HCMC – The HCMC Department of Transport has proposed barring sleeper buses from entering the inner-city areas to help shut down unlicensed coach stations and reduce traffic congestion, said a city transport official.
The Transport Department has already asked other departments and relevant agencies for their feedback on the proposal and plans to submit it to the HCMC People’s Committee for consideration and approval this month, Phan Cong Bang, deputy director of the Transport Department, told a press briefing yesterday, November 3.
The ban is expected to take effect in December this year, Bang said.
Under the proposal, sleeper buses would not be allowed to enter inner-city areas between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
The ban would later be extended to vehicles with more than 30 or 16 seats, excluding those used to transport industrial park workers, students and tourists.
The off-limits areas would be bounded by National Highway 1 and Nguyen Van Linh Avenue to the north, west and south, and Vo Chi Cong, Dong Van Cong, Mai Chi Tho and Hanoi roads to the east.
According to the transport official, the city began shifting 79 more routes from the old bus station in Binh Thanh District to the new Mien Dong coach station in Thu Duc City from October 11.
However, the number of vehicles picking up/dropping off passengers, not in line with the prevailing regulations, has been rising in District 1, Binh Thanh and Thu Duc.
Around 140 out of nearly 300 vehicles did not offer their services at the new coach station as planned. Instead, they picked up and dropped off passengers in other areas near the center of HCMC.
The city authorities have adopted multiple measures to tackle violators, including installing more surveillance cameras on the routes usually seeing unlicensed passenger pickups and drop-offs and fining violators.
