Hanoi’s authorities are struggling to deal with the city’s anarchic taxi companies, as complaints of theft and rip-offs of foreign tourists and other users spiral.
Substandard taxis plague Hanoi “This problem is a type terrorism on our services.” Khuat Viet Hung, head of the Transportation Department said. According to Hung, it’s easy to acquire a business permit and open a taxi companies. Many have taken advantages of the situation to lie about their businesses and establish a taxi company with only a few of cars, no offices or managers.
Some even have set an income quota so their employees must find ways to meet the goal, leading to bad services such overpricing or deliberately extending journey lengths.
There are about 1,000 such kind of taxis operating in Hanoi and according to the state managers, they are struggling to deal with the situation.
“The authorities must be more responsible by conducting inspections and quickly dealing with substandard companies.” Hung said.
Nguyen Hoang Linh, deputy head of Hanoi Department of Transport said they have developed regulations for taxi services in Hanoi and taxi companies must install taxi fare meters in the near future.
To deal with these problems, the Hanoi Taxi Association plans to raise the fine from VND20 million (USD960) to VND50 million if their members are found out to have cheated customers.
“We are managing over 100 taxi companies in Hanoi with over 17,000 taxis. Taxis are often also accused of causing traffic problems. We’ll tighten management to prevent any future issues within our association.” Hanoi Taxi Association chairman Do Quoc Binh said.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
