Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has ordered agencies to stopmaking coaches register their routes individually, following endlesscomplaints from coach companies.
Coach carriers voiced theirirritation in a meeting with the minister in Hanoi on July 20, sayingthey were not allowed to park their buses at stations unless they askedthe localities' Departments of Transport at their starting and endingpoints for permits.
Authorities used these procedures to controlinter-provincial coach transport, but now it is seen as overlapping arecently issued national plan for trans-provincial bus routes. The planwill require bus companies to register the number of buses they'll runand their routes at the start of the year.
Dien Bien AutomobileTransportation Association Chairman Nguyen Quoc Manh said thepermit-granting procedure cost coach companies a lot of time and money.
"Andeven though the carriers wanted to increase the number of buses to meetpassenger demand in the high season, they didn't get any help from thestations," Manh said. "They (the carriers) still had to come to theDepartment of Transport to register, which was a waste of time."
NuocNgam Coach Terminal Director Nguyen Van Lap said if the Government wasgoing ahead with the trans-provincial coach route plan, it needed tostop the local departments from enforcing the old permit regulations.
Yet local Departments of Transport didn't see eye-to-eye on the plan.
HanoiTransport Department Deputy Director Nguyen Hoang Linh saidgovernmental control was still needed to supervise coach carriers'quotas and routes.
"A lot of the lengthy procedures have beencut out of the process now," Linh said. "Coach operators can even sendtheir documents to the department via email, and will still receivetheir permits on time."
Transport Minister Dinh La Thang,however, said local departments were only trying to create barriers forcoach operators, though the departments had already agreed with the newtrans-provincial coach route plan.
"This is the ask-and-give mechanism, leaving the coach companies with no choice but to pay money under the table," Thang said.
Coachcompanies also asked the ministry to lower the amount of experiencerequired for sleeper coach drivers from three years to one year.
"Wesuggest the Ministry focus more on training and licensing to ensuresafety and stop operators from having to cheat at the same time," saidManh, Chairman of the Dien Bien Automobile Transportation Association.-VNA
Coach carriers voiced theirirritation in a meeting with the minister in Hanoi on July 20, sayingthey were not allowed to park their buses at stations unless they askedthe localities' Departments of Transport at their starting and endingpoints for permits.
Authorities used these procedures to controlinter-provincial coach transport, but now it is seen as overlapping arecently issued national plan for trans-provincial bus routes. The planwill require bus companies to register the number of buses they'll runand their routes at the start of the year.
Dien Bien AutomobileTransportation Association Chairman Nguyen Quoc Manh said thepermit-granting procedure cost coach companies a lot of time and money.
"Andeven though the carriers wanted to increase the number of buses to meetpassenger demand in the high season, they didn't get any help from thestations," Manh said. "They (the carriers) still had to come to theDepartment of Transport to register, which was a waste of time."
NuocNgam Coach Terminal Director Nguyen Van Lap said if the Government wasgoing ahead with the trans-provincial coach route plan, it needed tostop the local departments from enforcing the old permit regulations.
Yet local Departments of Transport didn't see eye-to-eye on the plan.
HanoiTransport Department Deputy Director Nguyen Hoang Linh saidgovernmental control was still needed to supervise coach carriers'quotas and routes.
"A lot of the lengthy procedures have beencut out of the process now," Linh said. "Coach operators can even sendtheir documents to the department via email, and will still receivetheir permits on time."
Transport Minister Dinh La Thang,however, said local departments were only trying to create barriers forcoach operators, though the departments had already agreed with the newtrans-provincial coach route plan.
"This is the ask-and-give mechanism, leaving the coach companies with no choice but to pay money under the table," Thang said.
Coachcompanies also asked the ministry to lower the amount of experiencerequired for sleeper coach drivers from three years to one year.
"Wesuggest the Ministry focus more on training and licensing to ensuresafety and stop operators from having to cheat at the same time," saidManh, Chairman of the Dien Bien Automobile Transportation Association.-VNA
