Ministry pushes app based taxi management to localities

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong has said that the ministry does not license the number of cars attending a pilot project on app-based taxi service approved by the Prime Minister, saying localities can manage that by themselves without asking the ministry’s opinions.
An Uber taxi cab picks up passengers in HCMC (Photo: SGGP)
An Uber taxi cab picks up passengers in HCMC (Photo: SGGP)
If local authorities want to manage logos and barges of ride-hailing firms, they can assign authorized agencies to do so, said Mr. Truong at a conference organized by the ministry in Hanoi yesterday.
He was speaking in response to traditional taxi firms’ complaint that the quick increase of Uber and Grab cabs has broken plan and contributed in traffic jam in HCMC and Hanoi.
According to the Prime Minister’s decision, the ministry’s pilot project will be implemented in two years. When the project ends this yearend, the ministry will review the ride-hailing service to have better management solutions, said Mr. Truong.
The ministry will work with the Ministry of Finance to improve tax management to Grab Taxi and Uber Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to cope with anti-dumping from their discount programs.
A representative of the Taxation General Department under the Ministry of Finance reported that tax agencies have met difficulties in fighting tax loss to Uber Vietnam. The department said that the company should establish a legal entity in Vietnam and conduct tax duties like other businesses to ensure fairness.
The department suggested being provided with data about the number of ride sharing cabs, their routes and revenue to collect tax arrears.
The Ministry of Transport called on traditional taxi firms to change fare policy and improve drivers’ serving manner as well as car quality; and Uber Vietnam and Grab Taxi to abide by Vietnam’s law.
Reports at the conference show that HCMC now has over 22,000 cars and Hanoi has over 7,000 cars attending the pilot project. These numbers are far exceeding taxi cab plans in the two cities.
Chairman of HCMC Taxi Association Ta Long Hy wanted to make clear the truth of Uber and Grab business in Vietnam as the number of ride-sharing cars has increased unceasingly, broken plan and caused traffic jam.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Nguyen Tien Long, head of the Secretarial Board of Hanoi Taxi Association, said that after 17 months of the pilot program, the number of Grab and Uber taxi cabs have been half as many again the country’s taxi number for the last 30 years.
He said there was an unfair competition among traditional and technology applied taxi firms as managerment agencies can easily identify cabs of traditional firms while they cannot know Grab and Uber cars because of lacking logos and barges. That poses a danger of tax loss.

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