Dear readers,
This week, stories on our site revolve around transportation issues in the city and the Minister of Transport himself!
Regarding the story of a bus driver and his assistant forcing a passenger to kneel down before letting him get off, writer Vy Du said not only have the bus crew violated the law by humiliating another person but also exceeded their authorities. This, he believes, explains why the people just ignore the government’s appeals to use public transportation.
“Why are there still seven million empty seats in Ho Chi Minh City’s bus system every year? Why are thousands of billions of dong spent to subsidize the bus fares and still it remains just a means of transportation for students and poor workers? The answer is simple. No one wants to step into a place where they know their dignity can be violated at any time,” wrote Du.
In response, reader M. Nguyen agreed that rude behavior of the staff that operates buses is still an unsolved issue.
“The infrastructure of HCMC is not made for buses at the current size. I would suggest the government should look into smaller economical buses, cut routes with few passengers and add them to where it is needed. Traffic problems are caused by taxis and buses, not motorbikes regardless of how much people blame motorbikes for. The government needs to set up a camera to record taxis and buses and start penalizing the companies and their drivers,” suggested M. Nguyen.
Bad bus service, increasing incident of tragic traffic accidents and unsolved congestion are several problems the government needs to consider. Probably it is the reason why Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has recently banned executives, chairmen and directors under his Ministry from playing golf so that they can concentrate on their duty.
Professor Tran Dinh Ba thought it was the right decision, especially when many important airports are facing the risks of being transformed into golf courses:
“Not only in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan San Nhat airport but also Hanoi’s Gia Lam, the first international airport in Vietnam, are golf courses being planned for construction. Responding to questions from the media, the deputy director at the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said it is normal to have a golf course inside an airport while the general director said he had no idea about the plan,” wrote Ba.
In response, reader James thinks that it would be more effective if the minister ban the use of cars by all his staff instead of golf.
However bad transportation can be in the eyes of locals, expats living here still hold some positive views on Vietnam. Earlier this week, Jacob Weger from America talks about how he feels about living abroad, in a country like Vietnam:
“This is a very welcoming country, full of friendly people, opportunities and access to niceties I couldn’t necessarily afford back home. And I generally have access to almost anything I would ever need or want just like back home. Yet recently I had an experience that reminded me of just how easy it isn’t to live here, so far from my home and family.”
Family love is especially important when you live thousands of miles away from home and difficult to live without. Jacob shared with us the sweet memory of his grandma who had recently passed away:
“I’ve always been quite close to my Grandma “Bum” (the name I’d called her since I was too young to pronounce the word “grandma”, and the moniker had stuck). She used to take care of me when I was young and she was always more like a mother to than a grandmother to my own mother, and always joined us for family gatherings no matter how small.”
Also being away from home, Thuy Anh and Guim have found some support and good moments with their friends Niko and Helini on the way from Tripoli to Megalopoli.
“Guim and Niko cycled another 15 km to the Karitaina hotel, a lovely banqueting resort owned by a friend of Niko, that offered us accommodation for one night. Once we arrived and met them, we were happy to hear that Niko and Heleni had organized for us a lovely dinner with their friends at a local restaurant in Karitaina village. We had a cozy night between friends.”
Seems like our cyclist couple had a good time!
We also hope you will have a good relaxing time this weekend and look forward to meeting you again next week.
This week, stories on our site revolve around transportation issues in the city and the Minister of Transport himself!
Regarding the story of a bus driver and his assistant forcing a passenger to kneel down before letting him get off, writer Vy Du said not only have the bus crew violated the law by humiliating another person but also exceeded their authorities. This, he believes, explains why the people just ignore the government’s appeals to use public transportation.
“Why are there still seven million empty seats in Ho Chi Minh City’s bus system every year? Why are thousands of billions of dong spent to subsidize the bus fares and still it remains just a means of transportation for students and poor workers? The answer is simple. No one wants to step into a place where they know their dignity can be violated at any time,” wrote Du.
In response, reader M. Nguyen agreed that rude behavior of the staff that operates buses is still an unsolved issue.
“The infrastructure of HCMC is not made for buses at the current size. I would suggest the government should look into smaller economical buses, cut routes with few passengers and add them to where it is needed. Traffic problems are caused by taxis and buses, not motorbikes regardless of how much people blame motorbikes for. The government needs to set up a camera to record taxis and buses and start penalizing the companies and their drivers,” suggested M. Nguyen.
Bad bus service, increasing incident of tragic traffic accidents and unsolved congestion are several problems the government needs to consider. Probably it is the reason why Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has recently banned executives, chairmen and directors under his Ministry from playing golf so that they can concentrate on their duty.
Professor Tran Dinh Ba thought it was the right decision, especially when many important airports are facing the risks of being transformed into golf courses:
“Not only in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan San Nhat airport but also Hanoi’s Gia Lam, the first international airport in Vietnam, are golf courses being planned for construction. Responding to questions from the media, the deputy director at the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said it is normal to have a golf course inside an airport while the general director said he had no idea about the plan,” wrote Ba.
In response, reader James thinks that it would be more effective if the minister ban the use of cars by all his staff instead of golf.
However bad transportation can be in the eyes of locals, expats living here still hold some positive views on Vietnam. Earlier this week, Jacob Weger from America talks about how he feels about living abroad, in a country like Vietnam:
“This is a very welcoming country, full of friendly people, opportunities and access to niceties I couldn’t necessarily afford back home. And I generally have access to almost anything I would ever need or want just like back home. Yet recently I had an experience that reminded me of just how easy it isn’t to live here, so far from my home and family.”
Family love is especially important when you live thousands of miles away from home and difficult to live without. Jacob shared with us the sweet memory of his grandma who had recently passed away:
“I’ve always been quite close to my Grandma “Bum” (the name I’d called her since I was too young to pronounce the word “grandma”, and the moniker had stuck). She used to take care of me when I was young and she was always more like a mother to than a grandmother to my own mother, and always joined us for family gatherings no matter how small.”
Also being away from home, Thuy Anh and Guim have found some support and good moments with their friends Niko and Helini on the way from Tripoli to Megalopoli.
“Guim and Niko cycled another 15 km to the Karitaina hotel, a lovely banqueting resort owned by a friend of Niko, that offered us accommodation for one night. Once we arrived and met them, we were happy to hear that Niko and Heleni had organized for us a lovely dinner with their friends at a local restaurant in Karitaina village. We had a cozy night between friends.”
Seems like our cyclist couple had a good time!
We also hope you will have a good relaxing time this weekend and look forward to meeting you again next week.
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