(Engineering daily) Nguyen Anh Duong = The HCMC Transport Department and DATAM are planning to invest $525 million in electric buses.
The two parties signed a MOU(Memorandum of Understanding) to make the bus system.
According to DATAM, the electric buses will have 17 seats, including a seat for the driver and one for a disabled person. It will be 1.49m wide, requiring a lane at least 1.5m wide to operate.
These medium-sized 17-seater electric buses will be suitable for narrow roads in HCMC.
DATAM chairman Lee Young-cheol said it was very difficult to expand roads (for a separate lane) to implement a BRT, or bus rapid transit system, given that many HCMC roads are narrow.
Of the total investment of $525 million, $300 million will be used to produce 20,000 electric buses and $225 million to install solar LED streetlights with AI cameras and free wifi. The system will first be tested on a two-way 30㎞ road, and will cost $10 million.
DATAM also said the electric buses will cost only 20% compared to normal buses. And that in the long run, it wants to export the electric buses to other Southeast Asian countries as well.
