It is estimated that both tourist communes of Quan Lan and Minh Chau, Van Don district have about 100 electric vehicles, mainly vehicles with 14 seats or more.
According to regulations, for this type of vehicle, drivers must have a D certificate. However, currently, the number of electric vehicle drivers with a D certificate on these tourist islands is very small; most of them are with B2 degrees.
These are drivers who have been supported by the government with funding to study driving licenses to convert vehicles to serve tourists, after tuk tuk tuk and Lam xe on Quan Lan and Minh Chau islands were banned from operation since the beginning of 2019.
The reason why electric vehicles have stopped operating while they were still operating normally, according to drivers, since May 25, the traffic police force has been deployed to check traffic safety and order throughout the province, so they do not dare to run out onto the road.
Along with that are reminders about having the right driver's license to continue driving electric vehicles.
On May 25, a number of electric vehicle drivers were administratively handled for not having D certificates.
The fact that most electric vehicles have stopped operating has affected tourists' travel, because the distance from ports to hotels is quite far, from about 3-5km.
Not to mention that the travel process between tourist destinations on the islands has long been basically used by tourists using electric vehicles; some call motorbike taxis, while there is no taxi service.
With no more electric vehicles, some tourists and groups have to walk from ports to hotels and vice versa.
Many hotel and restaurant owners have had to mobilize all types of vehicles, from motorbikes to private cars to pick up and drop off guests.
The solution of asking tourists with D degrees, or hiring islanders with D degrees to drive electricity to pick up and drop off tourists is also applied, but not much.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quan Lan Commune - if the electric vehicle system is stopped, it will greatly affect the tourism situation of Quan Lan, because this is the main means of transporting tourists, while the tourist season is approaching.
According to tourism workers on Quan Lan Island, there are peak days when the number of visitors on the island reaches thousands of people, and electric cars run busily all day. Therefore, if the operation is stopped, in addition to being disadvantageous for tourists visiting the island, it can also cause congestion and delay trains bringing tourists back to the mainland because using motorbikes or other means will take a lot of time to gather enough tourists for a trip.
Chairman of the People's Committee of Quan Lan Commune Nguyen Van Tuyen said that he had reported this situation to the leaders of the People's Committee of Van Don District to ask for direction for handling.
However, this is a difficult problem, because hiring people with D degrees to drive is not enough, while current drivers who want to study for D degrees also take a lot of time, because from B2 degrees, they cannot jump to study for D degrees.
