More than 70,000 passengers per day take elevated trains in Hanoi, a figure showing a positive movement, people are gradually abandoning personal vehicles.
Simply because, gasoline and oil costs increase, congestion lasts, and traffic pressure is increasing.
Faced with that reality, trains and buses have become a more reasonable, economical, safer, and less stressful option.
A train not only carries people, it also carries expectations for a different way of life, more civilized, more sustainable.
The transition from personal to public transportation brings benefits beyond the personal scope.
Each person reduces one motorbike trip, reduces one gasoline filling, which contributes to reducing pressure on the national energy source.
Each car rolling less is an extra space for the streets to be clear. Cleaner air, improved community health.
But in the opposite direction, a question needs to be raised, which is whether the public transport system is ready yet.
Let me be frank, demand is increasing faster than the ability to meet it.
Not every area has convenient train or bus routes, many people want to switch, but "have no choice" so they are forced to return to private cars.
This is the bottleneck.
If the network is not expanded in time, increased frequency, and flexible connection between types of transport, this wave of shift may stagnate.
Old habits will return very quickly. Therefore, the role of the government is key.
Not only stopping at operating existing routes, but also seeing this as a "golden time" to promote public transport.
Investment must go one step ahead of demand. Planning must be synchronized, not allowing people to fall into the situation of going halfway and then... "locking their feet".
Support policies also need to be strong and attractive enough.
Toll exemption and reduction for students, pupils, and the elderly is not only for social security, but also a way to nurture the habit of using public transport early.
Encouraging officials and civil servants to travel to work by train and bus is not just a slogan, but must become a criterion for implementation.
More importantly, it is necessary to change thinking, public transport is not an "alternative option", but must be a priority choice.
Hanoi is showing a positive sign, people are ready to change.
The rest belongs to the government, whether it is timely to create a system good enough to retain them or not.
Because if we miss this opportunity, the price to pay will not only be congestion or pollution, but also lose an important step of urbanization.
Public transport cannot wait, people have a habit of getting on the train and public transport, so the system must run in time.
