The number of tax companies in Hanoi has reached saturation point and no more firms will be licensed from 2012, an official has said.

Taxis add to the capital’s traffic congestion woes

According to Hung, the department is studying methods to ban private vehicles and taxis from certain streets in order to curb traffic congestion during rush hour.

“Hanoi currently has 16,000 licensed taxis, excluding 1,000 to 2,000 unlicensed taxis. This has resulted in a huge number of rogue city taxi touts,” he noted.

Traffic volume has dramatically increased, creating chaos. Chuong Duong Bridge is designed to receive only 6,000 vehicles per day, but is currently experiencing 24,000 vehicles, he shared.

Lax management over taxi licensing has resulted in huge numbers of taxis in the city. Ho Chi Minh City has over 30 tax companies while Hanoi has more than 100 tax firms.

He added that 80% of traffic accidents were caused poor traffic awareness by drivers.