DIDI CHUXING has agreed to acquire the Chinese operations of its rival Uber China, putting an end to the costly battle in the Chinese ride-hailing market. Beijing News commented on Tuesday:

Normally, the merger of the two leading providers of a service would create a monopoly. The one between Ganji.com and 58.com, two major Chinese classifieds websites, last year, has been met with complaints about their more expensive yet poorer services.

It is thus only natural for customers to question whether a notable fare hike and inferior services will result from the merger of Didi and Uber China.