VietNamNet Bridge – Researchers, managers and experts gathered at a seminar in HCM City yesterday, April 28, to discuss measures to make public transport more popular among city dwellers.

Speaking at the seminar, Dr Nguyen Huu Nguyen of Southern Economic Study Centre, said increasingly heavy traffic congestion in the city was due to the large number of motorbikes and residents' unfamiliarity with bus travel.

In addition, planning is unclear because district authorities plan first and the city next, leading to residents' limited access to public transport.

"The city has many small alleys located far from main streets that buses cannot enter, which has led city residents to choose motorbikes out of convenience," he said.

He said residents preferred to use motorbikes instead of public transport because they had long been accustomed to travelling to many places in a flexible manner for business and pleasure.

Even though bus fares are quite cheap because of the city's subsidies, personal motorbikes still are the cheapest way to travel around town at VND500 a kilometre, he added.

Nguyen said motorbikes are chosen as the primary means of transport because they are convenient, save time and money, and help people deal with more chores than does public transport.

Architect Khuong Van Muoi of the city Architects Association said HCM City, a mega-city with a population of nearly 10 million, is faced with mounting pressure from its urban traffic system, including social security, environmental pollution and traffic congestion.

To help people shift from personal vehicles to public means of transport, city authorities should develop means of transport for large numbers of people, such as a metro, tramway, monorail and BRT (Bus Rapid Transit).

Public transport should use clean and environmentally friendly fuel and pedestrians should be given the best access to public transport services, he added.

To develop transport facilities, city authorities should earmark money for the urban land fund and traffic infrastructure, he said.

Hoang Thi Kim Chi of HCM City Development Research Institute said more people would use public transport if it were well-developed, and fewer private vehicles would be travelling on city streets.

She said although the city's 111 subsidised bus routes and 36 non-subsidised ones carried an estimated 364.8 million passengers last year, a 10-fold increase over 2002, bus transport had attracted a mere 5 per cent of city residents.

A survey by the Development Research Institute and the city's Statistics Bureau showed declining satisfaction among city residents when using a number of public transport services, from 76.6 per cent in 2006 to 60.5 per cent in 2008.

The survey conducted by the branch of the Transport Construction and Technology Exploitation Consulting Co. in September-November 2008 found that passengers' dislike of bus travel was due to several reasons.

They included a long waiting time (33 per cent), long walking distance (29 per cent), late arrival of buses (27 per cent), overcrowding and fuel smells (29 per cent), and passenger discrimination (18 per cent).

She cited a series of factors preventing people from using public transport. These include inefficient and overlapping management of public transport system, complicated bus network and poor infrastructure.

Pham Thi Phuong Loan of HCM City Medicine and Pharmacology University said that people did not like travelling by bus because the pavements were either not wide enough or too crowded with vendors to reach bus stops.

She asked that pavements should be upgraded to create an open space for pedestrians, which would encourage more people to take the bus.

She noted that tourist buses are beautiful and clean, but buses for the general public are in disrepair.

The city government should upgrade the buses and add new comfortable features, creating a secure feeling for bus commuters, she added.

Loan said to motivate more people to travel by bus, the State should offer cheaper bus tickets and issue a multi-purpose ticket for all routes.

Bus routes must be designed in a convenient way for people to use, and bus stops must be located near residential areas, she said, adding that construction of bus stops must be completed before residential areas are developed.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News