Individual households are allowed to run taxi businesses, are they worried about safety?

With more than 70% of transport units having less than 5 vehicles as at present, experts say that strict management solutions are needed, especially to ensure traffic safety and passenger safety.

Ensure fairness and equality

According to current regulations, only enterprises and cooperatives are allowed to operate fixed-route vehicles, taxis, buses, and container trucks. However, in reality, transport cooperatives mainly only handle procedures to collect money and sell badges, without understanding how their members operate. Directors of cooperatives have almost no say in their members.

Individual business households will be allowed to participate in fixed-route, taxi, and bus services without having to go through cooperatives. Photo: Ta Hai.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung, Chairman of Hanoi Taxi Association, said that under this form, the nature of the business management process is still carried out by the owner.

According to the draft Decree guiding the implementation of the Road Law regulating transportation activities, individual business households can directly participate in transportation business without going through cooperatives.

The leader of the Department of Transport (Ministry of Transport) said that allowing individual households to expand their business types ensures equality between businesses and individuals.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen, Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association, acknowledged that allowing individual households to operate taxis, fixed routes, and buses demonstrates the State's policy that all economic sectors are equal before the law.

By the end of 2023, there will be nearly 90,000 transport businesses with 946,000 vehicles (both passenger and cargo). In passenger transport alone, more than 82% of units have less than 5 vehicles.

From this reality, many opinions suggest that there should be strict management solutions for individual businesses, ensuring a healthy competitive transportation business market.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung acknowledged that transportation business is a conditional business, related to human life. Individual business households only have 1-5 vehicles, not enough cost to establish a training apparatus, control traffic safety issues.

"Therefore, individual households must still have a department to monitor traffic safety, and can flexibly stipulate that the vehicle owner is also the person monitoring traffic safety. At the same time, there are specific sanctions to handle when unsafe incidents occur," said Mr. Hung.

Business must have safety department

Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen said that the number of vehicles of business households is usually only a few, if they are required to fully implement management requirements like enterprises, it will cost a large amount of money, and it is difficult to ensure feasibility. Therefore, the management requirements for this subject need to have appropriate solutions.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Director of the Netherlands Trade and Tourism Company, said that for transport units with only a few vehicles, establishing a traffic safety monitoring department is very difficult.

Explaining the above regulation, the leader of the Department of Transport (Ministry of Transport) said that according to the Road Law 2008, only enterprises and cooperatives are allowed to operate taxis, fixed-route buses, container trucks and must have a safety management department. Individual households are not allowed to operate these types of businesses.

The 2024 Road Law allows individual businesses to operate fixed routes, taxis and buses, and also requires them to have a safety department. Along with rights, businesses and business households must also have equal conditions and responsibilities.

A transport business unit can do many types of business, however, when participating in any type, it must comply with the conditions of that type. In other words, up to now, regardless of whether it is an enterprise, cooperative, or individual household, if it does transport business, it must have a safety department. If it is not guaranteed, it is not allowed to do business.

Business owner can also be supervisor

To ensure the feasibility of the regulation on traffic safety monitoring department for business households with only a few vehicles, where the owner is also the driver, the draft Decree guiding the Road Law allows the owner to also be the operator in the traffic safety monitoring department, but must have 3 years of experience in transportation activities.

In case the new owner invests in buying a vehicle for transportation business and also owns the vehicle, no experience is required. In that case, the owner and operator will have to take on greater responsibility in the transportation business.

In cases where the unit is large and has many vehicles, the number of people in the traffic safety department must be commensurate with the number of vehicles. This regulation is in accordance with the Road Law, Civil Law and related regulations.

However, participation in business activities must comply with all conditions on transportation business such as: Must have a business license, driving conditions and appropriate driving license; install journey monitoring equipment; must post information about individual business households on the outside of the vehicle; have a badge issued by the Department of Transport; develop and implement traffic safety assurance procedures...

To ensure safety in transport business operations, the 2024 Road Law stipulates that transport business units must have a safety management department. This department is responsible for online monitoring of vehicle and driver operations, supervising drivers from the time the vehicle departs, operates on the road and ends the journey.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/ho-ca-the-duoc-kinh-doanh-taxi-co-lo-mat-an-toan-192241014224940588.htm