Proposal to ban sleeper buses from entering Ho Chi Minh City's inner city day and night

The city's Department of Transport has proposed banning sleeper buses from entering the inner city 24/7, instead of limiting them to between 6am and 10pm as they do now.

The proposal is stated in an official dispatch that the Department of Transport has just sent to relevant units to receive comments, after more than 4 months of restricting sleeper buses entering the inner city according to time frames.

The increase in the ban time, according to this agency, aims to strengthen management as well as closely monitor the activities of this type of vehicle. The vehicle ban belt remains the same as before, limited by the following routes: National Highway 1 - Nguyen Van Linh Street - Vo Chi Cong - Nguyen Thi Dinh - Dong Van Cong - Mai Chi Tho - Hanoi Highway - National Highway 1. Vehicles are still allowed to run normally on the belt routes.

Sleeper buses lined up on Tran Binh Trong Street, District 5, waiting to pick up passengers in November 2022. Photo: Gia Minh — Sleeper buses lined up on Tran Binh Trong Street, District 5, waiting to pick up passengers in November 2022. Photo: *Gia Minh*

Sleeper buses enter Mien Dong bus station, Binh Thanh district, following the corridor: National Highway 1 - National Highway 13 - Dinh Bo Linh Street - Mien Dong bus station - National Highway 13 - National Highway 1. At Mien Tay bus station, following the axis: National Highway 1 - Kinh Duong Vuong Street - Mien Tay station and vice versa.

According to the Department of Transport, the plan to ban sleeper buses from entering the inner city from 6am to 10pm has helped stabilize traffic in the central area. However, this has led to sleeper buses stopping and parking on the beltways waiting to pick up and drop off passengers; forming many "illegal bus stops" such as: the section passing through Rach Chiec sports complex, Tam Binh gas station, Hung Nghia on Highway 1 (Thu Duc City); parking lot No. 39 at the intersection of Highway 1 - Road No. 7 - No. 18; parking lot opposite No. 13 Le Co (Binh Tan District)... These parking lots pose a risk to traffic safety and congestion in the area.

Belt banning sleeper buses from entering the inner city. Graphics: Hoang Dung — Belt banning sleeper buses from entering the inner city. Graphics: *Hoang Dung*

Ho Chi Minh City currently has 58 fixed-route passenger transport companies with nearly 1,600 vehicles; more than 1,350 contract and tourism passenger transport units, with nearly 91,000 vehicles. Of which, cars operate at 5 inter-provincial stations in the city, including: Mien Dong, Mien Dong Moi, Mien Tay, An Suong, Nga Tu Ga, the route does not go through the central area. In March, the city's transport sector recorded 60 locations where cars regularly pick up and drop off passengers in violation of regulations, concentrated mainly in the inner city, a decrease of 16 points compared to the end of last year.

Gia Minh

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