More public bus routes proposed at Tan Son Nhat airport

The center said in its proposal to the Transport Department that one of the routes will stretch nine kilometers to link Gia Dinh Park in Go Vap District with routes around Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Tan Binh District, and the domestic as well as international terminals at the airport.

The other route will run 12.6 kilometers to link the bus station in Tan Phu District with routes around the airport, and its passenger terminals.

The two routes will not be subsidized by the city’s budget and will operate from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., it suggested.

There are currently three public bus routes to the airport: bus No. 152 linking the airport with Trung Son residential area in Binh Chanh District, bus No. 109 that connects the airport with the city’s downtown area, and bus 72-1 that links to neighboring beach town of Vung Tau.

Public bus services at Tan Son Nhat have remained idle as customers find them inconvenient and operators complain of intimidation by other transport providers.

The buses are using the same pick-up and drop-off lanes as personal cars and, in most cases, the bus station is occupied by those cars, forcing traffic personnel to clear a space for buses to enter. Only when an inspection team shows up is the station freed.

In addition, a bus only stops for three minutes, causing passengers to easily miss it and have to wait around 10-15 minutes for another.

Passengers have also complained that existing bus routes fail to deliver them to their desired destinations.

Spreading over 1,500 hectares, Tan Son Nhat serves more than 100,000 passengers per day, with the area in front of the domestic terminal usually overcrowded.