VietNamNet Bridge - As Uber has lost to Grab in Vietnam and has left the market, Vietnamese are taking advantage of a golden opportunity to jump into the ride-hailing market. 


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Taxi firms now only have to compete with Grab



As one of the two big veteran players has left, they will only have to compete with Grab. 

Meanwhile, in the competition with Grab, Vietnamese apps have a big advantage – domestic brands. Trying to support Vietnamese businesses, hundreds of thousands of users have downloaded the apps.

Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Vice Head of Transport Department of the MoT on a meeting on April 6 said Indonesian Go-Jek is exploring the opportunity in Vietnam market and Chinese Didi Chuxing also has similar move.

Two weeks after launching Vato, Phuong Trang Transport JSC said the ride hailing app which has spent VND2.2 trillion has attracted tens of thousands of people registering to use the service each day, while at least 5,000 drivers have joined the network.

However, the number of passengers with Vato remains modest. In non-rush hours, passengers have to wait for cars for a long time, while in rush hours, errors have often occurred.

In the competition with Grab, Vietnamese apps have a big advantage – domestic brands. Trying to support Vietnamese businesses, hundreds of thousands of users have downloaded the apps.

Though T.net has just joined the market, it caught the public’s attention thanks to promotion campaigns. The passengers who downloaded the app can enjoy a 70 percent reduction in fee (VND80,000 at maximum) for the first two rides.

However, some T.net’s drivers were disappointed after one week because they sometimes could not find passengers.

The traditional taxi firms like Mai Linh and Vinasun have invested big money in technology, but passengers still complain about their service quality and drivers’ attitudes. In many cases, drivers cancelled their service without informing passengers. 

An analyst commented that despite strong support from Vietnamese passengers and huge amounts of investment, Vietnam transport businesses still must improve their situation.

“Vietnam’s apps still cannot match Grab’s,” he said, adding that even Uber with great advantages also bows out to Grab.

Vietnam’s transport businesses, for example, still do not accept payment via cards.

Tran Thanh Nam, the creator of Vivu, which has changed to Vato, said that taxi firms wanted to buy the software for VND100 million only. 

It is very costly to develop a professional ride hailing app. There are hundreds of ride hailing apps on the App Store, but most do not satisfy users’ requirements.


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Luong Bang