Passengers on the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line in HCM City during a trial run in October 2024
The city's Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien) is scheduled to be put into commercial operation from the end of December.
According to the department's proposal, they plan to use VND 32.60 billion (USD1.30 million) per year from the government budget to subsidise tickets for some passenger groups including the disabled, elderly people and children under six.
The department would also offer free travelling for all passengers of the metro line and those of 17 bus routes that are connected to the line during the first month of the line's commercial operation. This would cost the government budget VND33 billion.
HCM City authorities have started a two-month trial run for the metro line since October 1.
The Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board (MAUR) said that the line would run 200 trips between 5 am and 10 pm during the first six months of commercial operation.
After that, the line will operate from 5 am to 11 pm, with 276 trips daily between Monday and Friday. On weekends and holidays, the number of trips will fall to 226.
Passengers would pay VND7,000 and VND20,000 for their trips based on the distance between 5 and 20 km. One-day tickets will cost VND40,000, three-day tickets cost VND90,000, and monthly tickets VND300,000.
The 19.70-kilometre-long metro line project, which started construction in 2012 at a total cost of VND43.70 trillion (USD1.77 billion), will run through District 1, Binh Thanh District, and Thu Duc City.
The trains are designed to run up to 110 kilometres per hour above ground and 80 kilometres underground.
The line was scheduled for operation in 2017 but has been delayed three times.