HCMC – After repeated delays, the New Mien Dong Coach Station located in HCMC’s District 9, the country’s largest coach station, will be put into operation on October 10, according to the municipal Department of Transport.
In the first phase, the operation of 71 interprovincial bus routes for trips that are 1,100 kilometers or longer at the existing Mien Dong Coach Station in the city’s Binh Thanh District will be moved to the new station. These routes will serve passengers travelling between HCMC and central and northern provinces.
To improve the efficiency, facilitate the operations of transport operators and make it easy for passengers in the initial stage, the municipal Department of Transport will allow transport operators to pick up and drop off passengers at the current coach station for three months from the date of operation of the new one.
The department also encouraged the remaining transport operators at the existing Mien Dong Coach Station to use the new coach station as a pickup and drop-off site, Lao Dong Online reported.
Apart from mapping out a plan to adjust some bus lines to link the existing coach station and the new one, the department assigned the HCMC Public Transport Management Center to work with investors to complete infrastructure and other facilities serving some subsidized commuter bus lines at the New Mien Dong Coach Station.
Earlier, the New Mien Dong Coach Station was set to open in mid-August, but was delayed as some components of the project remained incomplete.
The new coach station, located next to the Hanoi Highway, covers over 16 hectares in District 9 and a part of the Di An Township in Binh Duong Province. Work on the coach station project, with total capital of VND4 trillion, started in April 2017. It is expected to serve over seven million passengers per year.
The first phase of the project comprises a central station, a parking lot, a passenger area, a technical system and a wastewater treatment plant, while the second phase will comprise building tunnels and an overpass and upgrading National Highway 1 and Hoang Huu Nam Street.
