Digitization to replace 4,000 Hanoi public bus workers

The city began deploying the 6-9-month trial program on 13 bus routes the same day.

An additional 10 bus routes are scheduled to begin utilizing the digital ticketing system in December.

Once the trial is completed, the Hanoi Department of Transport and relevant units will evaluate the results. They are then expected to use their findings to propose applying the system to the city’s entire public transportation network.

Department director Nguyen Phi Thuong said digital tickets would help reduce the national transport budget as thousands of human employees will no longer be needed if it is successful.

"On 132 subsidized bus routes alone, totaling 2,034 buses, the roadmap plans for around 4,000 employees to be laid off, reducing a large amount of budget expenses. According to our calculations, we will be able to save around VND300 billion ($12.38 million) annually," he said.

Hanoi currently has a total of 154 public bus routes, including 132 subsidized private lines. The city is home to 2,034 buses, 277 of which use clean energy.

Over the 2015-2019 period, the national budget supported bus routes with a total of around VND1.37 trillion a year. The amount was increased to VND2.23 trillion annually for the 2020-2022 period. The figure then increased to VND3 trillion in 2022, and the support is expected to have risen to some VND2.75 trillion by the end of 2023.