And all buses in the future.

SaigonBus Co., Ltd will import 21 buses which run on CNG to replace a few buses on route 1 from Ben Thanh market to Binh Tay market. After being imported, these buses will be tested in 6 months before the People’s Committee makes the decision on the subsidized rate for vehicles using clean fuel.

The capital invested in these 21 buses is borrowed from Hochiminh City Finance and Investment Company (formerly Hochiminh City Investment Fund for Urban Development). Each bus running on CNG costs VND1.8 – 2 billion.

After putting these buses into operation, SaigonBus Co., Ltd will base on the daily operation cost to propose the subsidized rate to the Department of Finance and the Department of Transportation, then the decision will be issued by Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.

According to the switching project of the Department of Transportation in the period 2009 – 2011, the city will switch to 38 CNG buses on route 30 (Tan Huong market – Suoi Tien) and route 91 (Western bus stop – Thu Duc agricultural produce wholesale market). After 2011, 500 similar buses will be in operation, mainly on urban routes.

In the early May of 2010, in HCM city, two CNG buses were tested. After 1 month, these 2 buses met the risk of being decommissioned due to the difficulty in fuel contracts.

CNG, also known as clean fuel, is a natural gas with the essential components of methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6), which is compressed at the pressure of 200 – 250 bar at normal temperature. CNG fuel has the high content of Octane so the combustion phenomenon will not occur. CNG is easy to vaporize in the air, thereby it is hard to catch fire and cause explosion.

Besides, CNG also possesses excellent corrosion resistance which increases the life of the engine, so the maintenance cost is lowered and the using time of lubricating oil is longer.

Minh Duc