Nguyen Van Thanh, former Chairman of Vietnam Automobile Transportation Association, reported a sad status of bus service in large cities of Vietnam, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. There is a vicious circle of passengers refusing to use buses due to their negative impression on service quality, leading to less financial support for this transport type to renovate itself or increase employee salary, and in turn resulting in even worse service quality.
The causes of this state have already been listed, including outdated buses, unprofessional attitude of employees, unsafety on board (pickpocketing, sexual harassment), inconvenient bus stops, long wait due to illogical bus interval timing, inconvenience for the senior and handicapped. In short, buses at present cannot satisfy the demands of passengers.
More seriously, while many localities have spent thousands of billions of VND a year as a financial support for bus organizations just to receive a profit loss report, other areas like Bac Giang Province have allocated no such support at all and their bus companies are still on the growth.
Another good example is Phuong Trang Futabuslines Car JSC., which has just introduced 8 new bus routes in Khanh Hoa Province with promising profits. It regularly upgrades its buses, trains its employees for professional attitude and skills. These have played an important role in retaining its passenger quantity.
“Clearly, with modern vehicles and professional service come customer satisfaction, leading to higher profits with no need of financial support from the government”, said Dr. Luu Binh Nhuong – Vice Chairman of the People’s Will Committee of the National Assembly.
Dr. Nguyen Sy Dung, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Office, stated that urban planning will meet a dead end if the quantity of private vehicles continues to grow. It is advisable to develop a scientific plan to improve bus service quality, while applying the market mechanism to select capable bus enterprises for this essential service.
He added that the localities should review the necessity of delivering financial support to bus organizations. It is wiser to choose those with no need for financial support, or at least to recalculate support methods to boost service quality, which will in turn attract more passengers.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh stressed that it is not advisable to force the community to use public transport. Measures to limit the use of private vehicles should be applied, while practical solutions to promote the growth of bus services are carried out, including the important matter of urban planning.
General Director of Phuong Trang Futabuslines Car JSC. Dao Viet Anh suggested that each locality should develop its own bus service project, along with proper legal corridor for interesting businesses to invest in that project. Traveling needs of local residents must be studied, bus organizations with bad service quality must be disregarded for more capable ones to enter the game for sustainable development of this public transport type.
