(Yicai) Sept. 15 -- Chinese online ride-hailing service providers plan to give drivers a break from paying commission to them during the long Golden Week holiday that starts at the end of this month.

More than 100 companies will spare their drivers from the need to pay commission for at least 60 working hours during the public holiday.

This year, the Golden Week break will run for eight straight days from Sept. 29 through Oct. 6 because of the way in which the Mid-Autumn Festival falls near the National Day holiday.

China’s transport ministry has called on ride-hailing platforms to cut their take from drivers’ incomes multiple times since 2021, and has urged them to make public their price-setting rules.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival this June, Alibaba’s Amap platform exempted drivers who signed up from paying commission for 24 hours, while industry giant Didi Chuxing did so in more than 10 second-tier cities such as Qingdao, Harbin, and Tianjin.

Some 322 platforms had permits to operate ride-hailing businesses as of July 31, according to ministry data, with 6 million licenses issued for drivers working for them. Bookings tallied 821 million in July, with aggregation platforms -- which enable users to order cars from multiple operators -- seeing a 52 percent gain to 232 million from a year ago.

Editor: Tom Litting