救护车5月1日起按里程收费

救护车5月1日起按里程收费 LW: Now, some ambulances in China are charging fares. Nick, I was not aware of this. NL: Yes, this was news to me as well, but beginning from May 1st, so this weekend, some ambulances in Beijing will be installing meters, like in a taxi. That’s going to be in 580 Beijing ambulances, and again, my first reaction when I read this headline was: “why would you have to pay for an ambulance?” But in fact, apparently this is to better regulate the price that people already have to pay, and in fact to make it cheaper in some cases. LW: So, let me get this straight. People have to have a meter put in because before, it was too expensive? NL: Not necessarily too expensive, but it was confusing and it was not transparent, the way that the cost of the journey was calculated. It was up to the ambulance driver to decide, or to calculate, the fare for the journey, and then charge the patients, and people felt that there was no accountability for how that figure was arrived at. LW: Qinduo, what do you make of this? XQD: I think you are not alone when you talked about not being aware that you have to pay for the use of an ambulance. I think a lot of comments from Chinese internet users, when they are commenting on this story, basically they say, I would say the majority of them say, I’m not aware that I have to pay for the ambulance service. LW: I’ve seen some comments. You mentioned there some comments online, and one of the more interesting ones, I think, which might actually be a pretty good middle ground, is someone who said that the taxi-hailing app Didi Kuaidi should launch an ambulance dispatch service! So you fall down, you break your leg, you hold out your app and see how far away they are. XQD: To introduce some competition to 120 or 999? LW: Yeah, maybe that’s the key, something like that. NL: Uber ambulance? XQD: That’s a new idea! LW: Uber ambulance! Maybe we shouldn’t be giving out these ideas on air, we should be working on our own startups. XQD: Well, also remember, you know it’s getting easier and easier to pay your bills, including, of course, the taxi service here, like you can use Alipay or Apple Pay, or simply WeChat. NL: So now we’ve got WeChat ambulances as well? LW: I love this little business corner that you guys have managed to carve up for yourselves here. Well, at the same time, let’s talk about the effect this will actually have, maybe on potential patients. Most people don’t call for an ambulance willy-nilly, it’s not a frivolous thing, but is there a chance that knowing there’s a fare now will make people less likely to phone for an ambulance? What do you think, Qinduo? XQD: Well, I tend to agree with you, I think that with increased awareness that you have to pay for the ambulance service, if it’s not a real emergency, I’d tend to say, let me find a taxi maybe. Or just wait for a while to go to the hospital to see the doctor. You know, when it’s not a real emergency. Before that, probably I would have wanted to use the 120 or 999 service. You know, it’s painful, I need to see the doctor immediately. LW: To me, emergencies happen. By their very nature, they are accidents; they’re not necessarily things that you can plan for. My only hope is that the fee gets tacked on at the end, with your hospital stay, and not actually before you have to go … XQD: On the spot, right? NL: A few other commenters online, as well, are very sarcastic about the whole thing, and are worried that the ambulances drivers might start taking detours now that there is a meter in the ambulance, to make the journey longer. XQD: Hopefully not! It’s an emergency, it’s not like the usual taxi service. LW: Let’s hope not, let’s hope not.