“Xe Om” which literally means “motorcycle hug”, a motorcycle taxi service that is very common in Southeast Asian countries. “Hug”, in fact, stands for the sitting position at the back of the motorbike, not for hugging the driver or such behaviours that people often misunderstand of the word.
Taxi is safer, the public bus is safer and cheaper but they have less of an adventurous experience like a “xe om”. They can’t weave through the small and always crowded alleys when needed, they can’t escape a traffic jam in just a few minutes and they don’t have the addicted game of bargaining. Motor taxi offers you interactions with locals, the real joy of moving among the city traffic to see not through a glass plane but directly with your own eyes.
Just go down to any street corner, you can easily find men (or women but very rarely) sitting and lying on their motorbikes with a hanging sign reads “XE OM” waiting for clients. The motorbikes are rather old and shabby because most of xe om drivers are of the lower class, many of them were formerly peasants from surrounding provinces come to Hanoi or bigger cities to make a living. Therefore, it’s very hard to expect a professional attitude (like smiling politely and saying “welcome to Vietnam”) or absolute honesty from them especially when it comes to money. But they are willing to negotiate and take you to exactly where you want regardless of the weather or traffic condition.
Bargaining
Xe Om drivers are masters at haggling and they often double the price to foreigners. At any bus station, they come at you in groups, asking with a loud voice where are you going and claiming that they will take you there. Don’t feel intimidated, be composed and calmly tell the address and ask their prices. They will announce the price that might be doubly higher than what you should pay. You should shake your head, put a smile and tell them your price. At this point, after hearing what you suggested, they all will laugh, giggle, shake head mockingly at first then say something in Vietnamese to themselves, but ignore and remain your calmness. They now will try to make you raise your price by lowering theirs just a little. There is one hint to know if your price is too low or not: they all turn away decisively when they know the bargain failed. However, don’t go after them and persuade them with your new price. Instead, find another driver and try to come up with a more reasonable price. Generally, the price is determined by the distance, the quality of the road or even the weather. VND 10,000 – 15,000 per kilometer is acceptable.
Tips:
- Under any circumstance, don’t argue with them. If you think they are trying to scam you, make clear of your points, and threaten them that you are going to tell the police since you already have taken a picture of their plate number.
- Use GPS to see whether you’re being driven the right way or just let them know that you can’t be cheated.
- You should be worried when a driver dons a helmet on his head but offers you none.
- The price is often higher in rush hours or in bad weather.
- If you don’t like bargaining, you can call to Van Minh Motorbike Taxi via 0432.345.345 or 0902.944.444 to use their service. The fare is fixed and calculated by the meter.
GrabBike
Originated from Singapore, Grab has developed a service which is just perfect for traffic condition in Southeast Asia. Now GrabBike is operated in 30 cities across 6 Southeast Asian countries. GrabBike is the perfect choice to avoid traffic jams.
GrabBike is a safe motorbike taxi company which can arrange motorbiking trips with Grab drivers through an online application. The whole process is pretty transparent with fixed fares so you can be relaxed about bargaining and being scammed by the motorbike taxi drivers. The Grab system also allows feedback and sharing your trip experience to other users. In short, this service is safe, dynamic and pretty much appreciated right now
GrabBike is same as Uber: you download Grab application from Google Play or Apple App Store to your phone and create a new account. When you choose your destination for a new trip, the price is pre-estimated on the shortest path. Grab will find the nearest driver to your location available and send you the number of the driver for pickup location.
Most of the GrabBike drivers are available from 6:00 to 23:00; fare is higher when you want a ride from 23:00 to 5:00.
Fiona