The Ministry of Transport has approved the implementation of GrabTaxi services in three provinces, including Thanh Hoa, An Giang and Dak Nong.— Photo dantri.com.vn

The Ministry of Transport has given the green light to the implementation of GrabTaxi services in three provinces, including Thanh Hoa, An Giang and Dak Nong.

In a document sent to the three provincial transport departments, the ministry said that it always encouraged the application of science and technology in transportation to enhance service quality and improve convenience for passengers.

Accordingly, GrabTaxi will be used to book rides for Sao Do Taxi in An Giang Province, Viet Duc Taxi in Dak Nong and Bac Trung Nam Taxi in Thanh Hoa.

The ministry, however, noted that Grab was not allowed to directly work with taxi drivers to provide the services without agreement of the provincial departments of transport and taxi services operators.

GrabTaxi was a service to book a taxis provided on Grab’s ride-hailing platform and registered as an e-commerce platform with nationwide operation.

GrabTaxi is a different service from GrabCar.

The GrabCar service to book a ride provided by a "contract vehicle" has now been piloted in several provinces and cities, including Ha Noi, HCM City, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa and Quang Ninh.

The pilot implementation of applying technology in contracted passenger transportation was scheduled to end in 2018 but allowed to be extended until a decree about automobile transportation business with regulations to manage the operation of ride hailing services like Grab was issued to replace existing Decree 86/2014.ND-CP.

Besides Grab, 12 companies were allowed to join in the pilot implementation, including Be Group, Vato, V.Car, Thanh Cong Car, S.Car, Vic.Car, Home Car, Mai Linh Car, LB.Car and Emddi.— VNS