HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has issued regulations to ban trucks during rush hours in urban areas of the city in an effort to ease traffic congestion.

From August 1, light trucks will not be allowed to enter the city’s urban area during peak hours from 6am to 9am and from 4pm to 10pm.

Heavy trucks and container trucks will not be permitted to enter urban areas from 6am to 10pm

The urban area is bounded by the following routes: National Highway No 1A, Hà Nội Highway, Đồng Văn Cống Street, Mai Chí Thọ Street and Nguyễn Văn Linh Street.

The city’s People Committee, however, is considering granting licenses to allow certain vehicles to operate during these hours.

These include rescue trucks, dump trucks, some vehicles such as trucks that need to do repair work on electrical equipment, and heavy trucks for key construction projects.

In addition, light trucks and heavy trucks will be allowed to operate on ring roads without a time limit.

The People’s Committee has authorised the city’s Department of Transport to issue the licenses.

Under the regulation, individuals and organisations will be licensed within two days after the city’s Department of Transport receives their documents.

Ads auction 

The city’s Department of Transport has approved an auction to seek bids for advertisements to be placed on city buses in a bid to raise revenue.

As many as 1,590 buses on 79 bus routes are calling for bids for advertising. This is the third time the city has officially opened bidding for advertising on public buses.

The auction will be divided into eight packages with expected advertising revenue of more than VNĐ177 billion ($7.6 million) a year.

Bidders will cast bids directly at the auction, with a reserve price of 10 per cent of the starting price.

The department’s Centre for Public Transport Management and Operations is in charge of organising the auction.

Public buses in HCM City carry about 306 million passengers a year.

Each year, the city traffic sector needs around VNĐ1 trillion ($43 million) in funds for bus subsidies. 

Due to a lack of revenue, transport firms have decreased their number of daily trips on many bus routes. — VNS