The Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien metro, the first of its kind in HCMC, began charging fares on Tuesday after a month-long free ride period.
Passenger number was lower than during the previous month, with most riders being students and office workers.
Passengers buy handwritten tickets at Binh Thai Station of the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line, Thu Duc City, HCMC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo by Read/Quynh Tran |
Passengers can purchase single-ride, one-day, three-day, or monthly tickets, with payment options including cash, MasterCard, or the HCMC Metro app linked to the MoMo e-wallet. However, many passengers opted for cash payments, leading to long queues at some stations.
When the station experienced a surge in passenger volume, delays of 15-20 minutes occurred, prompting staff to resort to handwritten paper tickets to ease congestion. These makeshift tickets were collected at gates after passengers completed their journeys.
“After waiting for so long, I had to leave the station and take a bus to work, which made me late,” said a woman named Kim Hoa.
The chaos on the first day of fare collection has sparked criticism, with many emphasizing that the operator had time to thoroughly test the payment system. Observers argue that resolving such issues during the one-month free ride period could have ensured a smoother transition to paid operations.
Le Minh Triet, director of Urban Railways No. 1 Co., Ltd., the metro operator, acknowledged the issues, attributing them to passengers’ unfamiliarity with the payment system.
Triet said handwritten tickets were a temporary solution to prevent disruptions and congestion. Starting Wednesday, handwritten tickets will no longer be used, with manual cash payments resulting in paper tickets equipped with QR codes for gate access, he said.
He encouraged passengers to adopt electronic payment methods via cards or the metro app to save time.
From Jan. 24, the metro will expand payment options to include MoMo QR codes and Napas bank cards.
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A handwritten paper ticket is sold at Binh Thai Station of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line, Jan. 21, 2024. Photo by Read/Quynh Tran |
The metro line charges between VND6,000 and VND20,000 (US$0.24-0.79) per trip, depending on distance. Monthly passes are priced at VND300,000, with students receiving a 50% discount. One-day and three-day unlimited ride passes cost VND40,000 and VND90,000, respectively.
The metro, launched on Dec. 22, 2024, recorded nearly 2.8 million passenger trips during the free-ride period until Jan. 20, exceeding initial projections by 247%. The busiest day was Jan. 1, with over 275,000 trips as residents celebrated New Year’s Day using the metro service.
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