There are currently only 30 cars owned by the Dong Xuan Company. However, due to high frequency of operations and their slow speed, the cars have caused congestion in the Old Quarter, especially during rush hour, between 10am and 5pm.
Thanh, a local from Nguyen Sieu Street, said, "If those cars travelled separately it might not be so crowded. But there are usually five to seven cars together."
According to Do Xuan Thuy, head of the company, the cars have to run on certain routes but those routes can be changed based on customers' requests. Thuy went on to say that those changes are limited. But in fact, some drivers will readily abandon the set routes if the streets are crowded.
Tickets for the tours, which last for approximately 45 minutes, start at VND20,000 (USD0.96). However, employees at the ticket booths near Hoan Kiem Lake, are on record as having said it costs VND150,000 per car for 35 minutes, or VND250,000 per car for one hour. In addition, even though the electric car project aims at international tourists, most of the employees do not seem to be proficient in English, as they usually just point at the price board when asked a question.
"We'll fix the ticket fee problem and we are continuing to give English lessons to our representatives," Thuy said, adding that they have served 1.2 million tourists after piloting the electric car project for the last three years and plan extended the operating area as well. The pilot project has been extended to three years.
Lieutenant Nguyen Duy Long, from Hang Ma Ward Police Department, said increasing that the number of cars will put adversely affect traffic in the Old Quarter. Nguyen Viet Ha, head of the Hoan Kiem District Traffic Inspectorate, also said expanding the use of the cars to other districts will surely cause traffic jams and accidents, especially at junctions.
Meanwhile, President of the Vietnam Automobile Transportation Nguyen Van Thanh, said the cars are mostly used by the resorts and golf courses in other countries. "Letting those cars run on regular streets automatically gives them preferential treatment. The authorities should publicise the approved tourism routes so that people can avoid them if they like."
TLC West Lake JSC also owns 20-30 electric cars but they are only allowed to operate around West Lake. However, in reality the company has began lending the cars for use in weddings. "We can run to Dong Da District and take care of any problems related to police." one employee said.
Representatives from the Hanoi Department of Transport said it is the responsibility of traffic inspectorates if they let the cars traverse on unapproved routes.
