Hanoi firm urges stronger push towards clean energy buses

The proposal, being studied by the municipal Department of Transport, suggests increasing the number of buses in Hanoi by 90 percent to 3,400-3,800 by 2025, and to have 15-20 percent of these operate on electricity and compressed natural gas.

The proposal, which targets reduced emissions and air pollution in the city, expects over 25 percent of buses in Hanoi to run on clean energy by 2030.

The plan is to open 90-100 new bus routes in the next five years, of which 10 routes will serve students and workers. The city will have up to 230 bus routes by 2025.

The proposal estimates the city’s average bus subsidies during the 2020-2025 period at VND2.5-3 trillion ($108-130 million) per year.

Towards further development of the public transportation system, Transerco says that the city needs 13 new bus priority lanes with a total length of 60.8 kilometers. Its proposal includes setting up 1,500-2000 bus stops and 30-40 bus terminals to serve the new bus routes.

Hanoi currently has 126 normal bus routes and seven others that use buses fueled by compressed natural gas.

An electric bus service was launched in the city recently by VinBus Transport Service Co., a subsidiary of Vingroup, Vietnam's largest private conglomerate. The service now runs in an urban area of Gia Lam District and is waiting for the completion of procedures to connect with the city’s public transport network.