VietnamNet Bridge – Pedicabs are a symbolic means of transport of Hue tourism. However, with a large number of 2800 pedicabs, there are many unsolved problems in the management of pedicabs’ activities.

Spontaneous and unprofessional

Phan Thu Trang, who came to Hue for the first time, hired a pedicab for two persons to go from Hue Festival to Tran Hung Dao St. with 30,000 dong. But when she hired another one to return she only had to pay 20.000 dongs for the same distance. Some days later, Trang and her friends rented three pedicabs to travel around the city. Though the deal was 120.000 dongs, the pedicabs’ owner later unreasonably asked her to pay 150.000 dongs. Of course Trang determinedly refused.

Pedicab rental disorder usually happens in peak domestic tourism seasons in May, June and July and foreign tourists seasons in October, November and December. Many pedicab drivers not only ask tourists to pay much more than usual, but also make money by persuading customers to go to service operations which are unqualified.

Mr. Tran Viet Luc – Chief of Department of tourism planning and development, Thua Thien Hue Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism – said that there are now 2800 pedicabs put into operation, but only 211 of them are the members of the tourist service trade union.

The other 2000 ones are in local self-governing groups. Nevertheless, these self-governing groups are all spontaneous and not professional, which has caused contradictions among groups and in pedicab rentals. The rental is different in each area and not unanimous even in the trade union.

“Another problem is that the number of pedicabs in the trade union tends to decrease,” said Luc. The main cause of this situation is that pedicab riders’ income is rather low, barely 100.000 dongs per day, and is based on seasons and the weather.

“There are few passengers in the daytime because of the scorching sunlight, so we work mostly in the evening. But we can only earn 300.000 dongs an evening at most, not to mention some days we came home penniless. Most of us have to keep two or three jobs at the same time to make ends meet, and it is very difficult to do so if we join the trade union,” said Nguyen Van Loi – a freelance pedicab rider.

This trend has been putting more pressure on the management of pedicabs in Hue currently.

Pedicab operation to be put in order soon

According to Mr. Luc, Thua Thien Hue Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism has approved the pedicab management project carried out by Department of tourism planning and development. The trade union are going to be given 120 million dongs to fortify pedicab operation in tourism--like renewing and painting purple on all pedicabs, making uniforms for pedicab riders or training members. Especially, tour costs are going to be fixed and posted up in public.

However, this is only applied to pedicabs in the trade union, which means more than 2000 other pedicabs are still quite difficult to manage.

To Quoc