Taxi drivers at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport will be suspended from picking up passengers at the airport for 14 days if they solicit passengers, overcharge or refuse to take passengers, and completely banned if they repeat the offense. Photo: nld.com.vn

HCM CITY — Tân Sơn Nhất Airport has issued new regulations for passenger transport services in an effort to curb overcharging.

Under the new regulations, drivers must not solicit passengers or refuse to carry passengers on short trips, nor may they arbitrarily increase prices or ask for other surcharges.

Violators will be suspended from the airport for 14 days and completely banned if they repeat the offense.

Recently, the Ministry of Transport announced a plan to strengthen inspection and crack down on taxi drivers' illegal practices, such as aggressively soliciting passengers, overcharging or refusing to take passengers on short trips at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport in HCM City.

Currently, 12 taxi companies, contract cars, and technology-based cars operate at the airport. About 15 per cent of customers need a car.

However, due to a shortage of cars, passengers have spent a lot of time waiting, causing congestion at the airport.

On average, 42,000 passengers will need 6,300 car trips per day. If the number of passengers increases to 60,000, the number of car trips will be 9,000.

To ensure the necessary number of cars, the airport has required taxi companies to provide adequate vehicles to serve passengers.

According to Tân Sơn Nhất Airport, the overloading at the airport has led to chaos and scams among taxi services.

Nguyễn Thu Nguyệt, who lives in Tân Bình District, said she always has difficulties in booking app-based taxis to go home as her house is quite near the airport.

"The driver refused immediately or asked for more money," she said.

Passengers reported that they are approached by a series of “parachute” drivers using home cars, catching customers, and offering “exorbitant” prices. Passengers who want to go from the airport to Bình Thạnh District are charged by these drivers VNĐ450,000, or VNĐ600,000 to go to the Hà Nội Highway area in District 2 (Thủ Đức City).

In the first six months of this year, inspectors from Centre for Aviation Security at the airport have detected 301 cases of taxi drivers soliciting guests, causing public disorder. VNS