Ho Chi Minh City has 126 bus routes with nearly 2,100 operating buses. The traffic infrastructure management agency has also focused a lot on public transport, but the number of passengers using this type of transport is decreasing over the years.
According to statistics of the Department of Transport of Ho Chi Minh City (Transportation), from 2014 to now, the number of bus passengers has decreased year by year. In the period 2014-2018, the number of bus passengers decreased by an average of 6.65%/year.
By 2019, the number of passengers using the bus will reach about 255 million, down 12.1% from 289.9 million passengers compared to 2018. In 2020, the number of passengers will be just over 148 million. In 2021, the drop will be even stronger, with 53 million arrivals remaining. The situation in the first 5 months of this year is also not very bright.
Talking to KTSG Online, some people said that they are very supportive of using public transport, but this type of transport still has many limitations such as having to wait for a long time, not meeting the reasonable price criteria, clean…
According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Thong, in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, taking a bus takes much more time than using a motorbike. Specifically, the distance from home to work is only about 12 km, but taking the bus takes more than 1 hour and 30 minutes while riding a motorbike takes just over 30 minutes.
Similarly, Ms. Vo Thi Kim Thoa, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, said that because the bus is being “encircled on all sides” by motorbikes and cars, it cannot run fast and on time, so many people do not want to go.
Selling tickets is also not convenient, sometimes with close distances, but due to the opposite route, passengers have to buy tickets twice. In addition, the fact that many buses have rusty tires and black smoke on the road also make many passengers not want to go.
“For me, the bus has not yet met the three criteria of cheap-clean-beautiful,” said Ms. Thoa, and suggested that students should give more discounts to students so that they could use the bus more.
Currently, bus fares are from 5,000 – 7,000 VND/ticket/way, bus pass are from 112,500 -157,000 VND/30 tickets and 3,000 VND/ticket/way for students.
The Department of Transport has made many plans such as building more stops, private car parks, even asking civil servants and officials to use this means of transport. However, so far, many plans have not been realized.
In particular, in March, the agency proposed to build bus stops, bus terminals, private parking lots, and pedestrian walkways at 11 stations of metro line 1 in Binh Thanh district and Thu Duc city.
A month later, the Department of Transport continued to plan to build a BRT bus route along Vo Van Kiet – Mai Chi Tho Boulevard, 23 km long, with 28 stops, expected to be completed in the first quarter and put into operation in the second quarter of 2024.
The Department also has a written request for civil servants, officials and employees in Ho Chi Minh City to take the bus. This is a program in the project “Strengthening public passenger transport combined with control of personal motor vehicles participating in traffic in Ho Chi Minh City”.
In the project, Ho Chi Minh City sets a target that by 2025, public transport will meet 15% of people’s travel needs, and 25% by 2030.
@ Saigon Times
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Source: Vietnam Insider