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In the first 10 months of the year 180 employees of Hanoi Transport & Services Corporation (Transerco) were sacked because of misconduct.
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| Overcrowding a common occurrence at bus stops |
This number includes 31 who were fired just in the month of October. Transerco Deputy General Director Nguyen Trong Thong said at a meeting with reporters on November 8, that, during the period, buses had caused 22 accidents, claiming the lives of five people.
Thong admitted that many bus drivers continue to show bad conduct, failing to obey traffic rules and abusing passengers.
"We continue to receive customer complaints, and are trying our utmost to deal with violations. Conductors have been our biggest problem," he said.
Thong said, Hanoibus, an affiliate of Transerco, has set up one more hotline to collect customer complaints from November 1.
According to the company, this year they will focus on the problems of theft on public transport and hold courses on proper conduct of employees.
Currently Transerco operates 900 bus lines in Hanoi, accounting for 85% of the total number’s buses in the city. Between January and October this year, Transerco’s affiliate Hanoi Tram Enterprise, transported 337 million passengers. They plan to increase the passenger number to 410 million this year.
Thong acknowledged that buses often face overload of up to twice their designed capacity.
Commenting on the proposed change in school and office hours, he added that Transserco would have to operate an additional 60 bus routes to accommodate this regulation. He voiced concern that the time allotted might not be enough for the company to prepare.
"The city should speed up the implimentation of other means of public transport, such as metro lines and elevated railways, so as not to put too much of the burden on bus routes," he said.
Thong added that, since 2008, the number of bus passengers has decreased due to overcrowding and slow service.
Recently, a bus driver and his conductor, both employed by Transerco, were fired at the behest Transport Minister Dinh La Thang for their insulting behaviour towards a passenger.
