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| A fleet of 61 new buses have been pressed into service on five new inner city routes in Da Nang. VNS Photo Công Thành |
Viet Nam News
ĐÀ NẴNG — Five new inner-city bus routes with subsidised fares were launched on Saturday in Đà Nẵng.
Lê Văn Trung, director of the central city’s Department of Transport, said 61 new 40-seat busses have been introduced on the new routes. They will run every 20 minutes between 5am until 9pm, he added.
Tickets cost VNĐ5,000 (US$0.2) per trip, or VNĐ90,000 ($4) for a monthly package. People with disabilities, students, workers in industrial zones as well as underprivileged sections will get a 50 per cent discount.
Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn, Vice Chairman of the Đà Nẵng People’s Committee, said the new bus routes are part of the city’s 2016-20 public transportation development that aims to reduce the use of personal cars and motorbikes.
Through December, the city is offering free tickets to all commuters.
In 2018, the city plans to introduce three of their first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes and a BRT route connecting the Đà Nẵng International Airport with favourite destinations in Hội An City in neighbouring Quảng Nam Province.
The city’s population of 900,000 has far outgrown the current public bus system, which has just 48 buses travelling on five routes, meeting just 10 per cent of demand.
The city’s Transport Department estimates that residents make 2.1 million journeys each day, 80 per cent of them on motorbikes. — VNS
