VietNamNet Bridge – After Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang spoke about measures to curb personal vehicles and develop public means of transport, many people have proposed that the Minister should try bus service.
A reader said that he wanted to go his office by bus and he tried, but finally he had to give up bus service to return to his motorbike because buses were extremely crowded and drivers often skipped bus stops. Moreover, busses moved very slowly due to traffic jams. This reader also asked Minister Thang to make a field trip by bus during peak hour, in one month.

Another reader said he is willing to travel by bus with the Minister during the peak hour. This reader said that he is a civil servant, who has used bus for seven years.

He wrote: “I would like to share some inconvenient things that you may face during our trip by bus. Mr. Minister, you will have to elbow others to get into a bus. The bus may be very smelly. Seats are very limited and you will have to stand”.

“You should hold firmly onto something otherwise you will be thrown from the middle to the head of the bus because of sudden brakes whenever a motorbike suddenly turns aside or when the bus driver suddenly gear up to go across other buses.”

“You should not feel annoyed because of swear-words of drivers and their assistants against passengers and vice versa. You should be patient to stand because we will be surely stuck on Truong Chinh Road (Hanoi). It has been the same for the last seven years. Sometimes the bus stood on the road for over one hour, but finally I arrived home in the cheer of my children.”

“While standing on the bus, you can see scenes out of the window. You should not be annoyed because it has been raining in the last several days. Roads are very dirty and thousands of vehicles try to inch forward,” the reader wrote.

A reader complained that 60-seat buses often carry over 100 passengers, who have to stand on one leg. “I don’t understand why other vehicles are fined if they are overloaded, not buses,” he questioned.

A reader said that it took her 30 minutes to travel from her home to her office by motorbike and it was up to 2 hours by bus. She suggested changing the working hours to reduce traffic pressure during the peak hour.

On October 5, Minister Thang told the press that to curb accidents and traffic jams in big cities, his ministry put forward measures as restricting personal vehicles, developing public transport and making breakthroughs in transport infrastructure development.

In early 2012, the Ministry of Transport will submit to the Prime Minister a plan on curbing personal vehicles, which will be made public for people’s comments.

As people complain that buses, the major means of public transport in Vietnam, often skip bus stops, Thang said Vietnam cannot wait until it has modern public transport system to curb personal vehicles. The official said that his ministry’s employees are encouraged to use buses at least one day a week.

PV