The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam (DRVN) has suggested that Uber and Grab taxis should have signs on their cars to differentiate them from conventional taxis, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

However, the draft sparked a wave of protest from many traditional taxi companies, who said this change would amount to legal recognition of Uber and GrabTaxi.

Do Quoc Binh, chairperson of the Hanoi Taxi Association, said that the draft decree did not make it clear what requirements taxi firms like Uber and Grab need to meet to have signs attached to their cars.

Traditional taxi firms are subject to constraints on the number of vehicles they operate and are required to display their headquarters and business licences, as well as providing training for their drivers.

Taxis like Uber and Grab Taxi, meanwhile, will be legalised under the decree but face no such constraints.

Nguyen Anh Quan, chief executive officer (CEO) of Thanh Cong Taxi said that they are legal businesses but face many constraints such as limitations on the number of vehicles. If the DRVN allowed Uber and Grab taxis to have ‘Taxi E’ signs on their cars this would be unfair to traditional taxi firms.

Do added that conventional taxis, which have meters inside the cars, come under the control of state authorities.

However, he was unsure of who will take responsibility for Uber and Grab taxis, which currently calculate fares using online software.

This representative told the media that after nearly 20 years of development, Hanoi has only 18,000 taxis due to the limitations of the city development plan.

If the DRVN under the Ministry of Transport allowed Uber and Grab Taxi to display a ‘Taxi E’ sign, the number of taxis in the city would rapidly increase and the industry would become difficult to control.

- Bernama