The other day, after my roommate and I took a Zhuanche, a relatively new car-for-hire service offered by taxi-hailing app Didi Dache, she couldn't stop commenting on the sharp contrast between taxi and Zhuanche drivers. Compared with the bad-tempered taxi drivers, who often complain about everything they do, drivers of Zhuanche are often well-mannered and considerate.

It is undeniable that some of the taxi drivers are truly grumpy and seem dissatisfied. The reason probably lies in their boring, stressful job, constant healthy problems, and underpaid income. To cap it all, such dissatisfaction is intensifying with Zhuanche pouring in.

The most recent case, in which taxi drivers lashed out at a Zhuanche chauffeur, occurred in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, where a Zhuanche driver was encircled by over 100 local cabbies, while his car was smashed and the windows all broken. According to media reports, those mad drivers believe that the Zhuanche service has "stolen away" their business and badly affected their pay. Income is indeed a key factor of their anger. Cab companies make money by splitting fares with their drivers, which means their drivers have to pay monthly fees to the company. Meanwhile, Zhuanche drivers have not only no need to pay the fee, but can also earn subsidies from taxi-hailing app companies as encouragement from time to time.

From the point of view of passengers, when compared with standing on a street trying to flag down an empty cab, they would rather put in an order, and wait for the car at home. Plus, to be honest, the cars from the Zhuanche service are better, cleaner, the drivers more polite, and customers are usually provided with bottled water, umbrellas and wifi. Therefore, Zhuanche is unquestionably an increasingly popular choice. It is also attracting a larger scale of customers, even those who own private cars.

However, some argue that instead of challenging the traditional taxi business, Zhuanche is more likely a supplement to the demanding market, especially in peak hours and bad weather in big cities like Beijing, during which people can never get enough cabs.

But the doctrine of the market is that wherever there is demand, there is market. The emerging Zhuanche service is an example. Even though there were trials and crackdowns over the service in some places in China, the main issue of those cases is whether private cars could be offered as part of such special car services. Strengthened management and regulations are doubtless needed, but once mature mechanisms are established, the outlook will not be gloomy.

The new service seems like sharing, or even fighting for the profit pie with the traditional service, but it is actually attempting to create a bigger pie in a new way. For example, the Zhuanche service creates more jobs. According to media outlets, a large number of Zhuanche drivers are veterans. Most of them were unemployed after they left the military.

Just as a netizen posted online, there is absolutely no point for taxi drivers to vent their discontent toward the Zhuanche service through violence. It's like a wife declaring a war with her husband's mistress - there might be a result, but nobody wins in the end.

So why don't they reposition themselves in the trend, and find a way to help reform the outdated rules and traditions, in order to better adapt to this challenging time? Or, why don't they try to improve their own service?

The market's demand is enormous, and there might be healthy competition, but not a fierce game.

Gaylene Lee, a freelancer based in Beijing