Chairman of Hanoi Taxi Association, Nguyen Cong Hung, said that the number of vehicles operated by local taxi firms had fallen to just 13,000 compared to 19,000 in late 2022.

App-based taxi firms have also suffered the same problems and they have had to halve the the number of vehicles from 60,000 to 30,000 since the beginning of this year.

"Most firms are facing falling revenues by up to 30 percent,' he said.

Explaining the situation, Hung attributed to the accelerating fuel prices while taxi fees have stayed unchanged. "The rising fuel prices have been a burden on us as they make up 25 percent of taxi fees," Hung explained.

The current economic situation has also badly affected taxi firms as they have experienced falling demand.

"It seems that people are tightening their budgets and cutting down on travelling," he added.

Amid this difficult time, Hung said that they were a bit relieved when the Ministry of Planning and Investment proposed a loan interest rate cut of 2 percent for small and medium firms.

"However, we're still facing difficulties accessing loans due to various terms and conditions," he said. "We hope to more easily access bank loans to overcome these current difficulties."