Double-decker bus tours a new face for Hanoi tourism

The new Hanoi City Tour Hopon-Hopoff bus is the first sightseeing option of its kind in Hanoi

Hanoi launched its first double-decker bus route, named Hanoi City Tour, on May 30, running through 25 streets with 13 hopon -hopoff stops, creating favourable conditions for tourists to explore and experience 30 unique destinations within Hanoi. The bus operates daily, from 9am to 5pm, with a frequency of 30 minutes. The tour lasts 45 minutes as it takes a 13.8-kilometre tour of the city.

The price for the double-decker bus tour is calculated at four main rates, including VND196,000 ($8.67) for a two-hour tour, VND300,000 ($13.27) for four hours, VND450,000 ($19.90) for 24 hours, and VND650,000 ($28.76) for 48 hours. With various choices of tour fare, visitors can actively hop on and hop off at any destination as many times as they wish, as long as the ticket is within its validity period.

The emergence of the Hanoi City Tour double-decker bus service is expected to create a new attraction for the capital’s tourism. This service can also be seen as an indicator of the lack of trust in the public transportation sector.

Three Hanoi City Tour double-decker buses meet the European emission standard Euro 4. They boast a low floor system convenient for the elderly, children, and people with disability to get on and off, as well as free wifi, USB charging ports, a refrigerator, and LCD panels that provide information on attractions in many different languages.

The Hanoi City Tour Hopon–Hopoff bus is the first tour service in Hanoi equipped with an automatic, multi-lingual narration system, according to Nguyen Viet Hung, deputy director of the Hanoi City Tour’s operator Yen Vien Bus Enterprise, a subsidiary of Transerco. The narration is available in Vietnamese, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

“This type of vehicle has been used in more than 100 countries around the world and many countries in the region such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan,” Hung said. “We aim to serve customers thoughtfully, enthusiastically, and professionally. When the service quality is good, the number of customers will increase dramatically.”

After nearly two months of operation, Bus 01 of the Hanoi City Tour has done 510 tours with 3,520 customers using the service. This is an average of 6.9 passengers per round, equal to 14 per cent of its designed capacity. In the first month, Transerco sold an average of 70 double-decker bus tickets a day, mainly to foreign tourists.

Transerco has proposed that the Hanoi Department of Transport adjust their operating time up to 18 hours and aims to pilot a night tour route that offers passengers a double-decker bus tour of Hanoi’s nightlife from 7.30pm and 8.30pm daily. If approved, the night tour will be applied from August 1.

Truong My Linh, sales representative of the Hanoi City Tour, said that the number of European, South Korean, and Japanese tourists purchasing tickets to experience the Hanoi City Tour is quite high. The passengers rarely complain about the fare, with the 24-hour ticket currently being the most popular.

Passengers can buy tickets directly when boarding, online through the Hanoi City Tour’s

website:hopon-hopoff.vn, or from domestic travel agencies.