The Hanoi Transport Service Company (Transerco) has just introduced a lower price ticket for its hop-on hop-off bus service in Hanoi in an effort to attract more passengers.

The ticket at 196,000 VND (nearly 9 USD) is offered for passengers who don’t want to hop off during the bus ride.

Doug Edwards, a visitor from Australia, said the new service is very convenient for foreign tourists like him, who want to look around Hanoi to familiarize with the city.

“We want to spend an hour to explore the city, so this is a good way for us to find where we are going in the city later on,” Edwards said.

Transerco launched roofless double-decker buses for the first time in Hanoi in May, aiming to boost the city’s tourism rather than for public transport.

The buses have 80 seats. They are equipped with automatic multi-lingual narration systems in Vietnamese, English, Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese and French.

One bus departs in every 30 minutes. Ticket price is 196,000 VND (nearly 9 USD) for one single ride; 300,000 VND (13.2 USD) for a four-hour tour; 450,000 VND (19.8 USD) for 24 hours; and 650,000 VND 

(28.6 USD) for 48 hours.

Another Australian visitor, Phil Dyole, also found Hanoi tour bus service convenient and affordable.

“The bus tour is very easy to find and to hop on, hop off,” Phil Dyole said, adding that the price is affordable and the quality is good.

The buses run from 9:00 to 17:00, setting off at the Hoan Kiem Lake and going through 25 streets with 13 stops.

From the stops, passengers can walk to 30 renowned cultural and historical landscapes, including Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, West Lake – Tran Quoc pagoda, the Temple of Literature, Hanoi Old Quarter. 

The Transerco Company is also considering offering night-tour buses to help passengers enjoy the cooler weather and avoid traffic jams in the city.

Endang Yus Driana, a visitor from Indonesia, used double-decker bus service during her visit to Hanoi. She said she thought a bus night tour in Hanoi would be a good idea to serve foreign visitors.

“Because we are in the tropics, therefore it would be much cooler and better at night, particularly during summer time,” Endang said.

She also suggested the daytime buses be equipped with a half shade while still keeping an open space on the top deck.

Meanwhile, Terry Wilkins, an Australian visitor, expressed his belief that a night tour bus in Hanoi would be very popular and he wants to take one for sure.

“We would want to hop off some restaurants, night clubs for drinks or visit the night market and pedestrian streets,” Wilkins said. 

Since its operation, the double-decker buses have serviced nearly ten thousands of passengers, mostly foreigners.

According to the municipal Tourism Department, Hanoi served nearly 24 million visitors in 2017, up 9 percent against 2016.

It estimated that in the first half of 2018, the number of tourist to the city grew 26 percent annually. 

As a regional and global attractive destination, Hanoi eyes to welcome 25.4 million tourists, including 5.5 million foreigners, this year.

VNA