Director of the city’s transport department Bùi Hồng Trung said the two routes, which had been suspended for rearrangement, will soon be opening to promote sustainable traffic and less personal vehicle use, offering smooth connections between the three destinations.

Trung said the city has developed 15 inner bus routes along with public bike share systems and battery-powered cars serving local residents and tourists since 2017.

“We recorded an annual growth from 30 to 50 per cent of the public bus network. However, changing the habit of using personal vehicle requires time and good infrastructure investment,” Trung said.

“The inner bus system served an average of 180,000 passengers per month in the first quarter of 2024. Public transport from Đà Nẵng to Hội An and Tam Kỳ would help promote tourism by offering easy travel for tourists,” he said.

Current bus service also helps connect the downtown area with industrial parks, destinations and universities with 26-seat and 40-seat buses using bus tracking apps on mobile devices.

Locals make 2.1 million journeys each day, of which 80 per cent are via motorbike, according to the city’s transport department.

The shuttle bus network between Đà Nẵng and Thừa Thiên-Huế Province debuted in 2020, serving 14,000 commuters and tourists between the two cities each day.

The central city and Quảng Nam Province have been seeking investment funds for a 33km tram line, Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) system connecting Hội An and Đà Nẵng.

The two localities are also eyeing a mass transport traffic system linking Chu Lai Airport and Đà Nẵng International Airport, and an express network from Đà Nẵng to Thạnh Mỹ (Quảng Nam Province) town and Bờ Y border check-point in the central highlands Kon Tum province.

With about 10,000 vehicles traveling from Đà Nẵng to Quảng Nam Province’s Hội An ancient town each day in high tourism season, the traffic infrastructure between the two localities is overloaded. — VNS