Taxi Driver Online

Many taxi firms may have to close

VietNam

Net Bridge – Two-thirds of operational taxi firms in Hanoi may have to shut down if Hanoi takes stricter control over the operations of taxi firms.


Hanoi has proposed 11 solutions to reducing accidents and traffic jams in the capital city. One of the solutions is to impose stricter requirements on taxi firms. Only the firms that have more than 100 vehicles will be eligible to operate in Hanoi. Meanwhile, no new licences for taxi services will be granted in the immediate time.

According to competent agencies in Hanoi, there are three kinds of taxi firms: 1. ones that have head offices, car parks and vehicles 2. ones that have legal status but do not have vehicles and have to hire cars to carry passengers 3. ones that have registered their operations, but do not have anything.

Meanwhile, according to Do Quoc Binh, Chairman of the Hanoi Taxi Association, there are 30 taxi firms operational in Hanoi, 2/3 of which have less than 100 vehicles.

Mr Binh said that the requirement of 100 cars on taxi firms would be unreasonable. The regulation, if approved, would violate the law.

The owner of a taxi firm which has 30 cars shared the same view, saying that it was illogical to allow big firms to operate, while preventing small firms.

“As we have less cars, it would be easier for us to take management. We cannot say that big firms will not cause traffic accidents,” he said.

Mr Binh from the taxi association said that many taxi firms would register their businesses if the regulations were not approved (most of them have less than 100 vehicles). He said that the taxi firms would meet the demand for travelling of 30mil passengers a year.

Deputy Minster of Industry Do Huu Hao once said that Vietnamese people would only be able to purchase cheap cars in 20 years. As such, taxis will still be a necessary means of transport for many Vietnamese people.

Mr Binh complained that taxi firms had been operating for 12 years in Hanoi, but no detailed programme on taxi service development had been drawn up so far, and no official legal document on taxi firm management had been promulgated so far.

In 2006, Hanoi authorities fined 1,300 taxi drivers for violating traffic laws. There were also 40 serious cases of traffic law violations, killing eight people, and injuring 32.

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