New bike sharing scheme proposed for downtown HCMC

The municipal Transport Department has proposed a new bike sharing scheme for downtown HCMC with 43 stations and 400 bikes to encourage public transportation.

The stations would be located near bus stations in District 1 and District 3. The city is already studying the possibility of setting a bus priority lane in District 3, the department has said in its proposal to the city People’s Committee.

Each station would have a 20-30 square meter area and host 10-20 bikes. Users would unlock the bike by downloading the Mobike app on their smartphone, on which they can also locate the nearest station.

Users would set up an account on the app and can top it up using their bank cards, paying VND5,000 (22 U.S. cents) for 30 minutes.

The department said that the bike sharing scheme will help commuters connect with other types of public transport such as buses and make it more convenient to use public transportation.

The project would also attract private sector funds to help strengthen the city’s public transportation network.

The department had made a similar proposal in 2017 for District 1 but it was never implemented.

In 2018, a company tested a bike sharing scheme at the Vietnam National University – HCMC in Thu Duc District, but that project was not tested anywhere else in the city.

By Gia Minh – VnExpress.net – October 4, 2020