Originally Posted by
lsquare
Is tipping mandatory? I almost always don't tip in China.
Tipping isn't mandatory (e.g. I never tip at restaurants), but when it comes to taxis I want to make the trip worthwhile for the driver. If LAX to my office is $40 USD and my trip from the Fairfield on Gonghexin Road to PVG is about ¥200, of course I'd want to give more.
You have the option to pre-tip and to tip at the end of the journey. The latter for sure you need a Chinese payment method; the former, I believe you also need one but it
may be possible to pass tips using foreign cards. I need to check this again the next time I'm back (whenever that will be).
Originally Posted by
moondog
I almost never tip myself, but with Didi you can pretip to make yourself more desirable. This comes in handy when the weather is bad and/or on weekend nights. One thing I have noticed about foreign cards is that the taxi options disappear from my menu when I switch to foreign cards. This isn't a huge deal because the lower priced Didi options are about the same price, but it obviously does result in a smaller pool.
I've never tried booking taxis with Didi, but I see the option in the app. Is this a more recent development?
Originally Posted by
lsquare
Do you know what Didi code as on a credit card?
Originally Posted by
lsquare
If Didi accept my Chase cards (I wonder if Didi code as ridesharing with my Hyatt card?), that would solve one problem when transit isn't available (like the time I missed the last subway back to the Courtyard near PVG; fortunately I was able to use Apple Maps and followed the instructions back by bus!)
ICBC doesn't code it as anything, but perhaps I should try using a different card the next time I'm back in China to see what it codes as. I think it will code as ridesharing though, similar to Uber.