Traveling during the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, in Ho Chi Minh City was exciting thanks to the first metro line, according to many local residents. 

A metro line is not enough to completely transform the city’s traffic but is already proving to be incredibly attractive.

Fast, dust-free, and quiet train rides that carry millions of passengers raise hopes for a near future when people in Ho Chi Minh City will travel around the city entirely on metro trains.

The number of motorbikes on Vo Nguyen Giap Boulevard has noticeably decreased. Instead, there are scenes of passengers queuing to board metro trains at stations.

Despite an increase in the number of trips during the Tet holiday, the metro trains were still crowded.

The overload was not annoying. On the contrary, local residents are happy as the metro line has won over passengers.

Compared to driving a private vehicle, taking the metro is more convenient. The journey from Saigon Hi-Tech Park Station in Thu Duc City to Nguyen Hue Flower Street in District 1 takes just 10 minutes.

Metro service is also faster and more convenient than four people going on two motorbikes. 

More importantly, it is safe and there is no need to struggle to find parking lots in the city center.

For the elderly, the operation of the first metro line is nothing short of a dream coming true. They are happy to travel by metro after decades of waiting.

People now ask one another, “Have you taken the metro yet?”

Social networks are full of images of people of all ages experiencing metro trains, which is a cute trend that made this year's Tet more interesting.

However, there are still shortcomings that need removing. When trains were crowded and the doors were closed, some people still made noise by talking quite loudly. 

It is easy to see young people freely occupying priority seats while elderly people are standing in front of them.

Passengers should show civilized, cultured behavior. Giving up seats for women and the elderly, similar to the etiquette on buses and at parks, should become a 'conditional reflex.' 

When trains are about to enter stations, passengers who need to get off should actively move because the doors only open for 30 seconds. 

People getting on trains should also give way to passengers who want to get off.

Passengers need to pay attention to safety signs and lines.

After 45 days of official operation, the pros and cons of the metro line have been seen, and many lessons have been learned.

Passengers’ compliance with regulations and their civilized, polite attitude will help this type of public transport to become more popular.

Buying tickets via app is an inevitable trend. However, the ticket control system after passengers get off trains remains inefficient. Passengers have to queue to wait for code scanning.

The operator should work out reasonable adjustments.

The metro ran 928 trips, serving some 522,840 passengers from January 29 to February 2, or between the first and fifth days of the new lunar year.

During the last five days of last lunar year and the first five days of this lunar year, the metro line served more than 761,000 passengers across 1,768 trips, earning over VND11.7 billion (US$464,110), or approximately VND1.3 billion ($51,580) per day.

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