VietNamNet Bridge – The approval granted recently by the HCM City People's Committee to carry advertisement hoardings on buses is expected to bring in hundreds of billions of dong to the city's coffers.

The plan will be piloted for a year on 10 subsidised routes before expanding to all routes. — Photo tuoitre.vn

The plan will be piloted for a year on 10 subsidised routes before expanding to all routes.

These are Ben Thanh – Cho Lon; Ben Thanh – Dam Sen; September 23 Park – Au Co – An Suong; September 23 – Xuan Thoi Thuong Market; Tan Quy Residential Area – Binh Loi Residential Area; Ben Thanh – Thoi An; Ben Thanh – Vo Van Kiet Street – Mien Tay Bus Station; District 8 Bus Station – Ben Thanh – Mien Dong Bus Station; September 23 Park – Tan Binh Industrial Park; and Ben Thanh – Ton Duc Thang University.

The hoardings will be placed on both sides of buses, including the doors and glass frames of buses, but will not exceed 50 per cent of their outside area.

The city Department of Transport submitted a plan to begin advertising on buses to the municipal People's Committee for approval in 2014.

Though advertising on buses is allowed in several cities and provinces in the country, including Ha Noi, it has been prohibited in HCM City since 2002.

Nguyen Quy Cap, deputy head of the HCM City Advertising Association, had been critical of the ban, saying neither the Advertising Law nor the 2001 ordinance on advertising prohibits advertising on buses.

"Many advertising professionals, including me, do not find the ban justified.

"City authorities claimed that bus advertising might distract drivers and cause traffic accidents. They were also concerned that the ads might be culturally inappropriate or offensive, particularly for kids."

The department had made plans to allow ads on buses in 2007. At a rate of VND33-50 million (US$2.2 million) per square metre, the city could have earned over VND100 billion a year from its 3,200 buses.

But in 2009 the administration decided that advertising on the outside of any vehicle would be prohibited.

"The ban violated citizens' corporate freedom," Cap said.

The department expects to earn VND170 billion ($7.6 million) a year, which it said would partially subsidise public transport.

Last year the city's buses carried 593 million passengers, or 1.62 million a day, the department said.

But the system, subsidised to the tune of over VND1 trillion ($46.1 million) a year, meets less than 10 percent of public need.

Last year the city approved a plan to add another 1,680 buses by 2017, including 300 using compressed natural gas, at a cost of over VND2.6 trillion ($120 million).