Parking areas near the first metro line in Ho Chi Minh City are at crunch time and most of them have been basically completed.

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Public Transportation Management Center under the municipal Department of Transport told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the city has been completing projects to increase access to the metro line, including seven parking lots.

Of these, there are two parking areas for buses and five are reserved for personal vehicles.

In particular, a 1,596-square-meter parking space for buses is being built near the Van Thanh Station in Binh Thanh District. A parking area for residents’ vehicles spanning some 770 square meters is underway under a nearby overpass.

At the Thao Dien Station in Thu Duc City, a parking lot stretching about 1,000 square meters for commuters’ personal vehicles is being developed on a land lot along Vo Nguyen Giap Boulevard and a road connecting to a nearby pedestrian bridge.

There is also a 1,500-square-meter parking area at the Rach Chiec Station and a 1,000-square-meter parking area at the Phuoc Long Station, both in Thu Duc City.

A parking areas covering 3,000 square meters for buses and another 1,000-square-meter parking lot for passengers' vehicles are being constructed at the Binh Thai Station in Thu Duc City.

Ho Chi Minh City also built new bus stops, pedestrian roads, and sidewalks at 11 locations near elevated stations and along routes where buses pass through to connect to metro stations.

A passenger brings a motorbike to a metro station in Paris. Photo: Gia Tien / Tuoi Tre

Furthermore, there will be 10 parking lots with a capacity of 500 motorbikes each below elevated metro stations.

Passengers at the Suoi Tien Station in Thu Duc City can use the parking space at the new Mien Dong Coach Station.

Three underground stations in the downtown city have no parking areas but metro passengers can have their vehicles kept at adjacent trade centers, high-rise buildings, and parks.

The area boasts many bus stops and public bike rental stations, offering commuters more options.

After the metro line operates for a period, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport will cooperate with relevant units to develop parking lots based on the actual demand of metro passengers.

A 1,000-square-meter parking area near the Phuoc Long Station of the first metro line in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

The Department of Construction has recently summarized units’ proposals to use ten public land lots as locations for fixed-term public parking lots.

Some of the proposed locations can accommodate dozens to hundreds of cars each.

The operator of the first metro line is developing regulations on things that passengers can bring on board metro trains to ensure safe, security and public transport culture.

As for bicycles, only folding and portable ones will receive priority to be taken onto metro trains in order not to affect other commuters.

Ngo Hai Duong, head of the Road Transport Management Division at the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, told Tuoi Tre that bicycle and motorcycle riders can leave their vehicles at parking lots near pedestrian bridges connecting with the metro line.

The department is responsible for arranging traffic at stations and along the metro line, specifically installing traffic signs, painting road markings, and upgrading sidewalks and roadbeds.

It has also connected bus, taxi and ride-hailing services with elevated stations, Duong added.

Ho Chi Minh City’s metro line No. 1 is 19.7 kilometers long and stretches from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Long Binh Depot in Thu Duc City.

It includes 2.6 kilometers of underground urban rail link, 17.1 kilometers of elevated track, and carries a price tag of VND43.7 trillion ($1.7 billion). 

The line has a total of 17 trains, each capable of accommodating 930 passengers, including 147 sitting and 783 standing.

Construction on the metro line began in 2012.

Metro line No. 1 is in its ‘sprint’ phase, with final tasks nearing completion before commercial operations begin on December 22, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways.

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