Beijing's taxi drivers are to undergo training on rules and industry service standards, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

It is the first large-scale, standard training in the industry since Beijing carried out a taxi reforms which ramped up fares. With the rapid growth in demand for vehicles, the imbalance between supply and demand of taxies as well as the low-level service has become increasingly prominent.

The training program, centralized and internal, was launched on August 21 and will last two months, said the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport.

The program includes standard procedures, updated measures and policies on the taxi industry as well as professional ethics and etiquette, aimed at improving the level of service in the industry.

Currently, Beijing has 252 taxi companies, with 66,000 cabs and more than 100,000 drivers, statistics shows.