Uber Vietnam willing to cover drivers’ fine: newspaper An illustration picture shows the logo of car-sharing service app Uber on a smartphone. Reuters Uber is offering many incentive policies in an effort to expand its Ho Chi Minh City network, including giving drivers cash awards, and covering their fines in case they are pulled by the city’s authorities. The Vietnamese representative of the ridesharing app holds regular meetings on every Tuesday and Thursday to lure drivers, according toPhap Luat (Law) newspaper. Drivers will have all their questions answered at such meetings, while Uber will try to prove them driving for Uber is a lucrative business, the city-based newspaper said on Saturday. A Phap Luat correspondent attended an information session held by Uber and a transportation cooperative in District 8 on Thursday, and saw groups of up to seven drivers consulted by the company representatives. Uber, which connects passengers and drivers via a smartphone app, started offering services in the Southeast Asian country on July 31, with rides now available in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Customers use the Uber app on their smartphones to request rides and track their reserved vehicle's location. Uber riders will be informed of the fare and ETA (estimated time of arrival) before they get in the car, and the complete fare is automatically billed to the customer's credit card at the end of a ride. The transport firms that own the cars will receive 80 percent of the payment, while 20 percent goes to Uber. Besides that policy, an Uber employee named Dung said the company will be awarded VND35,000 (US$1.63) for each ride until the end of this month. Another employee asserted that Uber offers “many chances to earn money.” While Uber’s legality to operate in Vietnam remains questionable, the service has been dealt a tough hand by Ho Chi Minh City authorities. Inspectors with the municipal transport ministry on Wednesday booked 15 Uber cars in the latest crackdown on vehicles picking up passengers via the service. At the Saigon Railway Station, officers pulled over three cars for not having a license to offer transportation business, and five for lacking badges. Seven other Uber cars were blocked for the same violations as officers caught them for a check at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. But the Uber employees did not mention anything about such crackdowns by local authorities. When asked by the correspondent, Dung said the Uber cars were only checked rather fined. “If drivers are booked and face possible fine, Uber will send lawyers to work with authorities,” she asserted. Even when the lawyers fail to help, “Uber is willing to cover the fine” for the drivers, Dung added. Earlier this month, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang assigned the transport ministry’s transportation department to file a request to Uber, asking the U.S.-based company to only partner with businesses whose car fleets are equipped with badges, logos, and tracking devices. Dung said Uber will complete procedures to register a badge for its cars from authorities. But a member from the District 8 transport cooperative said drivers will not receive any badges but a copied transportation license. While Uber claimed none of its cars have been fined, Phap Luatreported that nearly 40 Uber cars have so far been booked by transport inspectors, with 19 of them subject to civil fines. TUOI TRE NEWS