The Ministry of Transport has submitted the draft of a new circular that includes regulations for passenger transport (by car) through software such as Uber and Grab. “Adjustments in the new circular would like to balance the management of passenger transport with electronic contracts through software such as Uber and Grab and traditional taxis as well as to be appropriate with the demands of practical management,” Minister Nguyen Van The told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. The new circular will request transport companies to meet 10 conditions, including: having a business licence or business registered certification to do electronic business and having certification from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) confirming that applicants have completed registration (both Uber and Grab haven’t met this requirement yet). Importantly, software providers must sign contracts to provide software using services for transport companies that have transport licences instead of the current co-operation agreements. Transport companies must display their logos at a minimum of 90mm x 80mm in both front and back windows. To ensure tax collection, the circular clearly states that software providers and transport companies must provide all information related to trips and electronic bills to both the passengers’ accounts and the General Department of Tax (GDT), under the regulation of the Ministry of Finance. For enterprises who would like to use electronic bills, the circular requires 11 conditions, including using software which has already been certified by the MoIT, sending electronic bills to the GDT and providing telephone numbers to customers… [Read full story]
Trade ministry asks for explanation about Uber, Grab protest bannersThe Saigon Times Daily HCMC – The Ministry of Industry and Trade has told the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) to report on the recent moves of traditional taxi firms in Hanoi and HCMC such as Vinasun to stick Uber and Grab protest banners on their cabs. The images of the red banners on some Vinasun taxicabs calling for ride-hailing service firms Uber and Grab to abide by the Vietnamese law have gone viral on social media. But they have backfired as social media users said this act has amounted to a…... [read more]
Ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab are paying lower taxes and face less stringent rules, which have created unfair competition and led to falling revenues of traditional taxi firms in Vietnam, industry experts said. Uber and Grab bear responsibility for a drop of at least 10 percent in last year’s revenues of the taxi industry in Ho Chi Minh City, the city’s association of taxi drivers estimated. “While [traditional] taxis are tied to [strict regulations], Uber and Grab are loosely regulated,” Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Nguyen Van Thanh, chairman of the Vietnam Auto Transport Association, as saying Thursday at…... [read more]
Uber launched a service package at the flat price of VND150,000 to carry passengers from any location in the inner city of Hanoi. In HCM City, Grab sometimes has a promotional fee of VND20,000 for trips to the airport. “You will have to pay VND130,000 for every trip to the airport with traditional taxi service, while it’ll take you VND70,000 to go with Grab, and sometimes the fee is just VND20,000 when Grab runs sale promotion campaign,” Tin, a passenger said. Uber, Grab cars flood airportsQuang Huy in Cau Giay district, Hanoi said the service fee of VND150,000 set by Uber is…... [read more]
Authorities in Da Nang are looking at a proposal to block access to car hailing mobile applications Uber and Grab due to traffic concerns. In a proposal submitted to the city’s Department of Information and Communications, the Traffic Safety Committee said the unauthorized operations of Uber and Grab could worsen traffic in the city. The panel subsequently asked the department to have internet providers block access to the Uber and Grab applications. It also asked the police to investigate and punish any individual or organization found to be offering transport services illegally in the city. Nguyen Quang Thanh, director of…... [read more]
A new startup project is taking shape in Ho Chi Minh City promising to provide support to Vietnamese xe om motorbike taxi drivers who feel excluded or threatened by the rise of services such as Grab and Uber. Vu Tuan Anh, who leads the yet-to-be named project, told the Saigon Times that the arrival of Grab and Uber has been generally welcomed by passengers and has created jobs for many people, particularly students and part-time workers. But many xe om drivers, he said, have had their livelihoods threatened by these modern platforms. “I started to wonder why IT engineers in…... [read more]
