Ho Chi Minh City: Reducing traffic congestion by...charging fees

A belt around the center of Ho Chi Minh City will be established with 34 automatic toll gates using radio recognition technology. Cars wishing to enter the center during rush hour will have to pay from 30,000 to 50,000 VND... is a project to reduce congestion that has just been proposed in Ho Chi Minh City.

Map of the toll ring road for cars entering the center of Ho Chi Minh City.

Tien Phong Technology Joint Stock Company has just submitted to the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City a project to collect fees for cars entering the center to limit traffic congestion. According to this project, the central area of ​​Ho Chi Minh City will form a closed belt including the following routes: Hoang Sa (along the banks of Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal) to Nguyen Phuc Nguyen street intersecting with Cach Mang Thang Tam, Ba Thang Hai street, Le Hong Phong street, Ly Thai To street, Nguyen Van Cu street, Vo Van Kiet street, Ton Duc Thang street to build toll gates.

Peak hour tolls

There are a total of 34 multi-lane, automatic non-stop toll gates and an operation center connected to the toll gates, processing information and managing toll collection activities at the gates. Cars wishing to enter the center of Ho Chi Minh City must open an account linked to the automatic non-stop toll collection system installed at the beltway.

“When a car enters the center during rush hour, the system will automatically deduct money from the account. In case a car does not pay, the system will record and notify the fine, then notify the inspection unit to not allow the vehicle to be inspected until the fine is paid” - the project stated.

According to the investor, the non-stop toll collection system will use radio identification technology (RFID) combined with automatic license plate recognition (ANPR) to ensure the ability to collect non-stop multi-lane tolls with a capacity of 1,800 cars/hour per lane. In front of the toll stations, there will be a notice board "entering the anti-congestion toll collection area" so that people can consider whether to use their personal cars or not.

The expected toll collection time is during peak hours from 6am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm every day. Private cars entering the city center must pay 40,000 VND (proposed 25% reduction for cars registered in the city center); passenger cars 50,000 VND, taxis registered in the city 30,000 VND (25% reduction).

Blue-plate vehicles entering the city center must also pay a fee, except for priority official vehicles according to regulations such as ambulances, dike protection vehicles, fire trucks, etc. Only subsidized buses are free. There is no fee for leaving the city. It is expected to collect about 700 billion VND each year.

Project to charge cars entering the center of Ho Chi Minh City to reduce traffic jams.

The total project cost is about 1,500 billion VND, invested by the investor, implemented in the form of BLT (build, lease and transfer) for a period of 15 years (2018 - 2034). All collected fees will be used to establish a fund to support the development of public passenger transport such as increasing investment in new buses, free bus rides in the city center, investing in additional bus stops, etc.

Limit private vehicles, develop public transport

According to the project, the goal of collecting fees for cars entering the center is to reduce the number of personal vehicles, develop public transport, and prevent traffic jams in the central area of ​​Ho Chi Minh City.

A representative of Tien Phong Company said that when this project is put into use, it will immediately reduce the number of cars by 49% and taxis by 30% entering the city center. At the same time, it will help increase the number of people using public transport.

“When collecting fees, the number of cars during rush hours will be reduced by half, giving way to buses. This project is a combination of developing public transport and controlling private vehicles. According to calculations, the current volume of public passenger transport is 9%, it will increase to 15% after collecting fees,” said the investor representative.

According to the Department of Transport, the number of private vehicles in Ho Chi Minh City is increasing rapidly, with 30,000 new vehicles registered each month. Of these, cars account for 15%, bringing the total number of vehicles in the city to more than 8 million, including nearly 700,000 cars, not counting the large number of vehicles from other provinces operating in the area.

Meanwhile, every day there are more than 100,000 cars entering and leaving the center of Ho Chi Minh City, the number of cars compared to the road area is at a saturation level so the movement is very slow. Therefore, traffic pressure, especially in the central area, is very large, causing frequent congestion during rush hour.

Fees 'crushing' cars into the center of Saigon: Toll station belt

In addition, many construction projects have been carried out in the central area of ​​Ho Chi Minh City, causing traffic difficulties in these areas. In particular, the construction area of ​​Metro Line 1 Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien station has been prolonged, causing traffic congestion on Le Loi, Ton Duc Thang, Pasteur streets, and the area in front of Ben Thanh market during rush hour, making it very difficult for vehicles to move.

Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, said that the purpose of this toll collection project is not to generate revenue but to control the number of vehicles entering the center, reduce travel demand, and develop the public transport system.This is a project within a comprehensive solution package to enhance the development of public transport combined with the control of personal motor vehicles, researched by the Institute for Strategic Research, Ministry of Transport.

According to Tien Phong Newspaper