Ha
Noi Police, in co-operation with city transport inspectors, started a one-month
scheme for inspecting taxi operations throughout the city yesterday, May 9.

Vice Director of the Ha Noi
Transport Department Nguyen Hoang Linh, said that eight groups of inter-sector
inspectors would concentrate on punishing violations such as illegal parking,
failing to show driving licenses and business insignias.

The department will task relevant
authorities with suspending the operation of businesses whose taxis were found
to have regularly violated regulations Linh said, adding that his department
would review and add additional parking lots for taxis in order to help
facilitate operations.

During the first four months of
2011, inspectors punished around 1,640 violators for common violations including
illegal parking, driving in the wrong lanes, operating without licenses,
violating traffic laws and installing or using substandard taximeter.

The Vice Director General of the
Mai Linh Taxi Group confirmed that strict punishments, especially with regards
to illegal taxis, would create a healthier, competitive environment for firms,
seeing as substandard services affect the sector’s prestige.

Up until April, the city had 114
taxi firms with more than 15,000 taxis and 20,000 taxi drivers. During 2010,
taxis transported around 40 million passengers.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News