The battle of the taxi apps is set to grow fierce in Hanoi with the arrival of Uber.
Three months after launching in HCMC, the ridesharing service went live last week in the capital which boasts a significantly more complicated taxi market, broken down here by TechinAsia’s Anh-Minh Do:
“Hanoi is a vastly different city from Ho Chi Minh city, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Ho Chi Minh city is mainly dominated by two major taxi companies: Mai Linh and Vinasun. These two companies have been battling it out for market share for years. Vinasun has been winning this battle as Mai Linh almost faced a bankruptcy last year. Uber, with its better service (cleaner cars, GPS locations, no cash, etc.), has slowly made an impact on the taxi business and is no doubt one reason why it is being invested by the Vietnamese government. After all, Mai Linh and Vinasun both make deals with various buildings, malls, and apartment complexes to specifically service them. Uber’s call on demand cuts into this.”
Like in HCMC, Uber’s main competition in Hanoi are GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi which entered that market a few months ago, one that may be easier to conquer due to its fragmentation:
“GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi are also positioned very well in Hanoi since the market is so fragmented. Whereas in Ho Chi Minh city, Vinasun has responded to taxi drivers using the taxi booking apps by firing them,” wrote Do.
Next up, UberBike? Yeah, probably not…
