HÀ NỘI — Ride-hailing firms like Grab should be managed like traditional taxi companies to ensure a fair playground for the passenger transportation market, Nguyễn Công Hùng, deputy director of the Việt Nam Auto Transport Association said.

Hùng said that calling Grab e-contract cars was causing a misunderstanding. “In fact, Grab cars are electronic taxis,” Hùng said, adding that booking a ride via telephone or an app, and calculating fees by meter or through software, were just different forms of the same service.

“It is not reasonable to say that if Grab is managed like a traditional taxi firm it will hold back the development of science and technology,” Hùng said.

Hùng said that Grab and traditional taxis must be managed equally, adding that the firms applying advanced technologies would see higher profits.

Tạ Long Hỷ, chairman of the HCM City Taxi Association, said that passenger transport cars of less than nine seats in urban areas, whether connected via ride hailing software or not, were all taxis in nature.

Hùng, contributing to the draft decree which would replace Decree 86/2014/NĐ-CP about conditions for auto transportation business, said that cars providing passenger transportation services would have registration plates in specific colours so they are easily identified and managed to prevent confusion with private vehicles.

According to Hùng, the draft decree needed more revisions.

Hùng said that there are still loopholes although this was the sixth version of the draft and the compilation had already been conducted for three years.

“If the draft was issued without amendments, it would badly affect the business environment and the development of the transportation sector while technologies were developing rapidly and changing,” he said.

The current draft only requires the application of technology in managing tourism transportation and contract cars while fixed-route passenger transportation, buses and taxis were not required.

Applying technologies is now becoming indispensable to remove red tape and enable the transport sector to keep pace with Industry 4.0, as well as meeting demand, according to Hùng.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyễn Ngọc Đông said that the amendments to Decree 86/2014/NĐ-CP were very complicated, adding that the ministry would continue to study, listen to contributions and complete the draft before submitting it to the Government for issuance.

The transport sector now has a total of 570 business prerequisites. The ministry plans to compile nine new decrees which would amend 20 existing decrees to cut 346 prerequisites.

To date, four decrees have been issued, which helped to remove 109 business prerequisites in the transportation sector. — VNS