Hanoi authorities are working on a draft regulation that will significantly impact how the capital’s taxi firms operate in the next few years.
As Tuoi Tre reports, the most prominent change will be to the color of the city's cabs: local officials want all vehicles to bear the same look. However, at the moment, the official color scheme hasn’t been confirmed.
If things go according to plan, the decision will be made by next year and by 2025, all taxi cabs in Hanoi will be replaced with a standard color scheme. Moreover, the new decree will require taxi companies in the city to come up with their own taxi-hailing applications by July next year.
Apart from rules on the appearance of vehicles, the plan also stipulates where taxi firms can operate: Hanoi will be divided into two zones including urban districts and rural districts.
Companies will be obliged to register their zone of operation with local authorities and will only be allowed to pick up customers in their registered region. The zoning, however, doesn’t affect drop-off points.
According to VietnamNet, cabs must not take more than two minutes to pick up customers and are required to spend at least 70% of their time in the registered zone.
Currently, the proposed plan is still in its early stages and the Department of Transport is taking public feedback.
[Photo via Asia Times]
