Facing difficulties, a series of bus routes in Dak Lak were terminated

Reduce the number of vehicles and stop operating many routes

According to the assessment, public passenger transport by bus in Dak Lak province in the period of 2015 - 2020 has connected passenger transport between communes in 15/15 districts with the center of Buon Ma Thuot city.

However, since 2020, the number of bus passengers has gradually decreased. The business efficiency of this type of transport is not high, so it has not attracted investment units in this field. In the whole Dak Lak province, there are currently only 6 enterprises maintaining public passenger transport by bus. Most of the vehicles still in operation are degraded, with old interiors... so the quality competitiveness is not high.

According to the Department of Transport of Dak Lak province, as of September 2024, the whole province currently has only about 100 buses operating in name, a decrease of nearly 100 buses compared to the same period in 2023. Bus routes in the province are implemented under a 100% socialized mechanism and there is no subsidy policy. Bus fares in the whole province currently fluctuate from 30,000 VND to 60,000 VND, depending on the distance traveled.

Since the end of 2023, Dak Lak Automobile Transport Joint Stock Company has stopped operating 3 bus routes. The discontinued routes include: Route No. 12 from Buon Ma Thuot city to Lak district; Route No. 13 from Buon Ma Thuot city to Krong No district (Dak Nong province) and bus route No. 10 from Dak Lak Interprovincial Bus Station to Buon Trap town center (Krong Ana district).

Ms. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, a resident of Lak district, shared: "For the past 3 years, I have not taken the traditional bus but instead have chosen the 7-seat service vehicle. Although the bus is cheap, the quality is poor."

Slow to innovate means and methods of operation

Mr. Nguyen Dang Thuan - Deputy Head of Division of Vehicle and Driver Management (Dak Lak Department of Transport) - commented: "Currently, many new services and means of transport are put into operation, people have more options instead of taking traditional buses. This has inadvertently led to the public bus business activities of many enterprises being extremely difficult.

Over the years, businesses have fallen asleep in the glorious past, refusing to change their operations, change their vehicle types, invest in green energy, environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient vehicles... They have kept the same way of doing things for decades while people's needs are increasingly increasing.

Mr. Thuan emphasized: "Currently, public bus service businesses are still maintaining traditional ticket sales instead of integrating technology, automatic ticket sales, online... Major cities and provinces have applied this model, but local businesses refuse to change even though the authorities have created favorable conditions and provided a lot of support. There are units that have not changed or renovated their vehicles to serve customers for nearly 10 years."