Accordingly, the regulations are issued following Decree No.158/2024 on road transport.
Following the regulations under the decree, transport businesses using vehicles with more than eight seats, excluding the driver's seat, or vehicles modified from those with more than eight seats must have a transport contract between the business and the person hiring the vehicle, including the driver.
As for the contracted vehicles with more than eight seats, they are not allowed to confirm bookings for passengers outside the signed contract; cannot sell tickets; cannot collect money outside the contract; and cannot set fixed routes or schedules to serve multiple passengers or different transport hirers.
Besides, drivers can only pick up and drop off passengers at the locations specified in the signed contract and they cannot pick up passengers outside the contract list provided by the transport business.
In particular, the contracted vehicles are not allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at the main office, branch office, representative office or any other fixed location rented or cooperated for business by the transport company on the street.
When transporting passengers, drivers must carry a signed transport contract from the transport business along with the passenger list with the transport company's seal, except for electronic contracts.
As for the contracted vehicles with less than eight seats, excluding the driver's seat, the new regulations allow them not to sign a transport contract for the entire vehicle, according to the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety. Therefore, they can pick up individual passengers for the trip.
The association also mentioned that illegal contracted vehicles have recently operated disguisedly causing traffic disorder and unfair competition with fixed-route passenger vehicles.
While fixed-route vehicles must enter stations and are strictly managed, illegal contracted vehicles find ways to bypass the law and are not subject to various transport business conditions as well as various taxes and fees.
