Taxi firms want government curbs on Uber, Grabtaxi

Here is a car equipped with Uber e-contract software. It is one of more than 3,000 cars operating in the city. Photo balodeplao.com

In a document sent to the government, the transport ministry and concerned authorities on October 19, the association said Uber and Grabtaxi cars did not carry any logo, badge or insignia, violating regulations governing public transport, and forcing authorities to manage and regulate traffic.

There are reportedly more than 3,000 Uber and Grabtaxi cars operating in the city.

"Uber and Grabtaxi are free to operate on roads where normal taxis were prohibited, causing traffic congestion. This does not suit the city's infrastructure and traffic planning," the association said.

The businesses have themselves set up freight services that are not under state management, even though they increase freight charges at a certain time, which is not in accordance with the pricing law and does not ensure customers' rights and interests.

The association said the above-mentioned problems, discovered by taxi businesses that had co-operated with Uber and Grabtaxi, were reported at a conference in the capital city on September 19.

The association said the government and relevant authorities should suspend Uber and Grabtaxi services till they issued a legal document that contained the complete and clear regulations governing the operations of Uber and Grabtaxi.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the transport ministry's pilot project on "Application of information technology in supporting the management and connection of commercial passenger transportation by contract" (GrabCar).

The project aims to help enhance state management of information technology-based passenger transportation, as well as create high-quality pre-conditions for future science and technology application projects in the transportation sector.

The GrabCar pilot project will be implemented in contract-based automobile transportation entities that have legitimate business licences in the five cities and provinces of Ha Noi, HCM City, the central Da Nang City and the northern Quang Ninh Province, besides the central Khanh Hoa Province, for a two-year period.