According to data provided by Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Tran Luu Quang at the conference on September 22, the number of bus passengers increased by 49% compared to the same period.
Passenger volume increased sharply after Ho Chi Minh City exempted tickets on 134 inter-provincial bus routes from the beginning of July.
Toll-free may make someone try taking the bus, but for that person to abandon their motorbike, they need to be given a stronger reason.
Buses must be convenient, on time, safe, clean and connected to daily journeys.
It is difficult to mobilize people to switch to public transport while they have to wait for too long, cars run slowly amidst mixed traffic flows, stops far from residential areas or get out of the car and then not know how to continue.
This is the time when the responsibility of the traffic management agency must be put on the table.
Every expense for toll exemption, subsidies, investment in vehicles, stops, priority lanes or technology systems must be transformed into specific service quality.
Ho Chi Minh City not only faces the traffic problem, but also the environmental problem.
With about 11.5 million registered motorbikes and 1.28 million registered cars, while fossil fuel vehicles still account for a large proportion, road traffic is putting great pressure on air quality.
To green traffic, it is impossible to just replace gasoline cars with electric cars.
If everyone still has to use a personal vehicle to go to work, school, and travel every day, the city still has to bear a huge amount of vehicles on the road.
Green transport must first of all be public transport that is good enough to reduce the demand for personal vehicles.
Therefore, the free ticket policy should be seen as an investment to change behavior.
The city can spend money to support today, but must create transport capacity and habits of use for tomorrow, so that when there is no more toll exemption, people will still continue to choose public transport. That is true success.
The 49% increase in passengers shows that the door has opened. The remaining task is for Ho Chi Minh City to step through that door with a serious investment in public transport quality.
Toll-free may pull people onto the bus, but only a convenient bus system can keep them.
And that is also the most convincing way for budget money not only to buy more public transport trips, but also to buy other values.
It is a less congested, less polluted and livable city.
