Revolutionizing the way Vietnamese people grab motorbike taxis
In the April issue of Oi we wrote about Tappxi, a mobile app that’s attempting to give travelers a better experience when taking a taxi in Vietnam. But guess what? Tappxi isn’t the only interesting tech startup in Vietnam that is attempting to take transportation here to the next level. There’s Alo Xe Om in Hanoi.
Xe oms, as you probably already know, are the motorbike taxi guys that we all see on street corners in every city in the country. Some of them sleep on their motorbikes throughout the night, and most of the time they’re a rough bunch. Bargaining with a xe om driver can usually be a confusing process, especially when you don’t know the exact price for the distance that you want to travel. That’s where Alo Xe Om comes in.
Basically, if I’m looking for a xe om, I can call or text Alo Xe Om and they’ll send the nearest driver on their system to meet me. In addition to that, the driver will have to abide by a fixed VND6,000 per kilometer fee (of which the company takes a 15 percent cut). So if I’m traveling from the Old Quarter to West Lake, Alo Xe Om will calculate the cost, and send the bill to me and the xe om driver. This way, I won’t get bamboozled by the driver’s wily ways.
They currently have over 800 drivers in their system and each person is interviewed by the company before incorporating them into the roster. At the beginning phase Alo Xe Om had over 1,000 drivers but had to cut the numbers down for quality reasons. Another great thing about the service is that it doesn’t actually take away business from other drivers, but rather is an added benefit for the drivers themselves. If a driver signs on with Alo Xe Om they are privy to the company’s large database of customers thus expanding their potential revenue. Alo Xe Om is set to come to Ho Chi Minh City by the end of this year so keep your eye out for these neon jackets.
Bio: Anh-Minh Do is the editor at TechInAsia.com for Vietnam focusing on technology startups, trends and companies. Minh also organizes events at Evecoo.vn
