Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation proposes banning sleeper buses from entering the inner city from mid-December

Sleeper buses on fixed routes blatantly enter the inner city to pick up and drop off passengers - Photo: VGP

Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Transportation proposes to ban sleeper buses from entering the inner city from mid-December. According to the Department of Transportation, currently, sleeper buses entering and exiting the city are only allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at 5 bus stations (An Suong, Nga Tu Ga, Mien Dong New, Mien Dong, Mien Tay). However, in reality, some bus operators have switched from fixed routes to contract arrangements to pick up and drop off passengers unlawfully.

Therefore, the Department of Transportation proposes banning sleeper buses from circulating in the city's central area, bounded by the following roads: National Highway 1 - Nguyen Van Linh - Vo Chi Cong - Nguyen Thi Dinh - Dong Van Cong - Mai Chi Tho - Hanoi Highway - National Highway 1.

This perimeter is similar to the restricted area for trucks circulating in the inner city as stipulated in Decision No. 23/2018 by the City People's Committee.

Sleeper buses are allowed to circulate to and from Mien Dong Bus Station (Binh Thanh District) and Mien Tay Bus Station (Binh Tan District) along the following routes:

+ Corridor to Mien Dong Bus Station: National Highway 1 - National Highway 13 - Dinh Bo Linh Street - Mien Dong Bus Station - National Highway 13 - National Highway 1.

+ Corridor to Mien Tay Bus Station: National Highway 1 - Kinh Duong Vuong Street - Mien Tay Bus Station and vice versa.

If approved, the Department of Transportation petitions the City People's Committee to assign leading units to cooperate with relevant agencies and units to install traffic signs, widely announce the traffic organization plan for sleeper buses; regularly cooperate with relevant agencies and units to monitor the traffic situation after implementation, organize preliminary assessments of the implementation results to promptly propose adjustments to the City People's Committee to fit the actual traffic situation.

The Department also petitions to establish restricted corridors for sleeper buses not to enter the inner city. The restriction will be in effect from 6 AM to 10 PM, starting from December 15, 2022. After a period of implementation, the Department will monitor and assess to make necessary adjustments according to the actual situation.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has 58 inter-provincial fixed route passenger transport units with 1,579 vehicles; 1,351 contract and tourist passenger transport units with 90,835 vehicles.

As of October 2022, the Department has issued transport business badges to 49,256 passenger vehicles; among them are about 1,100 sleeper buses (ranging from 22 to 44 beds).

Additionally, 1,610 sleeper buses from other provinces circulate in and out of the city's bus stations.

Statistics show that there are constantly 76 unauthorized pickup and drop-off locations (illegal buses, unauthorized bus stops) within the city, attracting a large number of fixed route buses to circulate in the city's central area.

Notably, after the second phase of relocating inter-provincial fixed route passenger transport from the old Mien Dong Bus Station to the new Mien Dong Bus Station on October 11, the situation of "illegal buses, unauthorized bus stops" tends to increase, primarily in Binh Thanh District, District 1, and Thu Duc City.

Vu Phong

According to the Government of Vietnam's electronic information portal

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