Lots of Uber and Grab taxi gathered at the firms' representative offices to protest. 

Nguyen Van Minh who works for Grab was among them. On January 15, he came to the Grab office in Cau Giay District. Minh said that he and his colleagues were waiting for a meeting with Grab representatives on January 18, and expected that the commission ratio to be reduced to 15%. 

Uber drivers flocked to the app operator’s Hanoi office in Ba Dinh District for the opposition 

"If Grab does not agree to slash the ratio, I will stop working for the company and turn to work for Vietnamese app-based taxis services which are almost the same to those of Uber and Grab,” Minh said.

Meanwhile, around 100 Uber drivers also flocked to the app operator’s Hanoi office in Ba Dinh District and demanded to talk to a representative.

The commission ratio used to be 15% for Uber drivers before it went up to 20% and has been increased to 25%. Drivers are required to have an additional 4.5% deducted as personal income tax, so Uber drivers have gone on strike to call for the lower commission ratio of 15%.

Nguyen Minh Ngoc, an Uber driver, said that Uber’s commission ratio was 9.2% in Indonesia, much lower than in Vietnam. 

Nguyen Van Hung, a Grab driver, said that every day, he earns roughly VND1 million (USD47.6), but he has to pay some VND300,000 for fuel and VND238,000 for the commission ratio.

On January 1, Grab Vietnam raised the commission ratio from 20% to 23.6%, explaining that the additional 3.6% was personal income tax deduction on the drivers’ behalf.

The decision triggered a GrabBike driver protest in HCM City on January 10, pressuring Grab Vietnam to withdraw the decision three days later.

Even when the commission ratio had been cut to 20%, GrabBike drivers in Hanoi believed it should be cut further lowered to 15%.