Leaders from Da Nang’s Department of Transport have recently refuted a rumour that Da Nang has banned all Uber and GrabCar operations in the city to protect the existing local taxi service providers.

A view from inside a GrabCar

They have affirmed that the city authorities would never restrict the freedom of local enterprises to do business.  Top priority is always given to creating a fair and healthy competitive business environment amongst all economic sectors, and ensuring the harmony of legal interests between businesses and their employees and customers.

The local leaders pointed out some shortcomings during the piloting of the GrabCar ride-hailing service in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.  In particular, the authorities of the 2 localities have allowed over 7,000 and 20,000 cars respectively to provide GrabCar services.  In addition, a large number of private cars from other neighbouring localities have rushed into these 2 cities to participate in the GrabCar service cooperative.  After several months of implementing the pilot project, traffic congestion has become worse in Ha Noi and HCMC.

In addition, Da Nang’s transport inspectors would find it very hard to monitor the service as it is mainly deployed via mobile applications, and most of the GrabCars operating do not have the prescribed logo displayed on them. 

The current volume of passenger transport vehicles in the city is expected to meet the travel demands of local residents and visitors by the end of 2020.  To date, local licensed taxi companies already have a total of 1,700 cars in circulation on local streets.

The city authorities are focusing on introducing more effective measures to reduce the number of personal vehicles in the inner city and ease traffic congestion. 

Therefore, Da Nang is waiting for official instructions from the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport about piloting the GrabCar service.  The city leaders are asking the Grab Taxi company, local transport units, and media agencies to effectively implement soon-to-be-issued instructions from the Ministry.