Ho Chi Minh City transport authorities have requested that measures be taken to prevent commercial passenger transport companies from overcharging their passengers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

In a dispatch sent to the airport authority and agencies concerned on Wednesday, the municipal Department of Transport asked that steps be taken to prevent passengers from being fleeced, including regular inspections of such vehicles.

Strict punishments must be given to any firms which claim higher transport charges than their quoted rates, the department said.  

The move was made after passenger Dr. Le Dang Doanh, former head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, was asked by a commercial car driver to pay nearly VND200,000 (US$8.65) for his three-kilometer trip from the airport to a hotel.

Dr. Doanh said he took a passenger car operated by the Southern Airport Transportation Joint Stock Company (SATSCO) for his trip after his flight touched down at the airport last Saturday. 

Upon reaching the hotel, the driver asked Doanh to pay VND198,000 ($8.56) though the 'contract for transporting passengers by car' showed the charge to be VND180,000 ($7.78).

Relevant agencies need to clarify the case to avoid the situation in which drivers freely fleece passengers, Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper cited Doanh as saying.

“I got in the car at the airport and I thought transport charges were controlled by relevant agencies, but such a charge was very high,” Doanh commented.

On Tuesday, the Southern Airport Authority said that it had convened a meeting with the driver and a representative of SATSCO to clarify the case.

At the meeting, both the driver and the firm admitted the charge was collected higher than the rate registered by the firm with local transport authorities.

Accordingly, the charge should have been VND165,000 ($7.13), or VND15,000 ($0.65) lower than the rate indicated in the transport contract.

There have yet to be an explanation on why the driver asked Doanh to pay VND198,000 while the contract showed VND180,000.

SATSCO has suspended the driver from work for 15 days for further clarification.

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