As a result, there were complaints in the group of over a hundred drivers where Xu Quan was in: "We can't even make enough money after driving for more than a dozen hours. If we can only drive for 8 hours, how can we support our families?"
According to a report from CCTV News on May 27th, the person in charge of drafting the "Identification Rules" said that after confirmation with the Ministry of Transport, the situation of identifying fatigue driving for passenger vehicle drivers applies to road passenger transport enterprises, as well as drivers and vehicles engaged in road passenger transport (i.e., shuttle bus transport, charter bus transport, and tourist bus transport) business activities, and does not involve taxis (including ride - hailing cars) and other business activities.
After the news was announced, the drivers in the group breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it was a false alarm, their anxiety remained. On one hand, there were the hidden dangers of fatigue driving; on the other hand, their incomes were decreasing. They had to engage in the stock game within the industry.
"Trading Time for Money"
In his driver profile, Xu Quan described himself like this: "The most handsome ride - hailing driver in Lianyungang, with 16 years of driving experience."
In fact, he has been driving a ride - hailing car for 9 years. In 2017, after suffering losses in business, he became a full - time ride - hailing driver. At that time, the competition in the ride - hailing market was relatively rough, and various platforms offered huge subsidies to drivers and passengers. He benefited a lot from it.
The population of Lianyungang is around 4.5 million. "With such a population base, it's not difficult to earn nearly 10,000 yuan a month by driving for 10 hours a day."
He said that as long as you can drive, have a certain amount of driving experience, and either own a car or rent a new energy vehicle, you can take orders and make money. At that time, people traded time for money, and many people regarded driving a ride - hailing car as their main job. "You don't have to punch in at the office or stand on the assembly line all day. This job is warm in winter and cool in summer, and you have free time."
Xu Quan's direct feeling is that since 2020, more and more middle - aged and young people around 35 years old have joined; after 2022, young people from surrounding areas came to Lianyungang to drive ride - hailing cars.
By 2023, there were significantly more ride - hailing cars in Lianyungang. The driver group was more lively than before, and there were new people joining every day. As soon as they joined the group, they would send a red envelope of 8.88 yuan.
On the other hand, the competition became more intense.
Xu Quan said that before 2025, driving for 10 hours a day, the average monthly earnings were about 10,000 yuan; now, driving for 12 hours, not even having time for lunch, the average monthly earnings are only about 7,000 to 8,000 yuan.
In mid - April, after the news that the "Identification Rules" were about to be implemented spread, some people interpreted it as ride - hailing drivers being considered fatigued if they drove for a cumulative 8 hours within 24 hours.
Some drivers in the group were worried about a sharp drop in income.
Ride - hailing drivers have a clear - cut cost - accounting book: for a new energy vehicle, after sharing the costs of rent or car loan, electricity, etc., the average daily expense is about 100 yuan. If you are online for more than 12 hours a day, the daily earnings are about 300 to 400 yuan, and occasionally up to 500 yuan. After deducting the costs and about 20% - 25% platform commission, the actual take - home pay is more than 200 yuan.
Settlement page of a ride - hailing platform
Xu Quan calculated the earnings for driving 8 hours: "I estimate the daily income would be more than 100 yuan, and the monthly income would drop to about 4,000 yuan. This can't support a family."
Now, he is glad that there is no clear limit on driving time. But he is worried that because there is no limit, everyone can only keep extending their working hours to offset the decline in income caused by the oversupply of vehicle capacity.
Oversaturated Vehicle Capacity
If Lianyungang is placed in the context of the national ride - hailing industry, it is not special. It is more like a microcosm of many third - tier cities.
This coastal port city in northern Jiangsu has a permanent population of about 4.5 million, and the population in the central urban area is less than one million. Locals say that it only takes half an hour to drive from the east to the west of the city.
Xu Gang said that the travel structure in Lianyungang is relatively simple: the business circles are concentrated, the night economy is limited, and the demand for cross - district commuting is not high. Most people's activity radius is usually within 3 - 5 kilometers. The popularity of shared electric bikes has squeezed out some of the demand for taking taxis.
He provided a set of research data to a reporter from Times Weekly: there are 1,000 taxis and 3,000 ride - hailing cars in the urban area. The ratio of the total number of these two types of vehicles to the population is about 1:1000, which is basically close to the upper limit of Lianyungang's vehicle capacity.
The Lianyungang Transportation Bureau has issued several warnings about the ride - hailing industry in recent years, reminding those who are interested in entering the industry to have a reasonable expectation of their operating income and comprehensively estimate the investment and returns.
On April 8th this year, the bureau issued another warning notice, saying that since 2026, there has been a widespread situation in the urban area where the income of ride - hailing drivers is low and continuously declining. Some ride - hailing cars have problems such as drivers working too long hours and vehicles being idle due to a decrease in orders.
"According to monitoring, full - time (with an average daily online duration of more than 5 hours) ride - hailing cars in the urban area receive about 10 - 15 orders per day on average, and the average daily revenue per car is about 200 yuan."
