VietNamNet Bridge – After nearly ten years banning this form of advertisement, HCM City authorities have allowed advertisements to appear on buses to take advantage of a huge income.
The local Department of Transport said that the HCM City People’s Committee has assigned a joint stock company to design a project on building brand and developing commercial advertisements on buses.

The department estimates that the city will earn at least VND100 billion (nearly $5 million) per year from this form of advertisement. This source of income will partly help relief the city’s compensation for loss of bus service, which reaches up to VND1.2 trillion ($60 million) this year.

HCM City authorities also agree to allocate an additional fund of over VND400 billion ($20 million) for bus service this year to compensate for the rise of petrol prices, the increase of minimum wage, etc.

Advertising on buses was a big controversy for a long time before the local government issued an official ban in June 2009.

Meanwhile, around 60 percent of buses in Hanoi have advertisements on.

PV