According to the draft, from January 1, 2028, passenger transport business units under contracts will have to transmit transport contract data before each trip to the software of state management agencies. This regulation is expected to create a strong shift in transport operation management, contributing to fundamentally handling the situation of "illegal cars, illegal bus stations", disguised contract cars, while limiting tax revenue loss and ensuring traffic safety and order.
For many years, the situation of contract cars operating disguised as fixed routes has been common in many localities, especially in areas with a radius of about 200km around Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. These vehicles organize pick-up and drop-off of passengers, compiling passenger lists to legalize them with fake tour contracts to deceive functional forces. This activity not only causes unhealthy competition with fixed route cars but also forms "illegal bus stations", disrupting transport order and potentially causing traffic unsafety.
According to data from the Vietnam Road Administration, there are currently more than 340,000 passenger cars nationwide, of which contract transport is developing very rapidly, accounting for over 70% of the total number of vehicles. The fact that many businesses apply for contract vehicle badges but organize disguised operations like fixed routes has created great pressure on management work, and at the same time caused budget revenue loss due to not fully fulfilling tax obligations.
In fact, inspections according to the coordination plan between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Construction show that contract vehicles violate in many forms such as stopping, parking, picking up and dropping off passengers at locations not stated in the contract; not having or not having complete passenger lists; carrying people whose names are not on the list; using electronic contracts but without devices to access contract content and passenger lists when inspected.
Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association - Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung - said that although functional forces have strengthened inspection and handling, there is still a lack of fundamental solutions. The core reason is that there is no mechanism to compare between the actual operating data of the vehicle and the signed contract data and the journey data. "Contract vehicles, if not strictly managed right from the transportation contract stage, will not accurately reflect the content and purpose of the trip," Mr. Hung assessed.
To overcome this situation, in the draft amendment of Decree 158/2024 on transport business and business conditions, the Ministry of Construction proposed to supplement regulations requiring passenger transport business units under contracts to transmit transport contract data of each vehicle before making trips to the software of state management agencies for monitoring and supervision.
According to the Vehicle and Driver Transport Management Department (Vietnam Road Administration), contract data after being transmitted will be connected and shared with relevant agencies such as the Tax authority, the State Treasury and patrol and control forces. This is to ensure that transport units strictly implement regulations on picking up and dropping off passengers, and at the same time control revenue from transport contracts, prevent tax revenue loss and unfair competition.
Notably, the regulation that contract vehicles must transmit data before the trip is actually not new. Previously, this content was mentioned in Decree 10/2020. However, by Decree 41/2024 and Decree 158/2024, the above regulation was abolished, only requiring businesses to store contracts at their units. The main reason is that there are not enough resources to build a common software system to receive and process contract data, making it difficult to analyze and compare vehicle journeys.
According to the Vietnam Road Administration, when the new regulations are officially issued, the software system for receiving information of contract transport business vehicles will be built according to the project approved by the Ministry of Construction. This system is designed according to a big data processing model, meeting the management requirements of about 350,000 transport business vehicles, with a frequency of 5-10 electronic contracts/vehicle/day, equivalent to about 1.7-3.5 million contracts per day. Ensuring simultaneous reception capacity, long-term storage and information security is identified as a mandatory requirement.
The draft amendment to Decree 158/2024 also clearly states that data from the software system of the Ministry of Construction will be exploited and used to serve the transport management of state agencies and businesses, and at the same time connect and share with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Security and the People's Committees of provinces and cities for coordination in management. This is considered an important basis to restore order to passenger transport activities under contract in the coming time.
