Beginners Guide To The Saigon Bus System (Written By A Beginner)

One of the first things I did after we got settled in here in Ho Chi Minh City was to try to figure public transportation out. I grew up in Boston and lived in the NYC area for six years (two of them without a car), so I am pretty comfortable using public transportation in the US.

Most of my co-workers either own a motorbike, or share cabs for getting around. And these are both good options in Saigon. Motorbikes are by far the most common form of transport, and cabs are prett affordable compared to most other cities. I'm still deciding about whether I'll get a motorbike, but I'm taking my time making the decision. In the meantime, I take the bus.

Since my job started, I've been riding the bus to and from work, and I have also taken buses to a some other destinations. I've got a long way to go before I am an expert (or anything close), but I thought it might be helpful to share what I have learned so far, starting with the real basics.

First of all, the Saigon Bus System is huge. How big, you ask? You can find a map here. Go ahead, take a look.

Yeah, that big.

The good news is that the buses run frequently, and are very inexpensive. A ride costs around $.25 US. The frequency of buses means that I get a seat most of the time, even during rush hour. The buses are generally clean and while I've heard people mention issues of petty crime, I haven't witnessed any problems of that nature.

The main drawback I find is that the system can be a bit daunting, and I have to figure a lot of it out by trial-and-error. The bus maps don't always accurately show current routes, and sometimes a bus will do its pickup at an odd location such as a couple of blocks from the bus station rather than at the station itself. Also, the buses don't generally run at night.

So, how do you take the bus?

Well, you start by finding a bus stop.

Some stops have signs that are pretty clearly marked.

Some bus stops have a full shelter and bench setup.

 But in some cases, the stop is just marked on the street, like this:

The Vietnamese word for bus is xe buýt. It's important to recognize bus stops because the buses don't necessarily stop at every corner, and the will generally not stop for a person trying to flag them down between stops.

 This would also be a good place to mention something that came up in a previous blog entry. The term "bus stop" should not be taken to mean that the bus will actually come to a complete stop. It's more of a "bus-slow-down-sufficiently-for-you-to-jump-on-board".

The buses that I've been on cost either 5,000 or 6,000 VND. The exchange rate is around 20,000 VND to the US dollar, so a ride on the bus will set you back about a quarter.

How you deal with paying depends on the crew arrangement of the bus. Some buses have a two-person crew. Look for someone sitting near the back door of the bus holding packs of tickets and guiding people to seats. If there is a ticket-taker, then you should sit down and the ticket-taker will come to you. If there is not, then you should pay the driver. Watch what the other passengers are doing for cues.

Exact change is a really good idea on the bus. It's less of an issue on a bus with a dedicated ticket-taker, but you still don't want to try to pay with too big a bill. If you're trying to pay the driver, you will probably be handing him money while he has one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the shift. The buses are all standard shift, and the driver is often collecting money and handing out tickets while shifting gears and maneuvering among hundreds of motorbikes on a busy city street. Least can do is to not make the guy try to count out change for you.

When you pay your fare, you will get a ticket.

 Hold onto it. Occasionally a "bus inspector" will get on board at a stop and check everone's ticket to make sure they're paid up. If you buy a ticket and misplace it, you could find yourself kicked off the bus or be made to pay the fare again.

In addition to the bus stops, there are some large bus stations around the city. The one that I change buses at every day is Ben Thanh.

The bus station can be confusing because the locations labeled with bus numbers are not always the correct place to get that bus. The bus station workers will help direct you, and can communicate in English sufficiently to get their point across. Some buses don't actually depart from the station itself. Instead, they have a stop a block or two away. This is just something you need to figure out by asking or by observing the bus that you are looking for. Fortunately, the buses run frequently enough that if you miss getting your bus because you're standing in the wrong part of the station, you shouldn't have to wait too long for another bus on your route. I find generally that you don't have to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus.

When you're on the bus, there is usually some sort of button to alert the driver when you want to get off at the next stop. There are a lot of different buses, with the stop signals in different places, but I find there is almost always one near the back door.

 Some bus etiquette: In Vietnam, the attitude seems to be that no one should stand on the bus unless every possible seat is full. Ticket-takers will usher people into seats, and as soon as seats free up, standing riders are expected to sit. Seats toward the front are marked to be give up for elderly, disabled, etc., but this isn't always perfectly put into practice.

When getting off the bus, people tend to use the back door, but this is not completely consistent.

As mentioned at the beginning of this entry, I'm still a beginner at this, but I've found traveling around Ho Chi Minh City by bus to be reliable and cheap, and it can be fun to look out the window and watch the city while you leave the driving to the Saigon Bus System.