HCMC metro fare proposed at up to $1

Passengers will be offered a 75-percent discount when making advance payments for a metro card.

Meanwhile, those choosing tickets for unlimited trips will be offered a price of VND46,000 per day and VND104,000 for three days, according to a recent proposal that the HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) sent to the city Department of Transport.

A monthly pass will cost VND320,000 ($14) and half that for students and workers at industrial parks.

In the first phase of operation, metro No. 1 is expected to lure around 68,000 passengers per day and when there are bus routes connecting to the metro, the volume could increase to about 110,000.

In the first year of operation, HCMC will use VND1 trillion of its budget to subsidize the project.

Set to cost over VND43.7 trillion ($1.89 billion), HCMC’s first metro line will run around 20 kilometers from near Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Long Binh Depot in Thu Duc, have three underground stations and 11 on the surface.

After several delays, the line is now set to be completed at the end of 2023.