Thank you for visiting Vietnam! I enjoyed reading this as a Vietnamese person.

As for the metro fares in Hà Nội, I believe I read somewhere that some sort of e-ticket will be implemented before the summer this year, which works for all metro lines and apparently also the whole bus system.

I think the reason why public transport in Vietnam is so bad is because of what we call “the lack of political will”. Motorbikes have always been too convenient and no one complains about motorbikes in Vietnam. When the traffic is terribly congested, people are frustrated, but motorbike users blame it on cars and car users blame it on motorbikes, no one thinks they’re the problem. That’s why no one really cares about public transport, including the government. Public transport remains horrible, so no one wants to abandon their personal vehicle, it’s a vicious cycle. However, I’ve been hearing a lot of emphasis on public transport these days for the next 5 years so let’s see how it works out. I wonder if China ever had the same problem before their first metro lines existed 🤔

Also, I think Vingroup (or more precisely Vinspeed) signed with Siemens and then withdrew from the North-South HSR so that they can focus on several other huge projects, including a metro line in HCMC whose trains run at 350km/h (same speed as the N-S HSR, and I still don’t understand this decision honestly, why does the speed need to be so high for a line more than 50km long 😭). Take a look at this laodong.vn/xa-hoi/tphcm…. Vinspeed aims to complete it in less than 2 years too. I’m not sure if it’s the same line 5 that you mentioned in the article, the information from the government is all over the place and the “masterplan” seems to change every year or something 😹

I remember the HCMC government also said that construction of like 7 lines will simultaneously start in 2028. Some other railway projects you would probably want to keep an eye on: the LRT line in Phú Quốc built by Sun Group which aims to open in 2027 just before APEC, and a metro line in Đà Nẵng which connects the airport with Hội An (the ancient town). The latter is still early in its infancy but it looks like THACO is eyeing it and they’re already working with South Korean partners. So basically if they manage to get all these projects done on time as they promised in the next 5 years then there’s probably still hope 😹