The Department of Transport recommends using electric cars for the first rapid bus route in Ho Chi Minh City to limit noise and reduce environmental pollution.
The content has just been sent by the Department of Transport to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, after the Investment Project Management Board for the construction of traffic works (the investor) proposed to use trams for the rapid bus route under the Development Project. green traffic (BRT project No. 1).
Perspective of BRT station No. 1. Photo: UCCI
The BRT route is 26 km long along the corridor of Vo Van Kiet - Mai Chi Tho avenue connecting An Lac roundabout (Binh Chanh district) to Rach Chiec bridge (Thu Duc city). On the city route, 42 vehicles are expected to be invested; construction of stops, pedestrian bridges, terminals, logistics yards, modern management systems... This is the first of six planned BRT lines in Ho Chi Minh City.
The city's transport sector assesses that electric buses do not emit smoke and dust, causing environmental pollution, and do not cause noise; Safe operation, low risk of fire and explosion. At the same time, operating and maintenance costs are more economical than vehicles using internal combustion engines. The use of electric vehicles is also in line with the development trend of automobile technology, which is agreed by many experts.
However, the Department of Transport said that electric vehicles have a higher investment cost than cars using diesel and CNG, leading to more funding for subsidies when rapid buses operate. The construction of a system of charging stations and service infrastructure must also be carried out in parallel with the development of electric vehicles. In addition, the bidding to choose a vehicle supplier and transport service is also facing difficulties because there are currently no economic and technical norms and unit costs for electric buses.
To be feasible in implementation, the Department of Transport proposed the city assign the investor to coordinate with the parties to study design parameters of electric vehicles suitable for rapid buses. The transport sector will develop norms and unit prices for public passenger transport services by express bus to estimate costs for bidding or ordering.
Electric buses were piloted by the city in March 2022. Photo: Gia Minh
Ho Chi Minh City has more than 2,000 buses operating on 127 routes. Earlier in March, the city piloted a large electric bus route connecting the Vinhomes Grand Park urban area (Thu Duc City) to Saigon Bus Station (District 1). This is the first route to be put into operation in 5 electric bus routes with a total of 77 vehicles manufactured by VinFast (about 6.5 billion VND each). The remaining 4 routes are about to be put into operation.
According to Vnexpress.