Sustainable Urban Transportation Development: Prioritizing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

This study addresses the question of sustainable urban transport. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is
dominated by motorcycles, and its rapid economic development is bringing more cars and
motorcycles onto its already congested streets every day. While Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is gaining
popularity as a low-cost and highly efficient mass transit system in many cities, it has not been able to
gain enough support from the government in Vietnam to be implemented. This study used a Stated
Preference Survey to measure the attitude of motorcyclists, as the major stakeholders in Ho Chi Minh
City’s transport system, towards BRT. In addition, given the rising price of oil and the need to address
global warming issues, a calculation was also performed comparing energy consumption of
motorcycles and the proposed bus-based transit system. The findings revealed that a high percentage
of motorcyclists would switch to the proposed bus system. The study also found that the proposed
BRT network could reduce transport-related CO2 emissions by more than 40,000 tons per year, and
replace around one million motorcycle trips a day. These results of this study can provide an incentive
for policy makers to implement BRT in Ho Chi Minh City as well as providing data for future BRT
studies.