The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction is seeking opinions on the draft decision of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on passenger transport fares by bus and common fares in the public transport system.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has 180 bus routes operating, including 158 inter-provincial routes and 22 inter-provincial routes.
For subsidized bus routes, ordinary passengers currently pay 5,000 VND/trip if traveling less than 15 km, 6,000 VND for distances from 15 - 25 km and 7,000 VND for distances over 25 km. Students pay 3,000 VND/trip.
However, the bus network currently does not have time-based tickets, inter-route tickets and an inter-connection mechanism between buses and the metro. According to the Department of Construction, this is one of the factors that needs to be improved to increase the attractiveness of public transport.
Notably, from July 1, 2026 to the end of 2026, Ho Chi Minh City will implement bus ticket exemption on 134 inter-provincial routes. Initial results show that ticket prices have a significant impact on bus demand, creating a basis for the City to develop a new price plan in the direction of diversifying products and making it more convenient for passengers.
Expected increase in bus ticket prices, incentives for cashless payment
According to the draft, the new ticket price policy is expected to be applied from January 1, 2027, adding 1-day tickets, 3-day tickets, monthly tickets and an inter-agency mechanism between buses and Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien).
According to the proposed plan, bus ticket prices will be adjusted in the direction of increasing for passengers buying individual tickets.
Tickets paid in cash are expected to be 7,000 VND for distances under 15 km, 8,000 VND for distances from 15 - 25 km and 9,000 VND for distances over 25 km.
If paying without cash, passengers are given a discount of 1,000 VND at each price level, equivalent to 6,000, 7,000 and 8,000 VND/trip.
Students continue to be applied a level of 3,000 VND/turn when presenting their cards.
In addition to round-trip tickets, the draft adds time-based tickets. One-day tickets are expected to cost 18,000 VND, 3-day tickets 40,000 VND. Monthly tickets for general passengers are 215,000 VND, while for students are 108,000 VND.
Shared bus and metro tickets start from only 3,000 VND/trip
A noteworthy point in the new plan is the common ticket mechanism between buses and Metro Line 1.
This type of ticket is only applied to non-cash payment methods and does not apply to tickets for student turns.
Passengers when switching routes between bus - bus or bus - Metro No. 1 for 120 minutes (calculated from the start of the first route to the start of the last route) will enjoy a lower price compared to buying separate tickets for each route.
The expected bus fare is 3,000 VND for distances under 15 km, 4,000 VND for distances from 15 - 25 km and 5,000 VND for distances over 25 km.
Metro No. 1 ticket prices when combined with buses are proposed to range from 3,000 - 16,000 VND, depending on the number of stations passengers pass through. This level is lower than the current Metro No. 1 ticket price, which is currently around 6,000 - 20,000 VND.
In addition to single tickets, passengers using the same bus and Metro Line 1 can also choose tickets by time. One-day ticket is expected to be 47,000 VND, 3-day ticket 104,000 VND; general education monthly ticket 412,000 VND and student monthly ticket 206,000 VND.
