[sustran] Hanoi bus plan

[Craig Townsend]

[ Viet Search Engine on VietGATE http://www.vietgate.net ]

[vnforum] - Mesg from kenphan at webmail.netimages.com

April 18
 
Ambitious public bus plan stalls in congested Hanoi

(VNS)- A bold plan for buses to meet one-third of Hanoi's public transport
needs by the end of this year 
has run out of gas despite being approved by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai
two years ago.

Government Decision No.40 dated February 18, 1998 stipulated that Hanoi
would have more than 1,500 buses 
operating on 66 bus routes.

The goal required total investments of VND 493 billion (US$35.2 million)
mobilized from various sources and 
disbursed by the end of 2000. Some of this was to be spent upgrading bus
stops and widening roads to densely 
populated areas.

"The plan has remained unfinished due to a shortage of funding", admits
deputy director of the Centre for 
Urban Transportation Management and Operations (CUTMO) Nguyen Trong Thong.

However, bus managers in the city have tried hard to make full use of what
little investment was received 
and there are now 31 bus routes where there was just 13 before the decision
was made.

The decision also stipulated that investment should be made in upgrading
bus stations and expanding routes, 
but very little of this has been achieved.

"Although the Government has allowed bus managers to enter into
joint-ventures with other sectors and 
foreign investors to lure capital, no one has so far been interested in
loss-suffering businesses like 
ours", Thong frankly pointed out. As a matter of fact, bus services have
never broken even and last year 
suffered a loss of VND 11 billion.

Deputy Director Thong estimated that the Government would have to subsidise
services by VND25 billion in 
1999, and up to VND40 billion this year if the plan for a fleet of almost
2,000 buses was put on the road. "The more we expand, the heavier our
losses," he said.

One major factor responsible for such heavy losses is the no-ticket-pay
practice where conductors collect 
fares from customers but do not give them tickets.

"He asked me to pay a little less than the printed price and so, it's fine
not to get the ticket, " a 
customer at Giap Bat bus-station told Viet Nam News. CUTMO is trying to
stamp out the problem, but results 
have been disappointing so far.

Currently three State owned businesses of Hanoi - Bus Company, Southern Bus
Service Company and Hanoi Tram 
Company provide public bus services. Between them, they have a fleet of 300
buses- although many are 24 seat 
vans converted to buses.

Thong says feasibility studies for developing bus transport have been
written and rewritten, year after 
year, but none have been carried out due to a lack of money. More
importantly, urban developers have not seen 
the studies as crucial.

As it stands, all three-bus companies in Hanoi have to rely on sideline
businesses to run their services. The 
Hanoi Tram Company produces children's toys, while the Hanoi Bus Service
earns extra income by garaging cars 
and operating maintenance workshops.

That's despite the CUTMO 1999 annual report showing that a record of 11.5
million passengers used the 
service, up 30 per cent on previous years. 
________________________________________________
Craig Townsend
Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy
Murdoch University
South Street, Murdoch
Perth, Western Australia 6150

tel: (61 8) 9360 6293
fax: (61 8) 9360 6421
email: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au