By Shen Jiaying

It’s common to call a taxi, but to ‘call’ a bus is an unprecedented experience. On 26th August, ‘Little Finless Porpoise’ Hao Tong Yue Ba was launched in Nantong New District and Nantong Innovation District. 5 new energy buses applied ‘dynamic public transport’ mode, to provide passengers with ‘ordering on mobile phones, arriving at doorstep’ personalized travel services.

Passengers only need to go to the ‘Nantong Public Transport Group’ WeChat official account, click on the ‘Dynamic Bus’ under the ‘Bus Service’ section, enter the ‘Youdian Travel’ mini-program, input their pick-up point and drop-off point, and after paying for the order, the platform will match a vehicle.

The bus is small, blue and white in colour, with ‘little finless porpoise’ cartoon image on it. Its internal structure is similar to that of a regular bus, with 9 seats in total. Up to 2 pm on the first day it was launched, ‘little finless porpoise’ had completed 49 orders. The average vehicle matching time is 10 seconds. The average waiting time for passengers is about 5 minutes.

Dynamic bus services are divided into two modes: ride-sharing and private bus. The fare for ride-sharing is 3 yuan per person, offering half-price for children under 1.3 meters height; the fare for a private bus is 40 yuan per vehicle, which can accommodate up to 20 people, making it ideal for family outings.