Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee has just approved a project on public bus transport in the province in the period 2020-2030 in an attempt to reduce traffic accidents and ease congestion...
Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee has just approved a project on developing public bus transport in the province in the period 2020-2030 in an attempt to reduce traffic accidents and ease congestion.
The use of personal vehicles has increased by 10-12% on average while public transport infrastructures and facilities are still limited, putting pressure on main roads, resulting in travel disruption and traffic congestion risks, especially in Nha Trang City during rush hours. Therefore, the province is working towards the development of green and sustainable transport, including public passenger transport service, especially with public buses.
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According to Nguyen Van Dan, Director of Khanh Hoa Department of Transport, public bus transport will help reduce the use of personal vehicles, thus helping to minimize traffic jam and accidents. Therefore, a long-term strategy for the development of public bus transport is needed.
Reportedly, the public bus transport network in Khanh Hoa has 16 routes, including 8 subsidized bus service routes and 8 non-subsidized inter-district bus service routes. The project on public bus transport with the target to promote sustainable transport system, encourage the use of public transport service and diversify means of transport in the province in the period 2020-2023 is essential to meet travel demand.
To develop public transport by modern and smart bus, the project has built 2 schemes in 2 different periods. Specifically, till 2025, the bus network expands to 22 routes, including 8 subsidized, 8 non-subsidized inter-district bus service routes, 1 new subsidized route, 1 tour route and 4 inter-provincial routes. In the period 2025-2030, the bus network expands to 29 routes, including 2 public bus rapid transits (BRT) linking Nha Trang City center – Cam Ranh Airport and the Nha Trang City east-west corridor between high speed railway station – Nha Trang passenger Railway Station in the future – the city center; 14 subsidized and 8 community-funded routes.
The starting and ending points are located in crowded areas with high travel demand and traffic connectivity and possibly integrated into bus parking areas. In some special cases, infrastructures are integrated to serve traffic modes of road and waterway or road and railway.
The distance between bus stops must be within 700m in urban areas and not more than 1,500m in suburban and rural communities. The parking area demanded for public bus transport infrastructures is 1.5ha, excluding working offices, booking offices and passenger service space.
The project also proposes solutions for public bus transport development to enhance operational service quality (improving infrastructures, promoting communications, applying information technology, building bidding regulations and support mechanism); monitor and manage bus operation (establishing a public transport management center and building a smart bus management system).
The estimated investment in public bus transport in the province by 2030 is more than VND403.8 billion, including more than VND89.6 billion till 2025 and more than VND314 billion till 2030. The investment is expected to focus on infrastructures to open new bus routes and improve passenger service by 2025.
M.H
Translated by N.T
