At the socio-economic press conference on the afternoon of April 9, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that it is expected that in April 2026, it will submit to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council for approval a resolution to support public passenger transport users by bus. If approved, the free ticket policy may be implemented in the last 8 months of the year.
According to the Department of Construction, the reality from pilot programs shows that when tickets are free, the number of passengers using buses increases from 20 - 34% depending on the route and time.
From there, the city expects that when applied on a large scale, more people will switch from motorbikes and private cars to buses, especially for short and medium-distance trips.
The Department of Construction assesses that the existing bus system can meet a passenger growth rate of about 20-30%.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has 180 routes with more than 2,400 vehicles, many of which have not been fully exploited, especially outside peak hours.
The electronic ticketing system has been deployed on 109 routes and is expected to be completed throughout the network in the second quarter of 2026. This will be an important platform to help manage output, track journeys and operate vehicles in real time.
Representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that toll exemption is only a "necessary condition", not a sufficient condition for people to choose buses instead of personal vehicles. Therefore, the city identifies the synchronous implementation of many groups of solutions.
First of all, improve service quality: vehicles must be on time, clean, and safe; drivers and service staff are friendly and professional. Passenger service infrastructure such as stops and waiting rooms also need to be convenient and accessible.
Besides, it increases connectivity. Buses will be better interconnected with other modes of transport such as metro, river buses, public bicycles. The MultiGo application and electronic ticketing system help people easily look up routes and pay cashless.
In addition, the city will use big data to analyze travel demand, thereby optimizing the network of routes, bus schedules and allocating vehicles more reasonably, limiting overload.
A noteworthy point is that the toll exemption policy is placed in the overall public transport development strategy. In parallel, Ho Chi Minh City will gradually implement measures to manage and restrict personal vehicles in some areas.
Management agencies will regularly monitor output, costs and passenger satisfaction levels to promptly adjust policies, avoid spreading out, and ensure the efficiency of budget use.
The Department of Construction believes that bus ticket exemption is an initial interventional stimulus solution to promote the process of changing people's travel behavior. Once a habit is formed, people will be attached to public transport for a long time.
According to the proposed plan of the Department of Construction, toll exemption will be applied to 135 bus routes operating in the city, including 109 subsidized routes and 26 non-subsidized routes; inter-provincial bus routes are not subject to application.
It is estimated that in the remaining 8 months of 2026, the total budget for policy implementation is about 930 billion VND from the city budget.
Of which, 627 billion VND is for subsidized routes and 303 billion VND for non-subsidized routes. This funding does not include bus subsidies allocated for 2026 (about 1,334 billion VND).
