Although the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee sent an official dispatch in July 2024, it has not yet received specific instructions from these two ministries.
According to the content of the document, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee requested the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Labor, War invalids and Social Affairs to provide guidance on the policy of supporting 100% of ticket prices for priority subjects, such as people with revolutionary contributions, the elderly, and people with disabilities when using public transport.
The city also asked for opinions on the procedures and competent authorities to decide on the ticket exemption policy, to ensure compliance with current legal regulations.
In addition, during the first 3 months of Metro Line 1's operation, Ho Chi Minh City plans to spend its budget to support 100% of the fare for all passengers taking the train and using 17 connecting bus routes. However, there are currently no clear regulations on this exemption.
To date, the HCMC Department of Transport has only received feedback from the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry of Transport has agreed to the policy of exempting bus tickets for routes connecting to Metro Line 1 for the first 3 months. However, there are still no specific instructions on exempting train tickets and the authority to decide on this policy.
Faced with this situation, the Department of Transport has proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee continue to send official dispatches to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor, War invalids and Social Affairs to speed up the guidance process, helping the City People's Council promptly pass related resolutions.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is building a Resolution of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council on supporting passengers using public transport by bus and train in the area.
Accordingly, people with revolutionary contributions, the elderly, and the disabled will receive full support from the Ho Chi Minh City budget for train and bus tickets.
However, during the construction process, there were some problems and it was unclear which authority had the authority to decide on the fare exemption policy.
According to current regulations, people with severe disabilities and those with severe disabilities are exempt from bus fares and the decision-making authority is the City People's Committee. When taking the metro, people with severe disabilities and those with severe disabilities are only entitled to a minimum 25% discount on their fares and there is no authority to decide on the discount level.
Metro Line 1 is expected to have 3 types of tickets: single ticket, daily ticket and monthly ticket.
Regarding one-way tickets, for passengers traveling a shorter distance and up to 5km, the ticket price is 12,000 VND/trip; from 5 - 10km it is 14,000 VND/trip; from 10 - 15km it is 16,000 VND and from 15km to the entire route of nearly 20km the ticket price is 18,000 VND.
The price of a 1-day ticket is 40,000 VND and the price of a 3-day ticket is 90,000 VND (these two types of tickets are unlimited trips).
Monthly ticket price is 260,000 VND (unlimited trips).
Metro Line 1 has a total investment of over 43,700 billion VND, nearly 20km long from Long Binh Depot (Thu Duc City) to Ben Thanh Station (District 1). The project started in 2012, with the initial plan to complete after 6 years, but the progress has been delayed many times.
Metro Line 1 is currently over 98% complete and is expected to undergo trial operations in October and November before officially entering commercial operation at the end of this year.
