The inauguration ceremony of Metro Line 1 was held in the area above Ben Thanh Station - 23/9 Park (District 1).
Metro Line 1 is the first urban railway line in Ho Chi Minh City, officially put into commercial operation from December 22, 2024.
The route has a total length of 19.7 km, connecting the city center with Thu Duc City, passing through District 1, Binh Thanh and Thu Duc City. The entire line has 14 stations, including 11 elevated stations and 3 underground stations, with a total investment of more than 43,700 billion VND.
During the free ticket period from December 22, 2024 to January 20, 2025, Metro Line 1 has served more than 2.8 million passengers, an average of 94,278 trips/day, exceeding the plan by 245%.
The three stations with the largest number of passengers are Ben Thanh, the City Theater and Suoi Tien, accounting for more than 50% of the total number of passengers.
From January 21, 2025, Metro No. 1 will start collecting tolls with ticket prices from 6,000 - 20,000 VND/trip, depending on the distance traveled.
Monthly tickets for regular passengers cost 300,000 VND, while students only need to pay 150,000 VND. In addition, unlimited tickets for one day cost 40,000 VND, while three-day tickets cost 90,000 VND.
Since the toll collection date, the number of passengers on Metro Line 1 has remained high, an average of 56,196 trips/day.
During operation, Metro Line 1 has encountered 5 incidents related to signals, interruptions in operation due to lightning and wheelies due to heavy rain.
These incidents were quickly resolved by the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board (MAUR), Urban Railway Company No. 1 (HURC) and the contractor and learned from experience to ensure stable operation.
Currently, Metro Line 1 has not yet completed the automatic ticket collection system provided by contractor Hitachi, expected to be operational from May 2025.
During the waiting period, HURC cooperated with Mastercard to deploy a cashless payment solution.
The system is now connected to Mastercard cards and banks in the NAPAS network but has not yet integrated with other international cards such as VISA, AMEX, JCB and UPI.
After the inauguration ceremony of Metro Line 1, Ho Chi Minh City will hold a ceremony to activate the implementation of Resolution 188 of the National Assembly.
Resolution 188 allows a pilot of a number of specific mechanisms and policies, especially to develop the urban railway system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City aims to complete 7 more 355 km metro lines from now until 2035, aiming for a public passenger transport rate of 40 - 50% to meet travel needs.
In the next phase, from 2035 to 2045, the city will continue to expand the network by 155 km, bringing the total length of the metro to 510 km.
Ho Chi Minh City plans to start construction of Metro Line 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong) in December 2025.
The entire route is more than 11km long, of which 9.2km is underground, the rest is elevated and the road leading to Tham Luong depot (District 12). The project includes 9 underground stations and 1 elevated station.
