Motorbike taxis can resume in Hanoi on Tuesday after a six-month year hiatus due to COVID-19, according to the capital city’s transport department.

Ride-hailing drivers throughout the year 2020 were hit hard by the effects of the pandemic, which led to a sharp fall in clients at the beginning of the year, and by the new policy on required higher discount rate.

Ride-hailing drivers have seen their incomes fall dramatically because of policy changes.

After Uber left the Vietnamese market, many ride-hailing apps were launched to compete with Grab, which had taken over Uber. But they have not had much success.

The Ministry of Health announced on December 5 that it would test phase one of a Covid-19 vaccine produced by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC on people from December 10 to 12.

Under a new regulation, from December 5, ride-hailing services will be taxed 10 percent instead of the current 3 percent.

More and more ride-hailing services are entering the market despite the dominance of the pioneers Grab and Gojek, formerly known as GoViet.

Grab and MoMo are veterans in their core business fields, but they are the newcomers in the e-commerce market.

The two local ride-hailing platforms be and FastGo could negotiate a merger to break the dominance of Grab in Vietnam.

From April 23, ride-hailing apps in Vietnam have resumed operations in some localities after the three-week suspension in response to social distancing orders.

With people wanting to stay at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak, apps like Be and Grab are piloting new services in Ho Chi Minh City to help them buy more and more things without leaving home.

The Government’s new decree on automobile transportation is expected to help get the transportation market back on track, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Vietnam has legalised ride-hailing, opening up opportunities for ride-hailing firms and bringing more benefits to passengers and driver-partners.

The saying ‘even beggars in China also have QR Code’ shows the great impact WeChat has in China. Grab, Zalo, Go-Viet, be and Now are also struggling to become the super-app with similar level of influence in Vietnam.

Vietnam is considered an attractive market with massive potential for the development of super apps. 

Tran Thanh Hai, CEO of the ride-hailing service Be, has stepped down after two years at the head of the service, which he joined in the beginning days.

Southeast Asias largest ride-hailing firm, Grab,has announced plans to invest an additional US$500 million in Vietnam over the next five years.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Ministry of Transport to speed up the revision of the draft decree about transportation service businesses and submit it to the Government for promulgation before December 30.

The MoPS has proposed to change the colour of the licence plates of ride-hailing vehicles, sparking concerns about increasing expenses, time and labour costs.