Free Public Transit: Vietnam turns to public transit to save money, lives, environment

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Vietnam turns to public transit to save money, lives, environment

Starting next month, around 100,000 city officers would be asked to use buses or non-engine vehicles to go to work at least once a week.
The campaign is set to be applied to all residents in early 2009, the city said.
In initiating the project, the city aims to save around VND4.6 trillion (US$278 million) per year and reduce environmental pollution, Duong Hong Thanh, deputy director of HCMC’s Department of Transport, said at a meeting Tuesday. thanh
nien news

Free is Cheaper

How is free transit cheaper? Don't you have to make up for lost fare revenue? The answer is that your city will save so much money in other areas, and quality of life will improve so much that you will get back much more than the lost fares. Some examples are listed below. If you want to see specific numbers, see our spreadsheet here.

Increased return on investment. Public transit involves large fixed costs. When fares are gone, there are more riders per vehicle, getting more value from the investment.
Reduced parking costs. With free transit, fewer people will park downtown. City parking authorities can cost $180 million a year, paid by fines, which are just a tax on customers and delivery services.

Reduced traffic congestion. Studies have shown that the time lost in traffic costs urban economies hundreds of millions of dollars.
Less money exported for gasoline. A medium sized city can export 1 million dollars a day in gasoline money for cars. Free buses will reduce this considerably.
Better quality of life, priceless. In Hasselt, Belgium, when fares were removed, people in hospital started receiving more visitors.