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  It did not take Chia Chuen Huei long to learn that the Vietnamese culture is missing one 
  important concept: service.

  “Waiters serve carelessly, taxi drivers stand watching passengers load and unload luggage. The 
  word service is not in the minds of local people,” observes Singaporean Chia, who came to
  Vietnam to run the Vinataxi company. 

  Although Vinataxi was established back in 1992, making it one of the earliest operators in the
  local taxi market, its yellow cabs are yet to be seen outside of Ho Chi Minh City. It’s not that   
  Chia does not want a piece of the country’s other major markets, but before branching out he
  believes he needs to inculcate the service concept in the company’s drivers. 

  So while other firms keep sending more drivers onto the streets Vinataxi is pulling its drivers
  back and putting them into classrooms to learn things like the importance of tucking their shirts
  in and the negative effects of short-changing customers or being dishonest in calculating fares,
  as well as first-aid, which is taught in cooperation with the Ho Chi Minh City Family Medical
  Practice. 

  “Service is the single most important thing in our business,” says Chia. 

  And given the current state of the Vietnamese market, it seems Chia is on the right track. An
  August 2003 Ha Noi Transportation and Public Works Department inspection of taxi services that
  nearly a quarter of the city’s 1,400 cabs were cheating their customers, wile in Ho Chi Minh City,
  one third of the city’s 6,000 cabs are unregistered according to the city’s taxi association.

  In the hope of making Vinataxi stand out from the crown, Chia has brought a special carrot and
  stick policy into practice, which he says is unlike the policy of any other operator in Vietnam.

  In August 2003 Vinataxi introduced its new Merit & Demerit system, which rewards or punishes
  drivers according to their performance and how they treat passengers. Under the code of conduct,
  gambling on duty, which is common among local drivers, is subject to 20-30 demerit points and a
  fine of up to VND 1 million. For lesser offences, such as untidy appearance, a driver might be
  given 2-10 demerit points and a fine of VND50,000.

  “I believe no taxi firm in Vietnam has this kind of code of conduct,” Chia says proudly. “We want
  to set standards for the industry.” 

                                                                                                                By Duc Tan        
                                                                                                                                             From the Guide 2004