Only 17 per cent of the capital's 2,200 bus stations have bus stop shelters, according to Luong Duc Thinh, vice director of Urban Transport Management Centre, Department of Transport.

He cited "a lack of space" and budget as the reasons for not building enough shelters at bus stops.

"It will cost hundreds of millions of dong to build a standard bus stop shelter; so, investors build shelters only on crowded streets, where advertisements are easy to sell," Thinh said.

Another reason is that residents will not want a bus stop shelter in front of their houses. In Ha Noi, most houses located on the streets are used for business purposes.

"Many a time, we got local authorities to persuade residents to give their consent to build shelters, whenever a shelter was supposed to be placed in front of someone's house," Thinh explained.

Thinh remarked that the shortage of bus stop shelters is really an inconvenience for bus passengers, especially in the summer season, and he assured that the centre will quickly work on solutions to have more bus shelters in the city.

The city currently has some 2,210 bus stops, while only 372 stops have shelters. 

VNS