Illustrative Image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The number ofpassengers riding buses in Hanoi has risen since late 2016, the municipalDepartment of Transport said, but the system still faces major challenges as itseeks to attract more riders.
At a press conference this week, Director of theDepartment of Transport Vu Van Vien said that in 2017, Hanoi’s publicbuses transported 441 million passengers, up 1.9 percent over the previousyear.
In the first half of 2018, there were 221million passengers riding buses, increasing 5 percent compared to the sameperiod last year.
“In general, the city bus services, includingnormal and subsidised ones, have grown,” he said.
Bus routes have expanded, including rapidtransit buses and city tours which connect the 30 districts and communes.
Responding to the report issued early thismonth by Hanoi Transportation Service Corporation (Transerco) showing asharp decline in the number of public bus riders in the city, Vien saidthe study only covered subsidised buses.
In 2012, with 53 bus routes, Transerco served414 million passengers while in 2017, with 74 bus routes, they only transported321 million passengers, a decline of 93 million passengers. Moreover, transittime has also lengthened due to the rising traffic influx and road infrastructure.
Despite the declines in subsidised busridership, the total number of bus passengers has ticked up since late 2016.
Another 10 enterprises operate publicbuses without any price subsidies, which offer longer journeys. When bothservices are considered, the number of public bus riders has actuallyrisen.
Nguyen Thanh Binh from the Hanoi People’sCouncil said that the decline in passengers on price subsidised buses could betackled if the service providers paid more attention to reducing transit, includingshortening the distance from passengers’ homes to bus stops. If travelling bybus takes much longer than other alternatives, it won’t be able to compete, hesaid.
Nguyen Nguyen Quan, head of the Urban Departmentunder the Hanoi People’s Council, said the public bus system currently meetsonly 13 percent of people’s transportation demands, while the city is set aimsto meet 20 to 22 percent by 2020. In less than two years, it will be almostimpossible for public buses to reach the target.
Therefore, the Hanoi Department of Transport istasked with developing better solutions to tackle the issue as well as set morerealistic and detailed goals.
Transerco, with its eight sub-agencies and threejoint-stock companies, is in charge of operating many inner-city bus routes,accounting for 81.5 percent of the city’s subsidised bus routes. Accordingto Nguyen Cong Nhat, the corporation’s deputy director, the number of publicbus riders reached its peak of 414.8 million in 2012 and started fallingafterwards.
To improve services and attract riders,Transerco has launched new bus routes to increase connections within the cityand to outlying areas since 2016. However, the lack of small buses which canaccess narrow streets is another challenge for the public bus system.
Quan recommended the corporation to improvesupporting services from renewing vehicles to developing smartphone-basedbus-tracking applications. The city’s authorities will also tightenmanagement and create favourable conditions to improve the public bus system.
Nhat said that besides new vehicles, it iscritical for social infrastructure to be improved. To reverse the passengerloss, buses need to win the speed game against private vehicles.
Without breakthroughs in infrastructure, such asspecialised lanes for buses the rising number of bus routes will still fail toattract more passengers, he said.
In the past two years, Transerco replaced 320old buses with new, modern ones. Fourteen new bus routes with three routesserving narrow streets are planned to open this year.
Mini-buses with a capacity of 20 to 24passengers can access small, high-density streets, helping transport passengersfrom those areas to the main bus routes.
The corporation said meeting passenger demand inunderexploited routes will help raise the number of public bus riders and easetraffic congestion.-VNS/VNA
At a press conference this week, Director of theDepartment of Transport Vu Van Vien said that in 2017, Hanoi’s publicbuses transported 441 million passengers, up 1.9 percent over the previousyear.
In the first half of 2018, there were 221million passengers riding buses, increasing 5 percent compared to the sameperiod last year.
“In general, the city bus services, includingnormal and subsidised ones, have grown,” he said.
Bus routes have expanded, including rapidtransit buses and city tours which connect the 30 districts and communes.
Responding to the report issued early thismonth by Hanoi Transportation Service Corporation (Transerco) showing asharp decline in the number of public bus riders in the city, Vien saidthe study only covered subsidised buses.
In 2012, with 53 bus routes, Transerco served414 million passengers while in 2017, with 74 bus routes, they only transported321 million passengers, a decline of 93 million passengers. Moreover, transittime has also lengthened due to the rising traffic influx and road infrastructure.
Despite the declines in subsidised busridership, the total number of bus passengers has ticked up since late 2016.
Another 10 enterprises operate publicbuses without any price subsidies, which offer longer journeys. When bothservices are considered, the number of public bus riders has actuallyrisen.
Nguyen Thanh Binh from the Hanoi People’sCouncil said that the decline in passengers on price subsidised buses could betackled if the service providers paid more attention to reducing transit, includingshortening the distance from passengers’ homes to bus stops. If travelling bybus takes much longer than other alternatives, it won’t be able to compete, hesaid.
Nguyen Nguyen Quan, head of the Urban Departmentunder the Hanoi People’s Council, said the public bus system currently meetsonly 13 percent of people’s transportation demands, while the city is set aimsto meet 20 to 22 percent by 2020. In less than two years, it will be almostimpossible for public buses to reach the target.
Therefore, the Hanoi Department of Transport istasked with developing better solutions to tackle the issue as well as set morerealistic and detailed goals.
Transerco, with its eight sub-agencies and threejoint-stock companies, is in charge of operating many inner-city bus routes,accounting for 81.5 percent of the city’s subsidised bus routes. Accordingto Nguyen Cong Nhat, the corporation’s deputy director, the number of publicbus riders reached its peak of 414.8 million in 2012 and started fallingafterwards.
To improve services and attract riders,Transerco has launched new bus routes to increase connections within the cityand to outlying areas since 2016. However, the lack of small buses which canaccess narrow streets is another challenge for the public bus system.
Quan recommended the corporation to improvesupporting services from renewing vehicles to developing smartphone-basedbus-tracking applications. The city’s authorities will also tightenmanagement and create favourable conditions to improve the public bus system.
Nhat said that besides new vehicles, it iscritical for social infrastructure to be improved. To reverse the passengerloss, buses need to win the speed game against private vehicles.
Without breakthroughs in infrastructure, such asspecialised lanes for buses the rising number of bus routes will still fail toattract more passengers, he said.
In the past two years, Transerco replaced 320old buses with new, modern ones. Fourteen new bus routes with three routesserving narrow streets are planned to open this year.
Mini-buses with a capacity of 20 to 24passengers can access small, high-density streets, helping transport passengersfrom those areas to the main bus routes.
The corporation said meeting passenger demand inunderexploited routes will help raise the number of public bus riders and easetraffic congestion.-VNS/VNA
VNA
