The Hanoi City Department of Transport will provide electronic bus tickets for passengers who are commutation ticket holders in the capital city early next month under a Japanese-funded pilot project.

>> Rapid bus line to break ground in HCMC in 2016 Accordingly, 200,000 electronic tickets, in the form of smart cards, will first be issued in the first phase of the project to provide to passengers on the Giap Bat-Cau Gie route on October 6, the department said on Tuesday. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has funded the first phase with a non-refundable aid of over VND32 billion (US$1.51 million). Yesterday the department and JICA jointly began the installation of card readers on buses of the above route. The first phase also includes the installation of machinery and equipment needed for issuing e-tickets at two transitional points in Long Bien and Cau Giay Districts, the department said.

In addition, devices for renewal of smart cards for 42 ticket-selling stations and a software system for management of the project will be also made available in this phase. These e-tickets will be provided to passengers who are commutation ticket holders, who can obtain them at ticket counters without paying any fee, said Kubo Yoshitomo, the representative of JICA Office in Vietnam. If the first phase runs smoothly and effectively, the second phase will be started after 2015 to provide necessary equipment and devices for all the other bus routes across the city, the department said. Based on the outcomes achieved in these two phases, the department will consider applying the e-ticket model to other means of public transport, such as rapid bus transit and urban trains, in the last phase of the project.

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