An exhibition entitled “Ho Chi Minh City’s Transport Sector - 40 Years of Development and Towards the Future” featuring hundreds of photos showing the development of the city’s traffic network is being held along Nguyen Hue Boulevard in District 1 from November 3 to 12.

Prior to 1975 public transport in the City was mostly small Lambrettas with no official stops, allowing passengers to jump on and off wherever they could. Since 2002 public transport has been revived with eight bus routes and the first 50 buses coming into service. The City now has more than 3,000 buses traveling on nearly 200 routes, serving hundreds of millions of passengers each year.

The City’s transport infrastructure was badly damaged during the war and fell short of what was needed for some 20 years due to a lack of funds, with the city only focusing on maintenance works to ensure safety. Only a few major pieces of infrastructure were built.

Infrastructure has expanded greatly since 1996 with modern constructions gradually appearing. Not only did it meet traffic demand in the city but also the requirements of the Southern Key Economic Region during the period of economic development and integration.

Water transport has also improved greatly. Old ferries have now been replaced with modern boats with higher passenger capacity and safety. Many ferry crossings have also been replaced by bridges.

Besides the achievements over the last 40 years, the City’s urban transport network still has many issues to address. Traffic jams and floods are still common, bus transport is yet to meet demand, and the building of urban railway lines has been slow.



 

VN Economic Times