There are not many free things in Hanoi, but there is one type of free that not everyone knows about. For many years, Hanoi has exempted bus tickets for meritorious people, the elderly, the disabled, children under 6 years old, and people from poor households. For old people like my father, all they need is a citizen ID card to travel around the city.
In all fairness, buses have contributed a lot to the positive change in the appearance of the capital. Besides gasoline and LNG buses, there are also electric buses.
If we look more specifically, the bus force itself is currently undergoing a fairly rapid digital transformation. First is the “bus search” app installed on the phone, which helps to accurately notify the route and arrival time of the bus, which is very convenient, no more waiting for the bus for hours. Second is the electronic monthly ticket applied since August this year, paying for the ticket (only 200,000 VND/month for all routes) on the system, the ticket is displayed right on the phone, gradually replacing paper tickets, saving printing costs and reducing waste.
But one thing that seems to have not changed is the hardship of drivers and conductors. I once witnessed a driver on route 85 hanging a dry piece of bread near the gear lever. When asked, he said: "That's my lunch, but I haven't eaten it yet." Or one day when Hanoi was jammed with traffic, the driver seemed frustrated. When asked, I found out that because of the traffic jam, he sat holding the steering wheel for 5-6 hours straight, without even going to the toilet.
Hanoi has just announced an increase in bus fares, from 1,000 to 11,000 VND per trip, depending on the distance, ticket type and priority. The increase will start from November 1. The increase is reasonable because bus fares in Hanoi have not increased for the past 10 years. The increase is to reduce the State budget subsidy for buses. Hanoi currently has 154 bus routes, of which 132 are subsidized, 8 are non-subsidized, 12 are adjacent routes and 2 are city tour routes, covering 30/30 districts, towns and 512/579 communes, wards and towns. The whole city has more than 2,000 buses, of which hundreds use clean energy. Financial support for buses from the city budget has increased significantly in recent years, from an average of VND1,370 billion/year in the 2015-2019 period to VND2,750 billion in 2023.
Of course, meritorious people, the elderly, the disabled, children under 6 years old, and poor households are still exempted from fees.
For regular bus riders, especially those who buy monthly passes, this increase is not significant. What passengers want is that along with the fare increase, bus service will be more civilized, so that bus riders feel cleaner and safer.
Taking the bus should be encouraged, it is a way to reduce pollution in the capital, and also a way to make Hanoi more civilized and cleaner when public transport is the first choice.
