Taxi firms release apps to compete with Uber and Grab

The firms have complained about supposed unfair competition with Uber and Grab. Vinasun said the average wage for drivers had dropped and many drivers had already quit.

The firms demanded authorities apply measures to ensure fairer competition such as forcing Uber and Grab drivers to use taxi badges.

Meanwhile, some firms have started to upgrade their technology to attract customers such as Thanh Cong in Hanoi that released a mobile app similar to Uber and Grab. Thanh Cong also allows customers to call for taxis from Facebook.

They announced a fleet of cars without taxi badges like Uber to carry customers on routes that ban taxis. Thanh Cong said the management charge their drivers need to pay was only half of what Uber and Grab were collecting.

Other taxi firms have also employed measures to compete in the growing market. Mai Linh, Vinasun and Taxi Group also released apps with similar purposes and functions. SAPA Thale Holding then released their own Uber-like app called APPP Passengers.

The Ho Chi Minh City Taxi Association previously claimed that traditional taxi firms were being threatened as more personal cars were now in use by Uber and Grab than traditional taxi fleets. It asked the government to reconsider the open policy towards app-based taxi firms.

“More worryingly, taxi firms have to bear various kinds of taxes including the VAT and corporate income tax. But the Grab and Uber’s taxes are only 4-5% of the traditional firms’,” the association claimed in a written document.

Ha Huy Quang, deputy director of Hanoi Department of Transport accused Uber and Grab of not following the traffic planning and being opaque in tax duties.