HCM CITY — The proposal to develop boat taxis in HCM City must be submitted to the city Government by the end of this year for approval, as requested by the city People's Committee.

Under the project, two boat-taxi routes will be developed in the city by Thuong Nhat Co Ltd.

The first route runs on Tau Hu – Ben Nghe Canal along with Vo Van Kiet Avenue, and the other runs on Sai Gon River from Linh Dong Ward in Thu Duc District to Bach Dang Wharf in District 1, according to Nguyen Kim Toan, director of Thuong Nhat company.

Toan said the company would develop the route Linh Dong Ward (Thu Duc District) – Bach Dang Wharf (District 1), which would stop at Binh Quoi, Hiep Binh Chanh (Thu Duc District), Thanh Da, Tan Cang (Binh Thanh District), Tam Vu, Thao Dien, Binh An (District 2), Nguyen Huu Canh (Binh Thanh District) and Bach Dang Wharf (District 1).

The second route runs along Tau Hu – Ben Nghe Canal, which would pass through districts 8, 6, 5 and 4 and arrive at Bach Dang Wharf (District 1).

The company would buy eight large boats each with a capacity of 80 seats, half of which will be operated during peak hours.

The company would also buy 10 small boats to service passengers during off-peak hours.

The boat taxi would operate from 7am to 6pm daily.

During peak time from 7am to 8:30am, boat taxis would operate every 15 minutes. During off-peak hours, they would run every 30 minutes.

According to Toan, the fare for boat taxis would be higher than buses because of the high initial cost of investment.

He said it was difficult to say exactly how much it would cost.

Based on the current situation, the price of boat-taxi tickets would be VND25,000 per passenger.

If subsidised by the State, the ticket would cost only VND10,000 – VND15,000 per passenger, he said.

The company would build a total of 16 boat taxi stations for the two routes, four big stations and 12 small stations.

Boat taxis are expected to start operation in early 2013.

If two routes operate at 50 per cent of capacity, they would transport about 5,000 passengers a day.

Le Hoang Quan, the chairman of HCM City People's Committee, said it was necessary to build a boat-taxi route on the Ben Nghe – Tau Hu canal that runs along Vo Van Kiet Avenue to take full advantage of the roadwork project on Vo Van Kiet Avenue.

Developing boat taxis would help reduce the increasing traffic congestion on the roads, according to transport experts. — VNS

The Vietnam travel company also important to renovation travel tours to increase the number of visitors to Vietnam.And this event will attract more tourists to HCMC. With a taxi boat, visitors will have new experiences, like going cyclo or bicycle way.