Saigon's river-bus ?

one of the two routes

According to Tuoi Tre, Ho Chi Minh city's Committee approved to let firms making plan for two public transportation in waterways, called river-bus. The Committee also assigned the Department of Transporation and districts' committees to research this project with the deadline is 31 December 2011.

Actually,  the project was proposed this time by a private company, Thuong Nhat Ltd. During the interview with Tuoi Tre, Mr. Nguyen Kim Toan didn't ignore the previous failure of the proposal in the past. The ticket price would still be the main problem to attract public using. However, Mr. Toan implied that if the project was supported by the city government, the price of river-bus would be just slightly more expensive than that of normal bus if considering travelling time. For example, it might take an office worker 4 hour to travel from his home at the city center to Nhon Trach, Dong Nai due to traffic jam. But in the same distance, river-bus would only take him 45 minutes. Nice example!

I myself had a similar experience. I once had a short trip to Vung Tau with friends by high speed water bus. The price was 200000 VND but it took me only 1 hour 45 minutes. And the port in Vung Tau is not too far from the most popular beach. A friend of mine needed more than 2 hour to go by road-bus with a 50000 VND ticket and a taxi driver suggested us the price of 1200000 VND for a speed that would take us only more than 1 hour. 

To conclude, I hope this project would find its best way to reduce the price to the lowest. The more people use river-bus, the more of the city's riverside feature will be seen and impressed on local life.