The People's Committee of Can Tho City of Can Tho Province yesterday put into operation the most modern bus station in the Mekong Delta.

Can Tho bus station, the most modern in the Mekong Delta.

The central bus station, which is more than 40,000sq.m, and constructed with total investment of about VND200billion (US$8,89million), is located in an urban area in the west of the city in Hung Thanh Ward of Cai Rang District.

The parking area for cars, which waits for picking up passengers, stretches over 6,000sq.m while the area for other vehicles covers 3,400m.sq. A 1000sq.m waiting room has been built to serve passengers.

The first-class station is managed by the Can Tho Ferry-Bridge Standage Joint Stock Company.

Nguyen Van Manh, the company's deputy director, said that 50 per cent of buses and bus routes of transport businesses at the 91B Highway bus station in Ninh Kieu District have been officially shifted to the new bus station.

He said that as Can Tho City holds the role of a driving force in the Mekong Delta, the central bus station will link all means of public and inter-provincial transport, to satisfy the travelling demands of residents from the city and other localities in the region.

According to Lu Thanh Dong, director of the provincial transport department, in the near future, especially during Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, to ensure the travelling safety of locals, the department would direct bus stations to step up management and not allow unqualified coaches, as well as those with drunk drivers, to run.

Dong said that the second phase of the central bus station project will kick off this year. An additional six hectares worth VND200billion of investment will be constructed.

Once it is completed in 2020, the central bus station's area will be expanded to ten hectares with the loading capacity of nearly 40,000 passengers and 1,000 vehicles.

Da Nang to operate state-funded buses

Da Nang City's transport department will implement a project involving state-funded bus routes this year.

Under the project, five bus routes operated with state funds will be launched for commuters inside the city.

About 60 40-seater busses would be operated from 5am to 9pm every day, the transport department's Deputy Head Nguyen Dang Huy said.

Free tickets will be offered to revolutionary veterans, heroic mothers, war invalids and persons with serious disabilities, besides Agent Orange victims.

Other persons with privileges, old as well as poor people, workers of industrial zones and students will pay half fare.

The operation of the buses would be funded by selling advertisement space on buses and in bus stations, besides the state budget, the official said.

Buses have helped to reduce the use of private vehicles and cut traffic jams inside the city.

"The development of public transport is a precondition towards reducing traffic jams and limiting the use of private vehicles in the long term," Huy said. 

VNS