Who knows what the risks are?

(Baonghean)Wearing a uniform, sitting in a car, earning money whenever there's a customer – one might think that being a taxi driver is easy, with "no rain on your face, no sun on your head." However, only by hearing and understanding the situation do you realize that it's not wrong to say this profession is one of the riskiest...

A hundred thousand tricks...

Having worked as a taxi driver for nearly four years, Phạm Đức Hữu (a driver for Mai Linh Taxi in Nghệ An) isn't exactly a veteran, but he's certainly experienced the trade, having been scammed out of money by customers many times (considered as learning fees). Yet, he couldn't avoid his most recent scam. The customer was a tall, handsome young man, well-dressed; to be more certain, the customer requested a pickup at the gate of a police station. He asked to be driven to Bắc Giang. After driving a few dozen kilometers, Hữu noticed the customer's phone ringing incessantly. Through the phone conversation, Hữu guessed his customer was a police officer on a mission to investigate a major case.

A little while later, his phone went silent. The passenger sighed, "The battery's dead. I'm on a long business trip, and it was so urgent that I didn't bring a charger," and then asked the driver, "Can I borrow your phone for a moment? I'll insert my SIM card so we can stay in touch." Near Bac Giang, the passenger asked to stop at a "friend's house" to pick up some documents and told Mr. Huu to "wait exactly one minute and then take me to the provincial police headquarters." But one minute, five minutes, and... 60 minutes passed, and the passenger was still nowhere to be seen. Mr. Huu suddenly realized he had encountered a "maverick" who had not only refused to pay the taxi fare but had also lost his phone.

Returning home with a heavy heart, the journey seemed endless. Huu confided that his family circumstances were very difficult. He came from Thanh Long, Thanh Chuong district. His parents were farmers, his two older sisters married and moved far away, his youngest sister finished 12th grade and went to the South to work in the leather and footwear industry, and Huu himself had worked as a leather and footwear factory worker in Bien Hoa. The factory worker's salary was higher than a taxi driver's, but seeing his family struggling and feeling sorry for his parents, Huu chose to return home and become a driver. For four years, he worked regardless of the time, saving every penny to help his parents pay off their bank loan for house renovations. There were times when customers haggled with him, and Huu was so upset he almost cried.

Welcoming guests at Vinh train station.

Even more cunning than the customer posing as a police officer, another "polite" customer requested that Mr. Nguyen Trong Phuong (a Mai Linh Taxi driver) drive him to Hanoi for business. Upon arriving at the Kim Lien Hotel, the customer presented his ID card, rented two rooms, and insisted that Mr. Phuong rest for a while to relieve his fatigue. After about 10 minutes, the customer borrowed Mr. Phuong's driver's license to go back and retrieve his ID card for a bank transaction. After waiting for a long time and not seeing the customer return, Mr. Phuong was shocked to realize he had been cheated out of the taxi fare and almost had to pay for the hotel room after spending hours explaining and proving his identity to the hotel staff.

Mr. Phan Tien Dung, a driver for Van Xuan taxi company, was recently called by a wealthy young man to take him to Cua Lo. As soon as he got in, the passenger started chatting very familiarly with the driver, even asking, "Do you often get ripped off by taxi drivers like this?" After hearing Mr. Dung recount his experiences of being ripped off, the rich young man expressed sympathy and dismissed those "ripped-off drivers" as mere trash. After having his fill of Cua Lo and making Mr. Dung wait, the passenger got back into the car and returned to Vinh, telling Mr. Dung to drive him "to his house to get money to continue his trip" and... then disappeared. After waiting for a long time, Mr. Dung timidly knocked on the door of the house the young man had pointed to as his own, only to receive a bewildered shake of the head.

The above are just a few typical examples of the daily incidents of being overcharged that taxi drivers face. "I can guarantee that every taxi driver encounters this situation; some have been overcharged dozens of times, others at least three or four times. We learn many lessons from each time we're overcharged, but how can we anticipate every possible situation? We receive training and information from the company to prevent occupational hazards, but it only helps in a few situations. Customers who intend to overcharge are either extremely cunning, reckless, or completely disregardful of consequences. At that point, we can only... reluctantly accept it," Dũng confided.

Not only do some customers try every trick to gain the driver's trust in order to... "scam" the driver, but many are more "blunt": "I don't have money to pay, I'm a serious addict, just get lost." There are even rare cases like the one experienced by driver Do Thanh Ngoc (Van Xuan company): he transported a mentally ill person to various places as requested, and when it came time to pay, the customer told him to call his family to demand payment. Ngoc called his family and only then realized: "He has a mental illness. I looked after him all afternoon, then went out to buy some odds and ends, and when I got home he left. Please understand."

And many other risks…

Besides facing the risk of being scammed or cheated out of money, taxi drivers also face many other risks: fraud, robbery, assault… and even death. Recently, there have been numerous murders where the victims were taxi drivers. Many taxi drivers have had to drive while having knives held to their throats. Cases like that of Mr. Pham Duc Huu, who was scammed out of money and lost his belongings, are not uncommon. After gaining the driver's trust over a long journey, many "customers" resort to borrowing phones and money, then disappearing.

