HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Transport has drawn up aplan to put advertisements on all buses operating on 136 routes around the cityafter eight months of piloting the plan on 171 buses on 10 routes.

Twenty seven companiesand brands, mostly from Vietnam and Japan, participated in the pilot plan toadvertise cosmetics, food, sauces and pharmaceutical products.

Koa-Sha Vietnam LtdCompany is the official agency executing the pilot projects of bus ads in HCMCity that began in March.

After eight months ofpiloting, revenue from bus ads reached 14.6 billion VND (646,000 USD),according to the Department of Transport.

Under the new plan, thedepartment is calling for more companies, particularly those providing tourismand industrial products, to run ads on buses.

Earlier, the Departmentof Transport had worked with the Koa-Sha Vietnam Ltd Company to conduct asurvey on the public opinion of commuters and companies using bus ads. Most ofthe respondents said they agreed with the idea and that bus ads that haveeye-catching colours would attract the attention of commuters.

Meanwhile many transportcompanies said bus ads would increase the satisfaction of commuters becausethey make buses look more appealing.

Le Hoang Minh, Deputy Directorof the Department of Transport, said his department had submitted a plan toexpand bus ads to the municipal People’s Committee for approval.

“If approved, all theremaining subsidised buses will have ads on them, which would bring in morethan 113 billion VND (500,000 USD) in revenue every year,” Minh said.

For subsidised buses,the ads revenues will be added to the city budget. Meanwhile, for buses thatare not subsidised by the city government, all the ad revenue will belong tothe bus companies, who will use the funds for bus maintenance, according toMinh.

However, the citycurrently lacks consistent regulation on the activity.

In addition, a number ofbuses are now seriously deteriorated, causing many hurdles for bus ad designsand execution.            

In the long run, thecity would have to establish an agency to manage and supervise bus ad activity,Minh said.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Nguyen ofthe Centre for National Strategy and Policies Research, said bus ads were agood idea as they brings more funding for the city budget and attract morecommuters to use public transport.

“It is a waste of timeand money to delay the plan to put ads on all the buses,” Nguyen noted.  

Bus ads had been bannedin HCM City for more than 10 years.

The new plan aims toearn more income for bus companies, thus reducing dependence on statesubsidies.

With buses gaining inpopularity among commuters, students and even a number of foreigners, localbusinesses will benefit if their products and services are advertised on buses.

With the expected costfor advertisers of 33-50 million VND (1,460-2,200 USD) per square metre, thecity could earn more than 100 billion VND (4,400 USD) from ads featured on3,200 buses each year.-VNA