Dao, a motorbike-taxi driver for GrabGrabFounded in 2012 and based in Singapore, Grab is a super-app that operates across Southeast Asia, offering ride-hailing, food delivery, and many other services.READ MORE, was picking up a customer at a bus stop in Ho Chi Minh City earlier this year when a man in a Grab shirt attacked him. The assailant, Dao told Rest of World, was not a Grab driver, but a xe om, or a traditional bike-taxi driver not linked to any platform.
Such incidents are common in Ho Chi Minh City, where bike-taxi drivers often try to protect their turf — busy pickup points like railway stations, bus stops, and hospitals — from drivers who use apps. “I can’t drive into bus stations to pick up passengers; [xe om] will come out and chase me away, beat me,” said Dao, requesting to be identified only by his last name for fear of retribution. Even as the xe om push back on platform workers, they often impersonate Grab drivers by wearing fake uniforms to try and win customers’ trust.
Last month, a xe om in the southern province of Tay Ninh allegedly killed a Grab driver for stealing his customers.
“[Xe om] drivers had often informally organised themselves into groups … in an attempt to protect their ‘turf’ and fend off newcomers,” researchers Binh Nguyen and Sarah Turner wrote in their recent article for Asia Pacific Viewpoint. “This form of organisation was often rooted in mafia-like driver syndicates … These syndicates oversaw and protected [xe om] operations and territory in exchange for monthly ‘fees.’”
The issue of Grab impersonators “has not only resulted in a negative user experience but also raised safety concerns for our passengers and partners,” Xiuxing Aw, Grab’s regional communications lead, told Rest of World. “We strongly encourage our partners to report any related incidents to the police, and we are committed to collaborating with the authorities during investigations.”
Dang Truong Son, a xe om who works wearing a counterfeit Grab jacket, told Rest of World he has fought hard for his turf — a budget airline’s bus stop in central Hanoi. He has held it for nearly 20 years, threatening and physically fighting off any competing drivers.
“[When] the client books via an app, that’s their need, so I can’t do anything,” Son said. But if he sees a platform driver approach a potential customer on his territory, “I’d shoo them away. If they don’t leave, they’ll get a few hits from my helmet.”
Since the arrival of app-based ride hailing in 2014, Son’s earnings have dropped by more than half. He was unable to work with Grab because he is undocumented. Instead, Son bought a fake Grab jacket from Le Duan street in Hanoi, where stores known for selling military-style clothing also display uniforms for ride-hailing apps.
Some xe om feel the Grab uniforms, real or fake, help legitimize their work. Seventy-year-old xe om Nguyen Van Cuong told Rest of World he feels “proud [to] have a protective uniform” on. “When people see me [wearing a Grab uniform] they call me over,” he said.
In 2017, the turf wars between the two bike-driver groups were at their peak, Binh Nguyen, a PhD candidate who studies gig work at McGill University in Canada, told Rest of World. This is when Grab drivers retaliated and gathered to beat up xe om. On another occasion, two heavily armed Grab drivers were apprehended by the police. Though these flare-ups are now infrequent in Hanoi, the competition is more intense in Ho Chi Minh City — an economic hub — and clashes more common, Nguyen said.
According to Aw from Grab, the company has moved its suggested pickup locations for safety reasons. “To further enhance user safety, we have relocated our pickup and drop-off points from areas that are unsafe for our users,” she said. Drivers in Ho Chi Minh City, too, have come up with workarounds for their safety, such as asking passengers to walk out to the street, where xe om can’t spot them.
Over time, platform drivers have developed a mental map of the most dangerous stops through trial and error, Facebook groups, and conversations with fellow drivers while resting. Fake Grab drivers, they said, are usually older and don’t have a smartphone-holder attached to their bikes. Their uniforms and helmets often don’t match. “It takes experience to be able to recognize [a fake Grab driver],” Le Tung, who has been driving for local app Be since early this year, told Rest of World.
“I think platform companies should have a way to protect their brand,” Tung said. He hopes Grab can find a solution for the threat of angry xe om. “[But] Grab won’t listen,” said Dao. “I just drive and avoid dangerous spots.”
Nguyen Tu, who has been driving for Grab in Ho Chi Minh City since 2018, told Rest of World he calls customers and asks them to walk to safer pickup points, but they are not always cooperative. He has often had to cancel rides at dangerous spots like the An Suong bus station, where a beating is “100% guaranteed.”
“[Xe om] chase us away like dogs,” Tu said. “I get cursed all the time, but I don’t respond. If I do, I’d get beaten.”
