Passengers on a river bus on the Sai Gon River. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA)- The Sai Gon river bus, launched with fanfare two years ago in Ho Chi MinhCity, has not proved to be popular with commuters.
Mai Thi Xuan Trang and herfriend from Khanh Hoa province visited HCM City and took the river bus to seethe city from a different perspective.
"I think many visitorscoming to Sai Gon want to experience the river bus for sightseeing. Butunfortunately the services on the boat and at the stations are nothing specialand so it is difficult to get visitors to return," she told Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper.
Pham Van Lam of Linh Dong wardof Thu Duc district, who works in district 1 and is a regular user of the boatsbetween Bach Dang wharf in district 1 and Linh Dong, said: "Taking theriver bus helps me stay away from the traffic congestion while enjoying theearly morning air. Many people choose to go by boat on a regular basis.”
But the services from Linh Dongin the morning are only at 6:30am and 7am and not until 9am again, and this isinconvenient for many office workers, he said.
Other drawbacks are that inmany places the river bus station is far away from residential areas and thereare no buses linking them and most stations lack parking space for passengers’vehicles, he said, adding that is why the service is failing to attract moreusers.
The service, launched inNovember 2017, was expected to become a popular option considering the severecongestion on roads.
According to regular commuters,many 75-seat boats leave stations with only 10 passengers on board on weekdays.
Nguyen Kim Toan, Director of ThuongNhat Co., Ltd., which operates the service, said route No.1 (Bach Dang - Linh Dongroute through districts 2 and Binh Thanh) served 291,000 passengers last year.
On average, there are 22 tripson the route each day and 880 passengers, but during weekends the boats operateat 95 percent capacity, he said.
The number of passengersincreased from the previous year though not significantly, he said.
According to an official of themunicipal Department of Transport, many measures are planned to attract morepassengers.
The department would work withbus transport operators to ensure some bus routes touch the river bus stations,he said.
It also plans to add serviceson shore and on board and build parking spaces near wharfs, he said.
The department is collaboratingwith relevant agencies to acquire land for building more river bus stations.
Toan said his company plans tolaunch the 10km route No.2 from Bach Dang to Lo Gom in district 8 by the end ofthis year.
According to the department,construction work related to two infrastructure projects had prevented thelaunch of the second route, but the works are likely to be finished thisyear./.
VNA
