Go-Viet launched ride-haling without permission in Ho Chi Minh City

Go-Viet has not been licensed to participate in the pilot programme on ride-hailing

Go Viet Technology Trading Co., Ltd. (Go-Viet) will co-operate with transport firms which have been licenced by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation to offer transport by automobile. Vehicles connected with transport firms must be cars under nine seats, cannot be older than eight years, and have been granted a contractual car badge by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee submitted Dispatch No.449 to the MoT about receiving the pilot scheme to deploy science and technology applications to support the management and connection of passenger transport activities under contract by Go-Viet.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, although Go-Viet has yet to be approved by the MoT to operate under Decision No.24/QD-BGTVT, Go-Viet still launched the rail-hailing app in Ho Chi Minh City.

Go-Viet’s participation in the pilot will prevent a monopoly situation in the rail-hailing market. In addition, the business environment and service quality will be improved, decreasing transport fees if other players also enter the game.

However, Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen also proposed the MoT to ask Go-Viet to only contract with transport authorities which have been licensed by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport. Another binding condition is that the vehicles must be granted badges by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation before December 1, 2018.

In order to easily check and manage the badges for vehicles, Ho Chi Minh City proposed adding the date of issuance to the badges or attaching QR codes to them.

Ho Chi Minh City currently has four enterprises participating in the pilot implementation of Decision 24, namely GrabTaxi Co., Ltd., Anh Duong JSC, Mai Linh Group JSC, and GO-IXE Software Technology Co., Ltd.

Statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport show that the number of cars under nine-seat participating in the pilot programme. Specifically, the number was 177 in 2014, 1,877 in 2015, 17,360 in 2016, 34,562 in 2017, and more than 40,000 in September 2018.

The city assessed that the implementation of Decision 24 brought many positive effects, such as multiple choices for people, disclosing the price in advance, and shortening waiting times.

"However, there are also negative impacts, such as the increasing number of vehicles under nine seats, difficulties in the inspection of ride-hailing business, and especially the competition between ride-hailing and traditional taxi firms, ” read Dispatch No.449 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee.