People can get on the bus because it is free, but to stick with it for a long time, they need a convenient, fast and reliable service.
Among them, the most important factor is punctuality.
No one wants to wait for the bus every morning in a worried mood not knowing when it will arrive. Nor does anyone want to spend dozens of more minutes on the road just because the bus has to squeeze in the mixed flow of vehicles.
If the travel time cannot be predicted, buses will find it very difficult to compete with motorbikes. Therefore, researching the deployment of priority lanes for buses is a necessary direction.
Priority lanes to serve dozens, even hundreds of passengers sitting on one vehicle. A bus carrying dozens of people clearly needs to be prioritized over a motorbike, which each carries only one or two people.
However, many roads in Ho Chi Minh City are currently overloaded even without priority lanes, if applied mechanically, separate lanes for buses may increase pressure on the remaining road surface area.
Therefore, it is not possible to deploy on a large scale, but to choose the right place, at the right time and in the right way.
Roads with wide cross-sections, large bus traffic volume and the ability to connect with metro, bus stations or public transport hubs need to be deployed first.
Areas that are frequently congested during peak hours also need to be studied for flexible solutions.
More importantly, priority lanes must go hand in hand with modern management technology. Surveillance cameras, GPS systems, artificial intelligence and remote fines need to be applied synchronously to ensure that other vehicles do not encroach on the lane.
But even the priority lane is not the only solution.
Buses are only truly attractive when placed in a complete public transport ecosystem. People must easily walk to the stop, conveniently switch to the metro, public bicycles or shuttle buses.
The waiting area must be clean and safe, electronic tickets must be interconnected, and travel information must be updated in real time.
In other words, passengers are not only interested in the bus trip but also in the entire journey from home to work.
Ho Chi Minh City is facing a great opportunity to change people's travel habits.
The free ticket policy has created an initial boost, but to turn that boost into a sustainable shift from private cars to public transport, buses must be faster, on time, and more convenient.
