(Yicai Global) May 21 -- China's leading car-hailing firm Didi Chuxing Technology Co. has quietly resumed its ride-hitching service, which had been suspended for a week following the murder of a 21-old female passenger using the service in the central Henan province earlier this month.

Didi has now tightened up the rules for the service, which requires both drivers and passengers must complete six procedures including uploading ID cards and facial recognition details before they can use the ride-hitching service.

Several users of the service and some car owners who used Didi Hitch during the weekend found the new rules complicated, they said. However, these protective measures are "necessary" for their own safety, Beijing Daily reported.

Car owners and passengers using Didi Hitch now are required to perform registration verification, order proof, protection of privacy, night travel protection, security knowledge and ride-hitching security before they can use the service. After they are verified, the information provided such as ID card details and facial recognition submitted to the account cannot be changed.

The number of car owners who are willing to accept orders has drastically dropped due to both concerns about ride-hitching and the complicated verification process.

Some users tried to make a booking for ride-hitching last weekend for half an hour but failed to find any car owners ready to accept their order. Our reporter tried to make a booking on Didi Hitch for a ride from Beijing Capital International Airport to Beijing South Railway Station around noon yesterday, but no one accepted the order. The reporter also tried to book a ride from Beijing's Chaoyang Joy City shopping mall to Terminal T3 of the capital airport. The app showed that there were only 10 car owners operating on the same route at that time although there used to be usually more than 30 car owners in the past.

Many female passengers also refuse to take ride-hitching service now since the killing of the female flight attendant. They now use Didi's designated driving or car-hailing services instead of Didi Hitch.

The changes in the attitude of the passengers made the designated driving car drivers quite busy. "In the past I usually took orders for CNY500 (USD78) to CNY600 per day, but these two days I was very busy with orders exceeding CNY1,000 a day," said a Didi designated driving driver surnamed Lu, who has already engaged in this service for more than two years.

Didi Hitch is currently available in China's major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, but it is still suspended in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, where the 21-year-old flight attendant was killed on May 5.

Editor: Mevlut Katik