On the first day of the end of the free ride program on Metro Line 1, people lined up to buy tickets. On average, it took about 2 minutes for each person to buy a ticket, so the queue was quite long.
On January 21, Urban Railway Company No. 1 (HURC1, the operator of Metro Line No. 1) officially started selling tickets after a month of free rides for metro passengers. According to records at Ben Thanh Station (District 1), people lined up to buy tickets.
At the ticket counter, metro staff will sell tickets to customers according to their needs to buy tickets by cash or swipe card. On average, each customer will spend about 2 minutes buying tickets, depending on the number of tickets purchased and the payment method.
However, the ticket selling process is still quite confusing. People buying 5 tickets have to swipe their cards 5 times... leading to longer waiting times for those behind.
Besides, once the ticket has been purchased, the QR code readers at the ticket gates are not sensitive, in many cases you have to swipe multiple times for the device to recognize it.
Many staff at Ben Thanh metro station have been increased, guiding customers to buy tickets via HCMC Metro app for faster and more convenient use, avoiding long waiting times.
Compared to previous days, the number of people taking the metro today (January 21) has decreased somewhat. The number of people taking the metro for a test ride is also less than before. Staff at the entrances enthusiastically support and guide people to buy tickets and scan QR codes to pass through the gate.
Ms. Dieu Binh (41 years old, living in District 1) said that she has experienced the metro many times in the past few days. Today, she has work in Thu Duc City so she continued to take the metro. "I have not installed the HCMC Metro app yet, so I bought tickets directly at the counter. Because many people were waiting in line to buy tickets, the wait was a bit long. The ticket purchase process is also simple, but probably because it is the first day of ticket sales, it is still a bit slow," Ms. Binh said.
Thuy Trang (middle, student of Thu Duc High School) said that the ticket buying process at Thu Duc station was quite convenient, in about 2 minutes she bought a ticket with cash. Besides, Thu Duc station is not too crowded with people taking the metro so there was no long waiting. "This is the first time my friends and I have taken the metro, I really enjoyed it. This Tet holiday we will definitely go again," Trang said.
On the first day of selling metro tickets, some accounts posted on social media that the automatic ticketing system was faulty, passengers had to buy handwritten paper tickets and pay in cash. Mr. Le Minh Triet, Director of Urban Railway Company No. 1, said that this morning, due to the large number of customers buying single tickets, to avoid people waiting for a long time, the company sold handwritten tickets. Handwritten tickets are only used in cases where passengers do not use the HCMC Metro app or Mastercard.
Currently, the company is working with Momo and Napas to integrate directly into the ticket gate so that people can soon pay for tickets in this form. It is expected that by January 24 at the latest, people will not have to queue to buy tickets but can use Momo's QR or Napas bank card to buy tickets directly at the ticket gates.
Metro trains on the first day of ticket sales were not as crowded as before.
The ticket machines are still not working.
Mr. Triet also added that currently, some people who are exempt from the metro ticket fee (people with revolutionary contributions, people with disabilities, people over 60 years old) do not know that they are exempt from the ticket fee, so they do not bring their ID card to pass through the gate. Therefore, people need to find out information about ticket prices, exempted ticket subjects, payment methods... to make the most convenient time when taking the metro.
People line up to buy metro tickets on the first day of the end of the free metro promotion.
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/ngay-dau-metro-so-1-ban-ve-he-thong-gap-loi-phai-dung-them-ve-viet-tay-192250121115544373.htm
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