The authorities in HCM City have asked Grab and Uber to stop recruiting new cars while waiting for the Ministry of Transport review of the two-year implementation of Decision 24 on the pilot application of science and technology in passenger transportation.

The Department of Transport had proposed several solutions to manage app-based taxi services in HCM City previously including asking Uber and Grab to not add new cars to their system. The department wants to stabilise the traffic in the city while waiting for the Ministry of Transport to review two-year implementation.

The Department of Taxation was asked to work with related agencies to closely monitor Uber and Grab and similar app-based services. The authorities will publicise the management and tax collecting methods to avoid cases where traditional taxi firms complain that Uber and Grab are given preferential treatment.

According to the Department of Transport's inspectorate, they have recorded 86 violations by Uber and Grab and issued VND276m (USD12,100) in fines since early October. Eight cases involving cars without required badges were fined VND2.8m, while 71 cases that didn't have the phone number and name of the services on the cars were fined VND213m.

The number of cars using app-based service is on the rise in HCM City. In late 2015, there were 300 cars that used app-based services. This number increased to 15,000 in June 2016. The Department of Transport announced that they had recently issued permits to 24,000 cars.  

dtinews