Hanoi has begun a pilot project to introduce electronic smartcards inthe city, with the installation of smartcard readers on the Giap Bat-GieBridge bus route this month.
This is part of the Traffic SafetyHuman Resource Development project to develop public transport inHanoi. The project consists of two phases funded by non-refundable aidfrom Japan International Co-operation Agency.
The first phase piloting the use of smartcards is worth more than 32 billion VND (1.5 million USD).
Theproject would issue 200,000 smartcards for bus passengers. Passengerscan register to receive smartcards at ticket stalls, free of charge.
Smartcards would be officially issued for the Giap Bat-Gie Bridge route from October 6.
KuboYoshitomo, a representative of JICA, said the number of passengerstravelling with monthly tickets accounted for 70 percent of commuters.Meanwhile, the management of ticket sales and the use of fake papertickets remained big problems.
The pilot project would use busticketing to operate more effectively, especially if the city moves todevelop urban railways and bus rapid transit systems.
NguyenHoang Hai, director of the city's Urban Transport Management andOperation Centre said the city had decided to trial electronic bustickets on specific routes to wean passengers onto the new system.
"Wehave to accept the use of both two kinds of tickets. A developedcountry such as the Republic of Korea spent ten years trying to applyelectronic tickets on a large scale," he said.
The centre hassubmitted a proposal to the city authority to apply the model ofe-tickets across all bus routes. If the proposal is approved, it wouldtake three years to be carried out, he said.
In the meantime, doubts remain over the feasibility of the project.
PhamQuang Tho, a bus assistant at Gia Lam Bus Station said many passengerswere careless and could take minutes to find their tickets.
Incrowded areas such as universities, the number of passengers could be upto 40 people, while the time for a bus to pull over was only a fewminutes. If the ticket process was slow, some passengers could miss thebus, he said.
Nguyen Thanh Huyen, a student at Hanoi Teachers'University said most passengers didn't know about the new system,despite it being rolled out across student routes.-VNA
This is part of the Traffic SafetyHuman Resource Development project to develop public transport inHanoi. The project consists of two phases funded by non-refundable aidfrom Japan International Co-operation Agency.
The first phase piloting the use of smartcards is worth more than 32 billion VND (1.5 million USD).
Theproject would issue 200,000 smartcards for bus passengers. Passengerscan register to receive smartcards at ticket stalls, free of charge.
Smartcards would be officially issued for the Giap Bat-Gie Bridge route from October 6.
KuboYoshitomo, a representative of JICA, said the number of passengerstravelling with monthly tickets accounted for 70 percent of commuters.Meanwhile, the management of ticket sales and the use of fake papertickets remained big problems.
The pilot project would use busticketing to operate more effectively, especially if the city moves todevelop urban railways and bus rapid transit systems.
NguyenHoang Hai, director of the city's Urban Transport Management andOperation Centre said the city had decided to trial electronic bustickets on specific routes to wean passengers onto the new system.
"Wehave to accept the use of both two kinds of tickets. A developedcountry such as the Republic of Korea spent ten years trying to applyelectronic tickets on a large scale," he said.
The centre hassubmitted a proposal to the city authority to apply the model ofe-tickets across all bus routes. If the proposal is approved, it wouldtake three years to be carried out, he said.
In the meantime, doubts remain over the feasibility of the project.
PhamQuang Tho, a bus assistant at Gia Lam Bus Station said many passengerswere careless and could take minutes to find their tickets.
Incrowded areas such as universities, the number of passengers could be upto 40 people, while the time for a bus to pull over was only a fewminutes. If the ticket process was slow, some passengers could miss thebus, he said.
Nguyen Thanh Huyen, a student at Hanoi Teachers'University said most passengers didn't know about the new system,despite it being rolled out across student routes.-VNA
