The Ho Chi Minh City’s authorities have asked the city’s Department of Transport (DOT) to complete the report on piloting advertising on buses and cooperate with relevant agencies for the expansion.

The authority’s requirements include advertising in accordance with regulations on advertisement, and the facilitation of the implementation in order to attract enterprises to participate.

The implementation must ensure that the portfolio of foreign enterprises producing relevant products in Vietnam is up to 50 per cent of their total and products that will use advertising on buses are made in Vietnam.

Of the total vehicles, 20 per cent will be used for government information and advertizing, and then there will be open bidding to choose advertising agencies and vehicle management units (including subsidized and non-subsidized fares). The length of time for each advertising contract is three years and there will be changes in the price of advertising each year.

The advertising on 171 subsidized buses was applied on 10 routes starting in April 2016, according to the city's DOT. The city collected VND14.6 billion ($654,000), up 40 per cent compared to the estimate. Prior to the pilot advertising project on the buses, the concerns were that they would not be aesthetically pleasing urban designs and potentially be unsafe.

As estimated, the city’s budget will collect over VND100 billion ($4.8 million) from advertising on 2,000 buses and this will contribute to the reduction of the amount spent on subsidies. The city spends VND1 trillion ($44.8 million) on subsidizing bus fares each year.

In 2015, the city approved a project for piloting advertising on buses which was applied on 10 routes with the aims of increasing income and decreasing the amount of government subsidies.

The project was applied on 156 buses on 10 routes in the city. The advertising on the buses will change the face of the city’s bus system and is an opportunity for enterprises to introduce and promote high-quality products produced in the country.

In 2009, the city’s authorities officially prohibited advertising on buses. In 2011, the authorities accepted advertising on buses and assigned a joint venture company to implement a project to build the brand and exploit advertising on buses.

In June 2014, the DOT proposed that the city’s authorities review the project applied on all routes but the authorities approved the pilot project on only 10 routes before implementing the project in the whole city.

VN Economic Times