Considering multiple factors such as the urban population size, citizens' travel demand, the development level of public transportation, the coverage of shared electric bikes, and the existing supply of taxi vehicle capacity, the bureau believes that the ride - hailing market in the urban area has tended to be saturated.
Xu Gang said that currently, there is no unified regulation standard for the ride - hailing vehicle capacity scale at the national level. Local areas mainly rely on dynamic monitoring and information release for guidance.
A reporter from Times Weekly sorted out the warning information from this department and found that in less than a year from July 2025 to the present, at least 4 notices about the risk warning of the ride - hailing industry have been issued.
According to Xu Gang, from 2022 to 2025, an average of about 60 new ride - hailing cars were added to the urban area of Lianyungang every month, and in 2023, an average of more than 100 new cars were added every month.
The change in numbers is more concretely reflected in Xu Quan's daily life: fewer orders, less income, and more idle driving time. In the past, people in the group would send red envelopes and invite new people every day, but now it has become much quieter.
"Many people still have the expectation of earning 8,000 to 9,000 yuan a month before entering the industry." Xu Quan said that the current reality is that there are many full - time drivers who drive for more than a dozen hours a day and only earn 3,000 to 4,000 yuan a month. "You can earn about the same amount by being a security guard, but the labor intensity is completely different."
In the face of fierce competition, ride - hailing drivers are looking for a way out.
Some people are thinking about a way back. In the group where Xu Quan is in, some people said they would return the car after the lease term ended, some wanted to go back to their hometown and open a small shop, and some said they would go back to the factory and do ride - hailing driving as a part - time job.
But there are still people staying in this industry, pursuing the ultimate cost - effectiveness.
Xu Quan has seen people hanging four mobile phones at the same time to grab orders. The prompt sounds of several platforms ring in turn, and they have to keep switching platforms to find the most cost - effective orders.
A ride - hailing driver operating multiple platforms simultaneously
But the platform algorithm has already "locked" the drivers in the car: orders with high commissions and good routes are associated with the driver's online duration, activity level, etc.
Drivers have to study various methods to try to "squeeze" out more orders from the algorithm. They share order - brushing skills in the group and help each other place orders to maintain their ranks. Some even try to use cheats to grab orders. After being banned by the platform, they even spend two or three hundred yuan to get the account unblocked.
The Urgent Need to Balance the Dilemma
Xu Quan said that after the news of the "Identification Rules" came out, they seriously studied what "fatigue driving" meant.
According to the rules, if a passenger vehicle driver drives continuously for more than 2 hours without stopping for a rest or the rest time is less than 20 minutes from 22:00 at night to 6:00 the next morning, and if a passenger vehicle driver drives for a cumulative time of more than 8 hours within 24 hours, they should be identified as fatigued driving.
As for who is restricted by this, most people previously thought that both taxi and ride - hailing drivers were passenger vehicle drivers.
Recently, the person in charge of drafting the "Identification Rules" clearly stated that it applies to road passenger transport enterprises and drivers and vehicles engaged in road passenger transport (i.e., shuttle bus transport, charter bus transport, and tourist bus transport) business activities. In other words, neither taxi nor ride - hailing drivers are restricted by the driving time.
Yang Xinmiao, the deputy director of the Transportation Research Institute of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with a reporter from Times Weekly that the starting point of the "Identification Rules" is very clear, which is to reduce the traffic risks caused by drivers' fatigue driving. "In essence, this is a safety bottom - line."
He said that many ride - hailing drivers are actually in a state of fatigue due to overtime driving. Although they are not within the scope of being identified as fatigued when driving for more than 8 hours within 24 hours, for such a large professional group, this is still a problem that needs to be solved.
A technical staff member who has worked at a platform for more than 10 years told a reporter from Times Weekly that ride - hailing is a business. On the one hand, the platform needs to meet the safety requirements; on the other hand, it also needs to consider the possible loss of drivers due to the decline in their income. "Drivers need to consider their livelihoods, and enterprises also need to consider how to balance and gain a larger market share to avoid being eliminated by the market."
As the industry gradually becomes saturated, all parties are trying different ways to find a balance among urban traffic efficiency, flexible employment, and market supply and demand.
As the competent department, Xu Gang said that according to the existing regulations, the transportation department can only directly manage the qualifications of vehicles and drivers. As for the vehicle capacity scale, platform prices, and market competition, they still belong to the scope of market regulation.
Xu Gang believes that industry warnings cannot really prevent new drivers from entering. But if administrative means are used for restriction, there will definitely be disputes; if it is completely left to the market, problems such as the expansion of vehicle capacity and industry imbalance will occur.
He said that those who enter this industry are people who need to be absorbed by the employment market. "They also need to support their families."
A ride - hailing driver taking orders
Xu Quan's cost - accounting book for ride - hailing driving is not an isolated case. In recent years, many places have issued warnings about vehicle capacity saturation. After the cost - accounting of the per - kilometer price and fixed