HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Water buses in Ho Chi Minh City providedservices to about 900,000 passengers in the first 11 months of the year, up by155 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the municipalDepartment of Transport.

Tran Quang Lam, deputy director of the department, said in the first 10 monthsof the year, the water bus Route No 1 provided services to 276,000 passengers,or about 780 passengers per day.

The number of services provided by the water buses on Route No 1 rose from 18in the first and second quarters to 26 in the third and fourth quarters.

The time periods from 8:30am-11am and 3pm-5pm saw the most passengers.

Under the city water bus plan approved in 2015, the water bus Route No 1, whichis 10.8km long, runs through nine wharves from Bach Dang Wharf on Sai Gon Riverin District 1, through Thanh Da Canal to the Sai Gon River in Binh Thanh district,to the wharf in Linh Trung ward in Thu Duc district.

Wharves include Bach Dang in District 1, Binh An in District 2, Thanh Da in BinhThanh district, and Hiep Binh Chanh and Linh Dong in Thu Duc district.

Another four wharves, Sai Gon, Tam Vu, Thao Dien and Binh Trieu, are underconstruction and will open in 2019.

Four water buses, which can carry 75 passengers each, operate, with another busexpected to be added next year, according to Lam.

Along with connections between water buses and road networks, city buses havebeen set up to carry passengers to Bach Dang, Binh An, Thanh Da and Hiep Binh Chanh,while another bus stop has opened 800 metres from Linh Dong wharf.

The Centre for Public Transport Managementunder the HCM City Department of Transport also uses mini-buses to carrypassengers to Linh Dong wharf.

Thuong Nhat Co., the investor of Water Bus Route No 1, has unveiled a plan touse electric cars to carry passengers from Bach Dang wharf to hotels andshopping centres in downtown HCM City.

“Water bus services operate not only in the city but around the country. Thismeans of transportation will contribute to the development of the city’s publicpassenger transportation and waterway tourism,” Lam said.

To improve water tourism, the city’s transport department will dredge narrowpassages of rivers and canals, check urban development in areas along Sai Gon River,announce technical criteria for construction of inland waterway ports, and makeplans to mobilise investments from the private sector for waterway passengertransport.

In the near future, the city’s transportation department will combine waterwaypassenger transport services with waterway tourism.

The routes will include a 15km waterway route that links Bach Dang wharf-SaiGon River-Rach Chiec-Dong Nai River; the 16km Sai Gon Sai Gon River-Te Canal-DoiCanal; the 14km Sai Gon River-Mui Den Do-Nha Be River; the 17km Sai Gon River-VamThuat River-An Loc bridge; and the 23km Sai Gon River-Te Canal-On Lom Canal-RachDia-Phu Xuan River-Soai Rap River.

The 32km route from Bach Dang in HCM City to Thu Dau Mot in Binh Duong provinceis expected to open before April 30, while the Bach Dang-Con Dao Island in BaRia-Vung Tau province is scheduled to start in March. — VNS/VNA