In a single day, Tran Viet Dong, from Huong Son, Ha Tinh province, defrauded two taxi drivers from Mai Linh and Hong Linh taxi companies using the same method: he brought a sealed box onto the taxi, telling the driver it was a gift worth 5 million VND and asking them to handle it gently. Half an hour after departure, he asked to borrow money and the driver's phone, then went to the market to call an acquaintance and... disappeared. Only when the driver checked the box did he realize it was just a pile of broken bottles.

Another sophisticated scammer used a lottery ticket with the winning numbers from the previous day written on it, telling the driver, "Yesterday I pawned my phone to buy a lottery ticket and luckily won." On the way to collect the prize, he borrowed a few hundred thousand dong from the driver to redeem his phone beforehand. Mr. Chu Van Thuong, a taxi driver for Van Xuan Taxi, waited in front of the pawn shop for half an hour for the lottery winner before realizing he had fallen victim to a scam.

Ho Van Hoan (a driver for Van Xuan company) recounted: “Through the walkie-talkie, I was assigned to pick up a passenger. Unexpectedly, it was a group of young men armed with weapons who had arranged to meet another group to ‘settle a debt.’ When I arrived, I was also caught in the crossfire because the opposing group thought I was part of their group. And that wasn't all; the police later arrested both groups, my vehicle was confiscated, and I was interrogated thoroughly.” Nguyen Duc Thuan (from Mai Linh company) was once robbed by a group of individuals using blood-stained needles, stealing all his money, phone, watch, wedding ring, and even the pair of shoes his wife had given him for their 10th wedding anniversary.

Mr. Ho Tien Dat (from Van Xuan company) once encountered a group of drunk passengers. When they got into the car, he reminded them to take their feet off the windshield, and immediately received a brutal beating. That time, he had to be hospitalized due to soft tissue injuries and a broken nose. Driver Nguyen Tien Dat once escaped harm thanks to his quick thinking when he saw two suspicious passengers with dyed blue and red hair sitting in the back seat trying to lure him through a deserted field. Mr. Dat resolutely stopped the car in a place with people passing by, accepting not to be paid a single penny, and cleverly explained that a family member was seriously ill so he could return home. The two passengers angrily left, not forgetting to hurl threats and curses at him… Mr. Dat recounted that a colleague of his was equally lucky when a robber in the back seat tried to strangle him with a rope, but he managed to break free, push open the car door, run away, and shout for help…

Where is the "Association..."?

Currently, there are 5 taxi companies in our province, not including unlicensed and privately owned vehicles that operate under contract like taxis. These are Mai Linh, Van Xuan, Vinaxa, An Binh Tam (Nam Dan), and Thanh Chuong Taxi, with approximately 900 vehicles ranging from 4 to 7 seats. Mai Linh and Van Xuan still account for the majority, employing around 1,500 professional drivers, each earning an average of 3 to 4 million VND per month. Thus, taxi companies, in addition to meeting the transportation needs of the people and contributing to the state budget, have helped create jobs for a significant number of workers. The previously prevalent notion that "only wealthy people use taxis" is now outdated. This mode of transportation is chosen by all segments of society, sometimes even considered more economical than motorbike taxis (especially for groups). Taxi fares in Nghe An average around 10,000 VND/km, considered reasonable and convenient for everyone. Therefore, the customers who use the service are very diverse.

In any business, the customer is always right. Therefore, providing good, fast, attentive, and safe service to these customers is the number one priority for taxi companies. "We can hardly refuse customers, even if we sometimes feel unsafe," shared Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat. "Many people think that our job as drivers means we're protected from the rain and sun, but they don't know how many risks we face. Simply being careless and violating traffic laws means we have to pay the fine, but when it comes to risks to customers, we don't know who to turn to." For customers who engage in fraud, robbery, extortion, or assault, it's a case of "everyone for themselves." And in the most common cases of customers refusing to pay fares, drivers have to accept the situation without much support or protection.

We attended a training session for drivers of Van Xuan Taxi Company. We observed that the company had provided quite thorough training and equipped its drivers with various skills, especially in business security, with many real-life scenarios presented. However, according to the training officer, Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen - Deputy Director of Van Xuan Company, this transportation service is unique in that payment is only made after the passenger completes the journey, based on the meter reading. Therefore, drivers face risks such as being cheated out of their fare by passengers, and they have to use their own money to cover the company's costs. The company only provides partial support in cases where the driver follows company regulations and receives confirmation from the police. However, obtaining this police confirmation is relatively difficult. In reality, many drivers, upon realizing they are being cheated out of their fare, try to detain the passenger and take them to the police, but this is difficult for the authorities to handle because these are civil disputes, private verbal agreements, and cannot be enforced by detaining the person.

It is known that, in the past, the rights and responsibilities of transportation companies and drivers, in addition to legal regulations, were also protected by the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association. However, this "protection" has not been truly effective or practical. Since 2011, the Nghe An Automobile Transport Association has been established with three elected interim "leaders," but according to our observations from taxi companies, the Association has not held a general assembly since then. Despite its function of protecting the rights of transport workers and advising the Ministry of Transport on various issues, after two years of operation, this organization has not implemented any activities that live up to its name.

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