The Ministry of Transport will inspect operations of all taxi firms in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and perhaps in some other big cities in the country during 2012, said Nguyen Xuan Hao, chief inspector at the Ministry of Transport.
Hao stated this at a meeting in Hanoi on January 9 to announce results of previous inspections already conducted on taxi firms in Hanoi.
Accordingly, the ministry has suspended operations of five taxi firms including BG Taxi, Phu Gia Taxi, Hong Hung Taxi, Le Gia Taxi and Mua Xuan Taxi.
Suspension orders were passed after nearly a month of investigation of the taxi companies by the Transport Ministry.
Hao said that some cabs did not have walkie-talkies and their managers could not summon the drivers or communicate with them from headquarters. When inspectors checked some cab meters, they found that some were blatantly overcharging customers.
The ministry intends to submit to the government some modification in regulations to monitor taxi operations more closely and effectively, added Hao.
There are about 114 taxi companies in Hanoi with more than 16,000 vehicles. HCMC has o¬nly 36 taxi companies but the total number of vehicles is much higher than in Hanoi.
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