The deadline for installing black boxes in taxis on July 1 is mandatory.

Regarding the request of the Ho Chi Minh City Taxi Association and the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association to the Ministry of Transport to postpone the inspection of the installation of journey monitoring devices to 2016, Mr. Khuat Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, affirmed that the installation of journey monitoring devices (GPS-black box) according to Decree 86 of the Government from July 1 for taxis is mandatory.

Traffic police fine a taxi for violating traffic laws. Photo: Vietnam+

As a supplier and installer of black boxes for transport units, Mr. Tran Xuan Duc, Director of TCT Toan Cau Joint Stock Company, said that according to the regulations of the Ministry of Transport, the technical standards of GPS devices for all types of vehicles only stipulate basic features to meet the needs of State management of transport and traffic safety.

In addition, GPS equipment suppliers have developed many management services and value-added services for customers based on equipment and basic data according to regulations.

For example, from the vehicle's location, it is possible to specify the vehicle to pick up passengers to reduce the driver's empty kilometers, take advantage of the device's transmission line to transmit information between the switchboard and the driver, transmit meter information to the server to manage revenue, build a service that combines long-distance taxis to pick up passengers on the return trip, combine carpooling services... and many other useful services are gradually being completed.

“With experience in deploying for taxis, installing GPS devices for vehicles not only improves management of the State and businesses but also creates many new directions of development, improving services for passengers,” Mr. Duc assessed.

Regarding the issue of whether the 7-month period for businesses to install black boxes on taxis is too urgent, Mr. Duc acknowledged that the Government issued Decree 86, which was developed, consulted with ministries, departments and businesses, and considered technical specifications and a reasonable implementation roadmap. Taxi businesses have known this information since 4 years ago when the National Regulation on journey monitoring equipment QCVN31:2011/BGTVT was issued.

“Enterprises have had enough time to develop an implementation roadmap for their units. Therefore, requesting a delay is unreasonable,” Mr. Duc affirmed.

Agreeing with this view, according to Mr. Khuat Viet Hung, the law requires any business or individual to comply. Installing a black box is mandatory. The Traffic Safety Committee also agrees with the opinion of the Department of Transport (Ministry of Transport) that it is possible to recommend the Government to postpone the penalty period to remove difficulties for businesses.

Regarding the proposal to postpone the installation of GPS because the units have deployed software with features compatible with GPS, Mr. Khuat Viet Hung assessed that GPS is a simple but stable device, attached to the vehicle. The software of the Ho Chi Minh City Taxi Association is only to monitor vehicles via phone, the applications that Vinasun taxi is doing are separate devices not attached to the vehicle, not stable.

In addition, according to Mr. Duc, the application of taxi management software by businesses has been carried out for a long time, not just now that businesses have started to deploy it. These softwares range from call management, switchboard, driver management... to the installation of black boxes for positioning, taxi management software will be supplemented with data from this device.

“I agree with the view that the installation of taxi black boxes is not related to the enterprise deploying management software. We are talking about the effectiveness of State management and the management issue at the enterprise. The most correct way for enterprises is to comply with the issued regulations and based on that foundation to build additional issues for each specific management problem and each new emerging technology trend,” Mr. Duc shared.

According to Vietnam+