Bus Number 7 connects Nội Bài Airport with the Kim Ma bus station in Hà Nội. —Photo vneconomy.vn

HÀ NỘI — The prime minister has approved the Hà Nội People’s Committee plan for a new pilot passenger service connecting Nội Bài International Airport and the city’s downtown area.

The prime minister has asked the transport ministry to coordinate and guide the city’s People’s Committee in implementing the project to ensure the safety, high quality and efficiency of the service.

The transport ministry has also been asked to study and finalise the regulations for this kind of transportation during the revision of Decree No 8/2014/NĐ-CP on the business as well as conditions of doing business in transportation, ensuring consistency with relevant laws.

The non-subsidised service will give passengers more choice as the existing service has failed to attract local people or foreign visitors.

Currently, people can travel from Hà Nội’s centre to Nội Bài Airport by taxi, airline cars and buses.

Two bus services – bus numbers 7 and 17 – connect Nội Bài Airport with the bus stations in Hà Nội. They run every 20 minutes, daily from 5am to 10pm. They take about an hour to arrive at their respective bus stations and the fare is VNĐ9,000 (about US$0.4) per ride.

The bus is the cheapest mode of transportation, but not many people use it as it is always crowded and takes a lot of time.

Taxi is the most popular mode of transportation. However, it cannot carry many people and costs a lot of money.

Airlines such as Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar have their own buses. Though their buses are spacious and the tickets cost about VNĐ40,000 (US$1.8), the buses stop at only certain stops.

It is estimated that thousands of people travel from the city centre to the airport every day. So, the new bus service will help improve the transport services.

On March 16, HCM City launched a new bus route connecting Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport and its downtown area.

The project has investment capital of more than VNĐ20 billion (US$895,000).

The buses can carry up to 70 passengers each and run every 15 to 20 minutes between 5.30am and 1.30am. The fare for the service is VNĐ20,000 (US$0.9) per journey of more than 5km and VNĐ12,000 (US$0.5) for those under 5km. — VNS