The Weird Non-Launch of Saigon’s Water Bus
For several weeks now I’ve been looking forward to the launch of Saigon’s first water bus line, a desperately needed non-road form of transport for this increasingly traffic-jammed city.
In late June officials announced the route would launch in August and connect central District 1 with Thu Duc District, with stops in Binh Thanh and District 2 along the way.
Last Friday local Vietnamese-language news sites began reporting that the line would officially open on Monday (yesterday), with one-way tickets costing VND15,000 (less than $1).
I was excited, and planned to take it to work in the morning and then write a story about it for Saigoneer. On Saturday I drove by one of the stops and a water bus (one of five, apparently) was docked there — the station clearly wasn’t finished yet, but buildings can be slapped together in a matter of hours here sometimes so that wasn’t surprising.
It seemed that all systems were go. One sign of trouble was that I couldn’t find the Thao Dien station which was listed on the map, but perhaps that had just been scrapped. More news sites were reporting that the bus was launching that day and that residents would be able to ride it.
So, Monday morning I took a Grab Bike to the Binh An station south of Thao Dien. It still wasn’t finished, but several staffers in bright yellow ‘Saigon Waterbus’ shirts were on hand and an official (surprisingly well-designed) map sat outside.
The boat was gone, but I assumed it was en route to another stop. I approached the staff, and the following conversation ensued (‘S’ for staff, ‘M’ for me):
S: This is the Waterbus.
M: Yes, I know. Is it open?
S: Yes.
M: How much is a ticket?
S: VND15,000
M: Can I buy one?
S: No, it doesn’t run until October.
M: So it’s not open?
S: Yes, it’s open.
M: Can I buy a ticket then?
S: No, not until October.
M: Wtf.
I hung around for a bit, baffled, but it was clear nothing was happening. A few old men from the neighborhood were examining the map, and people were clearly interested.
I left and contacted a friend who works for VnExpress International, and he was similarly confused — they had sent a reporter to the downtown station, where she asked what time the buses would be running, and nobody knew anything.
Later that day Zing reported that the line had launched, along with a bunch of pictures of one of the buses. Other articles in Vietnamese claimed that members of the public were riding the route, but this obviously was not the case.
It soon became clear that this had just been a test launch, and by the afternoon we knew that this was the beginning of a pilot period to check the operation of the buses. Both VnExpress and Saigoneer ran posts explaining that while the Waterbus had technically launched, it wasn’t open to the public yet. Somebody here really needs to learn the meaning of “open.”
I was annoyed, both because I had wasted time in the morning, and because the press had been so misleading in its reporting before the “launch.” Of course, it’s possible that the city simply told everyone that the route was opening for real on Monday when they knew full well that wasn’t the case.
Whatever happened, today Dan Tri ran an English article (since removed) stating that the Waterbus was fully running and passengers were using it. They even claimed that the buses had been tested throughout the month of July , but in a city where social media is insanely popular, pictures of such tests would’ve been shared and discussed. No such images had appeared online. I assume this was taken down because it was completely inaccurate.
In the afternoon VnExpress International chimed in with the full picture: the stations weren’t finished yet (which anyone could see with their eyes), and this “launch” was simply a test-run, with certain members of the media and special guests invited for a short ride.
This confusing series of events highlights the indifference of city officials when it comes to providing reliable information to the citizenry, as well as laziness at certain media outlets. The official line of “the Waterbus is running! Look, there’s people on it!” was parroted without taking the simple step I did of actually trying to use it. This should’ve been a slam-dunk: a nice-looking, brand-new mode of transportation in a city drowning in cars and motorbikes.
Now, the story is that we’ll have to wait until October 1 to ride the Saigon Waterbus. Why that wasn’t explained from the get-go is beyond me. Until then, I’ll continue to slog through road traffic sucking up exhaust fumes to get to work.
