Only drivers can understand the suffering of the person behind the wheel.
At the seminar "What should the Capital Bus do to improve quality?" on the morning of November 17, explaining the reason why people have not yet switched from using personal vehicles to public transport, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Ngoc Khiem - Chairman of the Council of the University of Transport Technology said that although at the social level it is clear that using public transport brings many benefits, people still do not see any benefits for themselves.
Therefore, many people still prefer to use personal vehicles for their convenience.
For large cities like Hanoi, there is no way to solve this problem other than developing public transport, including buses (Photo: Huu Thang).
“In fact, this benefit is general and does not bring benefits to Mr. A or Mr. B. Environmental impact studies when using different types of vehicles do not specifically affect any individual, so this is a general perspective of society," said Mr. Khiem.
According to Mr. Khiem, if we look at reality, people are still limited in accessing public transport because public transport stops are far away, sidewalks are occupied so pedestrians do not feel safe, or in some places there is no place for people to park their personal vehicles when they want to use public transport.
For example, he mentioned the Cat Linh - Ha Dong railway line, which is in use, and lacks parking spots for personal vehicles. "There are some places, but they are spontaneous. Therefore, to help people access public transport, we need to create conditions for them," said Mr. Khiem.
Accordingly, in addition to many solutions, this expert believes that it is possible to consider the option of using public two-wheeled vehicles to connect people with public transport. This has been applied in many places around the world and is also suitable for Hanoi.
“We are piloting the end-to-end connection project and that will be the basis for proposing to the city to adjust policies. If this connection is implemented, it will be one of the good opportunities to increase people's participation in buses,” Mr. Khiem informed.
Mr. Nghiem Quoc Thang - Vice President of Hanoi Public Passenger Transport Association (Photo: Organizing Committee).
Also discussing priority solutions in the coming time, according to Mr. Nghiem Quoc Thang - Vice President of Hanoi Public Passenger Transport Association, the first solution is to give priority to buses. In which, it can be applied early on the section from Nga Tu So to Ha Dong with a length of about 5-6km. In places where the road cross-section is over 9m, boldly open a dedicated road.
"In my opinion, we don't need to open the entire route. We will open it wherever it is reasonable and sufficient. Giving priority to such routes has many benefits, not only for buses but also for many other vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks," said Mr. Thang.
Regarding the labor regime, Mr. Thang proposed that the age limit could be extended to those who are healthy enough even though they are over 55 years old because they have a lot of experience. At the same time, consider increasing the treatment regime for this labor force.
"Regarding the income and benefits of drivers, we all say that drivers are very important, ensuring the safety of dozens of people on the bus, but they do not have a decent income. Currently, the National Assembly is discussing salary reform, in my opinion, drivers also need a salary increase because of the toxic factor.
In fact, only those who drive can understand the suffering of those behind the wheel. Many good drivers have been driving North-South for many years but cannot drive a bus when they encounter traffic jams. I think that discipline must be equivalent to income. High discipline must be worthy of high income," Mr. Thang added.
The problem lies in the way each enterprise manages its labor.
On the State management side, Mr. Thai Ho Phuong - Deputy Director of Hanoi Public Transport Management Center said that this unit is submitting to Hanoi City a project to rationally arrange stops; along with a project to restructure the network, add other types of public transport such as minibuses; pilot implementation of public bicycles and application of technology to create convenience in transit; interoperable ticket policy, electronic tickets are the solutions that Hanoi Public Transport Management Center is implementing to increase people's access to the bus system and improve travel time.
According to Mr. Phuong, among the passengers' complaints, there are many complaints about the quality of service of drivers and staff, however, the treatment of workers is certainly the main cause.
"I think income is not the problem, paying high salaries does not necessarily improve service quality, but this depends on how each business manages its workforce, so that drivers and ticket sellers are not pressured, or whether the training is substantial," said Mr. Phuong.
Hanoi City currently has 11 transport units participating in bus operations with more than 2,300 vehicles (Photo: Pham Tung).
Mr. Phuong said that it is necessary to review the inspection and supervision work of enterprises and state management agencies to see if it is drastic enough.
"If drivers and employees violate regulations but are not punished, it will lead to the idea that it is okay to violate regulations and lead to a recidivism mentality, which will not create a deterrent effect," said Mr. Phuong, who also emphasized that improving the quality of public passenger transport services requires multi-sectoral efforts.
Accordingly, the Hanoi Public Transport Management Center has developed a set of criteria to evaluate the quality of bus services. However, the implementation has encountered difficulties because satisfaction is a difficult factor to quantify. "We continue to improve the set of criteria, have more information channels, and measure passenger satisfaction so that the set of evaluation criteria is closer to reality and more transparent," said Mr. Phuong.
Mr. Phuong believes that great support from businesses is needed to proactively improve the service quality of drivers and ticket sellers.
In addition, there is the strong participation of the media in promoting the benefits of public passenger transport to the people. Especially the responsible voices of passengers about the violations of drivers and staff, even the smallest ones such as not opening the door at the stop, collecting money without tearing the ticket, etc. to promptly correct the shortcomings .
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