BEIJING, June 1 -- Thousands of parents are disappointed to learn that their children won't be able to book a taxi to take them to write the national college entrance exam on June 7 to 9.

While they can still try to flag down a cab on the street, they won't be able to request a car with a luck license plate number, which many students do for the exam.

A major taxi operator's hotline was flooded with calls yesterday and some parents, who believe a taxi ride will ensure timely arrival at the important exam, got bitter after trying to get through all night long to no avail.

The hotline, 6258-0000, was opened by Qiangsheng Taxi, one of the city's five major taxi companies, at 12am on Monday and all of the 2,000 reservations were booked within eight hours. By yesterday noon, the hotline received more than 5,000 calls and some parents were still hoping for a ride for their children.

Shen Peilin, a 48-year-old man, is one of them.

He and his wife called at 11:45pm when they were told no reservations would be taken until 15 minutes later. But after midnight, they found they couldn't get through at all, although the couple were trying with two phones, on different lines, at the same time.

He slept for a while when his wife was still trying at 2am. Then he took his turn at 4am for two hours, with no luck.

"I don't know what's wrong with the line," said the father angrily.

The family lives on Yutian Road in Hongkou District. Their son is going to take the college entrance examination at a middle school near the Garden Bridge, which Shen said has no direct bus link.

Sha Wei, another parent, travelled all the way from suburban Minhang District to the company's office on downtown Nanjing Road W. at midnight to make a reservation after failing to get through on the hotline for an hour, only to be told by security guards there that she couldn't get in.

Chen Jianmin, head of the dispatching center at Qiangsheng Taxi said they put 20 operators on the night shift to receive calls, but it took about five minutes to handle each call.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)