VietNamNet Bridge –Although the city has increased subsidies to bus companies, only 6-7 per cent of the total number of riders and passengers of private and public transport use the service, according to the HCM City Institute for Development Studies.

Last year, the city budget earmarked VND1.4 trillion (US$66.7 million) for buses running on 110 routes, compared with VND1.3 trillion ($61.9 million) in 2011 and VND841 billion ($40 million) in 2010, according to the Public Passenger Transport Management and Operation Centre.

The amount of subsidy has risen 35 times compared to the figure in 2002 when the city began subsidising bus operations in an effort to reduce traffic congestion and expand public transport.

Duong Hong Thanh, deputy director of the Transport Department, said that revenue from bus operations had failed to keep pace with increases in salaries and fuel, which account for more than 70 per cent of total operation costs.

To ensure the operation of transportation enterprises, subsidies should be raised, Thanh said at a conference held yesterday in HCM City.

He said the Transport Department was working with the Department of Science and Technology to develop a system of bus smart cards for all bus routes in the city to make it convenient for passengers to travel by buses.

As the number of passengers increase, the revenue of transportation companies would rise and ease the burden of the State budget to subsidise bus operations.

Le Trung Tinh, former director of the Public Passenger Transport Management and Operation Centre, said the city should allow advertisements on the sides of buses so subsidies from the state could be reduced.

The revenue from adverts on buses are expected to reach VND100 billion per year, Tinh said.

The city should also give priority for bus travel on two-way streets that ban cars and trucks.

He said the ticket-selling system should also increase to 100 from the current 22 selling agents.

Twenty-one transportation enterprises are operating a total of 3,000 buses that run on 150 routes in the city, including 40 routes that operate without subsidies.

Source: VNS