Mai Linh's 'technology motorbike taxi' offers fares equivalent to Uber and Grab

The price list for motorbike taxi services was just announced by Mai Linh Hanoi right before Mai Linh Mien Bac Joint Stock Company consulted shareholders on adding the business line of "Passenger transport by rickshaw, pedicab, and motorbike".

The price difference is not too much

In the announcement, Mai Linh Hanoi calls its technology-based motorbike taxi service M.Bike. For the regular M.bike, the fare is 11,000 VND/first 2km. Customers must pay an additional 3,800 VND/next km. Mai Linh will also launch M.Bike Premium with a fare double that of the regular M.Bike.

The above prices are not too different when compared to uberMOTO and GrabBike. Specifically, uberMOTO fare is 3,700 VND/km. Each minute of service use is charged 200 VND. uberMOTO also applies a cancellation fee of 5,000 VND and sets a minimum fare of 10,000 VND.

Customers using GrabBike service in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be charged according to two different price lists. Grab applies a fare of VND11,000/first 2km for the Hanoi market, while the first 2km in Ho Chi Minh City must pay VND12,000. However, this price can be flexibly adjusted when demand increases based on the area and time of day.

Fare table of "technology motorbike taxi" services of Mai Linh, Uber and Grab.

Another Vietnamese app that provides motorbike taxi services also offers a similar price. The basic fare for using the Go-bike service is 3,600 VND/km. For the first 2km, the company applies a fare of 11,000 VND.

Each company has its own approach to the market.

In October, Mai Linh Mien Bac Joint Stock Company will collect shareholders’ opinions in writing on adding the business line of “Passenger transport by rickshaw, pedicab, and motorbike”. Thus, Mai Linh will be the first taxi company to provide additional motorbike taxi services and the market chosen for implementation is Hanoi.

In fact, since the end of 2014, the service of booking motorbike taxis using technology applications has been developed by Grab. Ho Chi Minh City was the first place to deploy the GrabBike service (November 27, 2014). Nearly 7 months later (June 13, 2015), GrabBike appeared in Hanoi. Grab also set up separate fare tables for each city and has maintained this until today.

The process of entering the market of the luxury technology motorbike taxi service GrabBike Premium also had similar developments. SH, PCX or scooters of Piagio were first used as motorbike taxis in Ho Chi Minh City on November 4, 2016. It was not until March 1, 2017 that Grabike Premium appeared in Hanoi.

Responding to the press, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Director of Grab Vietnam, said that the entire GrabBike system currently has up to 50,000 drivers. The growth rate of the number of GrabBike drivers is very high when at the beginning of 2017 there were only 20,000 people.

For Uber, the company decided to launch the uberMOTO service in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City at the same time on April 21, 2016. “Over the past year, we have created more than 20,000 job opportunities, earning more income for many people,” said Mr. Dang Viet Dung, CEO of Uber Vietnam, at the 1-year anniversary of the launch of the uberMOTO service.