Hanoi buses keep losing passengers

Hanoi Transportation Corporation (Transerco) total revenue in 2020 was VND2.5 trillion ($108 million), fell 17.5 percent year-on-year, said Nguyen Thanh Nam, CEO of Transerco, at the Transerco 2020 Review Conference held recently.

Nam said the company is struggling due to market slump. In 2020, Hanoi bus had to cut 80 percent of the trips from March 22 and stop operating from April 1 to April 22. It had no income during the said period yet still had to pay for the operating cost and other expenses.

The reasons were social-distancing and passengers being reluctant to take the bus during the pandemic, resulting in a fall in the number of passengers and single-trip ticket sales.

The free bus passes policy for the elders also contributed to the single-trip ticket sales drop. Airport bus and city-tour bus without price support also had to cut trips as the number of passengers, mostly especially foreign tourists, dropped in 2020.

Transerco revenue in 2021 and the next few years will hardly revive due to the Covid-19 pandemic, free bus passes policy for the elders, and traffic congestion, Nam said.

Hanoi has set the goal of 20 percent of commuters using public transport in 2021 and 30-35 percent in 2025.