Some Beijing taxi drivers should take it seriously the smell inside their cabs, which may tarnish the city's image in the 2008 Olympic Games, a political advisor has said.
Shi Xiangpeng, who came from Hong Kong to attend the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said on the basis of his own experience that about one third of the taxis in Beijing were smelly.
"Sometimes I could smell unbearable stink once I got into the cab, but was afraid of being too rude to get off immediately. So I had to roll down the windows, regardless of how cold it was outside," said Shi, a CPPCC member who visited Beijing frequently.
He attributed the odor to the bad habits of some drivers from the suburbs of Beijing. Since they live far away from the downtown areas where they can do more business, they sometimes sleep and have meals, with onion or garlic, inside the cars, Shi said.
Some drivers don't bath for a long time and some smoke in their cabs, he added.
He called on taxi drivers to pay more attention to their personal hygiene and try to keep a clean and pleasant scent inside the cars.
A smelly cab, though a trivial thing, may impair the country's international image when Beijing hosts the Olympic Games next year, as it's not polite to the guests, he said.
Statistics show that Beijing has 2.9 million registered motor vehicles, including about 67,000 taxis.
(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2007)