HCMC – The HCMC Department of Transport will relocate 79 interprovincial bus routes from the old Mien Dong coach station to the new one in Thu Duc City during the second phase of the new station’s operations beginning October 11.
The routes to be moved are those operating between HCMC and 15 provinces and cities, namely including Thua Thien-Hue, Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Lam Dong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Ben Tre, Can Tho and Ca Mau.
The newly built Mien Dong coach station has been handling some 24 long-haul interprovincial bus routes starting from the northern and north-central provinces since October 2020.
The Saigon Transportation Mechanical Corporation (Samco), the investor of the Mien Dong coach station, will continue to move all the remaining 63 routes in phase three. As planned, the new station will operate 518 trips a day, accounting for 34% of the number of departures from the old station.
The former station in the inner-city district of Binh Thanh will be transformed into a parking lot, transit station and public transportation hub.
The new Mien Dong coach station, about 20 kilometers from the old one, is the country’s largest, with a total investment of over VND4 trillion.
Since the station is far from the center of HCMC, it has remained unattractive to passengers. On average, the station served 47 passengers a day during the first six months of 2022, a 93% drop from the pre-pandemic level.
