The bus is not fast because it is not really given priority.

Subsidies do not reduce travel time

According to Mr. Pham Dinh Tien - Head of Planning and Operation Department, Hanoi Traffic Management and Operation Center, bus trip speed is still slow, passenger travel time is prolonged during rush hour, only reaching an average of 12.7km/h.

Public passenger transport needs to make efforts to replace personal vehicles. Illustration photo.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Vu Hong Truong, General Director of Hanoi Railway Company Limited, also shared: Developing public transport includes 3 phases. Phase 1, public transport serves people without means of transport. Phase 2 is public transport competing with private vehicles. Phase 3, public transport is the favorite choice of people.

"Currently, Hanoi buses are between phase 1 and phase 2, competing on price, not yet competing on convenience, trip time from departure to destination. With urban railways, due to their inherent natural characteristics, they are now in phase 2, competing on convenience, trip time, and price," Mr. Truong said.

Likewise, Mr. Phan Le Binh - Chief Representative of OCG Consulting Office, Japan in Hanoi said: The city has given many priorities to public transport, subsidizing thousands of billions of VND each year. However, the subsidy only helps passengers financially, not shortening travel time.

"We can only shorten travel time if we reserve separate lanes for public buses like the BRT route. Many slogans to prioritize public transport and reduce personal vehicles have been put forward, but without additional policies and actions to prioritize buses in addition to subsidies, it will be difficult to achieve the goal," Mr. Binh said.

Need to encourage officials and civil servants to take metro and bus more often

One noteworthy piece of information, according to Mr. Phan Le Binh, is that 60-70% of public transport users are elderly people.

This also means that "it does not help reduce the density during rush hour much, because retirees rarely go out during rush hour". Therefore, Mr. Binh affirmed that the problem is how to increase the number of users during rush hour.

"The city government needs to have movements for civil servants to go to work. In the short term, we can encourage everyone to take the bus at least one day a week. This will help increase the rate of bus use," said Mr. Binh.

In addition, according to Mr. Binh, to make buses more attractive, in addition to giving priority to buses and metro, there needs to be a plan to "create more difficulties" for personal vehicles," Mr. Binh said and suggested creating barriers for personal vehicles by limiting parking spaces, and strictly checking and handling, ensuring that only places with official regulations can be parked.

"I think that is a lifesaver for city traffic. If there is no parking space, people will use public transport. At the same time, we need to increase penalties for motorbikes and cars parked in the wrong places," Mr. Binh said, citing the example of Japan, which also has a high rate of public transport use because traveling by personal vehicle is very expensive.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/xe-buyt-chua-nhanh-vi-chua-thuc-su-duoc-uu-tien-192240926152530545.htm