Guiyang has stopped collecting user fees for taxi franchises, at 5,000 yuan ($750.23) per taxi per year, as of July 1, 2016.

Those who paid the fees (about 4,284 drivers) after June 30 will receive refunds before October 31, according to the Guiyang municipal road transport authority.

He Jun, the deputy director of the authority, said that eliminating the user fees will reduce the taxi drivers' heavy burden and increase their efficiency.

The taxi industry in Guiyang began in 1987. In July 2016, there were more than 7,000 taxis, 26 taxi companies and 21,000 employees in the central regions of Guiyang. The volume of passengers reaches 246 million per year, accounting for 35 percent of the city’s public transportation.

Edited by Yang Fan and Peter Nordlinger