Hanoi’s bus service needs to harness its strengths to maintain and expand its market share, assert its role when ride hailing services have boomed, Kinh te & Do thi quoted Urban Transport expert Master Do Cao Phan as saying.

Currently, Hanoi's bus network of 100 bus lines is subsidized and enjoys many priorities in transit which have resulted in cheap, convenient and attractive service for passengers.

Taking motorbike taxis or ride-hailing vehicles is affordable for many people and they move faster. For the same distance, it takes much longer to travel by buses than by motorbike taxi or ride hailing services, Mr. Phan said.

A bus on Hanoi’s Nguyen Chi Thanh street. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

Agreeing with Mr. Phan, Deputy General Director of Transerco Nguyen Thuy also said that motorbike taxis and ride hailing services have become really formidable competitors of buses.

The biggest advantage of buses used to be cheap fare, but it is no longer much cheaper than motorbike taxis or ride hailing services, especially for short trips. That is also one of the reasons buses have not been a preferred choice in recent years, said Thuy.

Efforts to overcome difficulties

In the increasingly challenging public transport market, Hanoi’s bus businesses need strong measures to improve business performance to remain competitive.

Mr. Do Cao Phan said most of the bus operators in Hanoi are enjoying a wide range of incentives, especially interest rate subsidy for vehicle purchases.

“For many passengers, additional utilities, including free wifi, more comfortable seats, bus-finding application on smart devices, have become criteria for their selection,” Vu Hoang Chung, an urban transport expert, said.

He added that the Hanoi authorities have always attached importance to strengthening and developing the bus network. This is one of the key tasks in order to curb private vehicles and ensure security for local residents.

The support of Hanoi's government for public transport in general and buses in particular is the remarkable advantage of buses compared to other forms of public transport. Bus companies need to take the advantage to enhance their competitiveness, said Mr. Chung.

Highlight of Hanoi’s buses in 2020

A representative from the Hanoi Department of Transport said, for many years, to strengthen the capacity of the urban mass transit system, not only the road infrastructure has been built and expanded but the city’s bus network has also been enlarged.

Though buses have been the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the bus network of Hanoi still makes some impressive achievements when remaining the choice of the majority of commuters.

Specifically, the total volume of passengers served by the city’s public transport in the first nine months of 2020 was estimated at 596 million, meeting about 17% of the people’s traveling demand and contributing significantly to curbing private means of transport and reducing traffic congestion in the city.

Although serving millions of riders a day, no one got infected with the coronavirus in the whole bus network of Hanoi. This is an important highlight of Hanoi’s buses during the time the city has been making effort to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.