Transport and taxi companies have moved to cut fees amid decreases inpetrol and oil prices this year and explain about their slow response.
TheMinistry of Transport recently asked concerned organisations toimplement measures to manage transport fee adjustments in line with fuelprice decreases and required them to file reports with the ministry byyear-end.
After 14 adjustments this year, including five petrolprice increases totalling 1,430 VND (6.7 US cents) and nine decreasestotalling 4,250 VND (20 cents), the petrol price for RON 92 fell to21,390 VND (1 USD) per litre now.
According to Bui Danh Lien,Chairman of the Hanoi Automobile Transport Association, about 50 taxicompanies out of 114 companies in Hanoi announced fee cuts of between500 VND (3.8 cents) and 2,000 VND (9.8 cent) per kilometre since earlythis week.
These include Mai Linh, Thanh Nga, CP Group and Thanh Cong, as well as Van Xuan and ABC Taxis.
This was the first taxi fee cut after nine petrol price increases this year.
Lien revealed that 50 taxi more companies were expected to cut fees in the coming week.
TranNguyen Le Van, manager of vexere.com, the largest ticket bookingwebsite of Vietnam with more than 1,000 transport companies, explainedthat with the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday fast approaching, transportcompanies were afraid to lower their prices now because it would bedifficult for them to ask for permission to raise prices ahead of Tetwhen the demand for travel was high.
In response to complaintsabout transport companies' slow response to petrol price cuts, Lien saidcompanies must proposed price adjustments to the finance departments 12to 20 days in advance, adding that immediate price changes without therequired registration with concerned departments would be fined.
Somecompanies said they did not raise their transport fees after fuel priceincreases, so they won't be reducing their fees over the petrol and oilprice cuts.
Several import and export companies said transport fees should be cut by between 15 percent and 20 percent.
However,Lien said, current fee cuts were reasonable as transport fees dependednot only on fuel prices but also on other input factors such as wages,insurance fees and repair and maintenance fees.
He added that companies with more reasonable fees would attract customers.
LeThi Lai, Head of the Price Management Division under the Ministry ofFinance, said the management of transport fee adjustments would betightened to ensure rights of companies, the State and consumers.
Meanwhile,Nguyen Tien Thoa, General Secretary of the Vietnam ValuationAssociation, said it was essential to calculate how much of the totaltransport fees come from petrol and oil prices to serve as a basis formanagement decisions.
A transport ministry representative saidtransport companies that refused to adjust their fees following marketchanges to earn huge profits would risk losing customers.
Accordingto a World Bank study, Vietnam's total transport fees were equivalentto 11.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product, much higherthan that of the US, which was below 4.5 percent; Singapore, which was4.8 percent; and Japan, which was 6 percent.-VNA
TheMinistry of Transport recently asked concerned organisations toimplement measures to manage transport fee adjustments in line with fuelprice decreases and required them to file reports with the ministry byyear-end.
After 14 adjustments this year, including five petrolprice increases totalling 1,430 VND (6.7 US cents) and nine decreasestotalling 4,250 VND (20 cents), the petrol price for RON 92 fell to21,390 VND (1 USD) per litre now.
According to Bui Danh Lien,Chairman of the Hanoi Automobile Transport Association, about 50 taxicompanies out of 114 companies in Hanoi announced fee cuts of between500 VND (3.8 cents) and 2,000 VND (9.8 cent) per kilometre since earlythis week.
These include Mai Linh, Thanh Nga, CP Group and Thanh Cong, as well as Van Xuan and ABC Taxis.
This was the first taxi fee cut after nine petrol price increases this year.
Lien revealed that 50 taxi more companies were expected to cut fees in the coming week.
TranNguyen Le Van, manager of vexere.com, the largest ticket bookingwebsite of Vietnam with more than 1,000 transport companies, explainedthat with the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday fast approaching, transportcompanies were afraid to lower their prices now because it would bedifficult for them to ask for permission to raise prices ahead of Tetwhen the demand for travel was high.
In response to complaintsabout transport companies' slow response to petrol price cuts, Lien saidcompanies must proposed price adjustments to the finance departments 12to 20 days in advance, adding that immediate price changes without therequired registration with concerned departments would be fined.
Somecompanies said they did not raise their transport fees after fuel priceincreases, so they won't be reducing their fees over the petrol and oilprice cuts.
Several import and export companies said transport fees should be cut by between 15 percent and 20 percent.
However,Lien said, current fee cuts were reasonable as transport fees dependednot only on fuel prices but also on other input factors such as wages,insurance fees and repair and maintenance fees.
He added that companies with more reasonable fees would attract customers.
LeThi Lai, Head of the Price Management Division under the Ministry ofFinance, said the management of transport fee adjustments would betightened to ensure rights of companies, the State and consumers.
Meanwhile,Nguyen Tien Thoa, General Secretary of the Vietnam ValuationAssociation, said it was essential to calculate how much of the totaltransport fees come from petrol and oil prices to serve as a basis formanagement decisions.
A transport ministry representative saidtransport companies that refused to adjust their fees following marketchanges to earn huge profits would risk losing customers.
Accordingto a World Bank study, Vietnam's total transport fees were equivalentto 11.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product, much higherthan that of the US, which was below 4.5 percent; Singapore, which was4.8 percent; and Japan, which was 6 percent.-VNA
