Policy process management in public bus project and its impacts case study from hanoi, vietnam focusing on consensus building process

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN MANH TUNG POLICY PROCESS MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC BUS PROJECT AND ITS IMPACTS Case Study from Hanoi, Vietnam Focusing on

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN MANH TUNG

POLICY PROCESS MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC BUS PROJECT AND ITS

IMPACTS Case Study from Hanoi, Vietnam Focusing on

Consensus Building Process

MASTER’S THESIS

Hanoi, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN MANH TUNG

POLICY PROCESS MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC BUS PROJECT AND ITS

IMPACTS Case Study from Hanoi, Vietnam Focusing

on Consensus Building Process

MAJOR: INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Doctor Luu Xuan Hung and Professor Hironori Kato, my research supervisors, for their patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques of this research work

I also would like to thank all teachers of Vietnam Japan University who facilitated

me to have the opportunity to study and experience in an academic environment with so much practical knowledge I want to express my deep gratitude to Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc and Doctor Phan Le Binh who directly taught me how to study and how to think as a researcher His willingness to give his time so generously has been very much appreciated

Furthermore, I would also like to extend my thanks to the all staff of Vietnam Japan University for their help and support during my time here

I will try my best to apply the knowledge that I have learnt during the study time into my work as well as my life in the future

Although I tried to prepare the report but it still has many shortcomings for many reasons I look forward to receiving advices, comments and suggestions from the teachers

Sincerely,

Nguyen Manh Tung

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

LIST OF TABLE iv

LIST OF FIGURE v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vi

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Studies about consensus building in Vietnam 5

1.2 Studies on building consensus in countries 7

1.3 Research hypothesis 9

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10

2.1 Choosing methodology 10

2.2 In-depth interviews plan 11

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS 12

3.1 History of public transportation in Hanoi 12

3.1.1 The period before Doi Moi 12

3.1.2 The period after Doi Moi 14

3.2 Asiatrans project 16

3.2.1 Overview of Asian project 17

3.2.2 Stakeholders of Asiatrans project 18

3.2.3 Results of the project 21

3.3 Analysis of stakeholders 24

3.3.1 Local stakeholder 25

3.3.2 International stakeholder 27

3.3.3 Transport operator 28

3.3.4 Experts 30

3.4 Policy-making process of Asiatrans project 30

3.4.1 Main events 30

3.4.2 Phase 1: 1999-2002 32

3.4.3 Phase 2: 2002-2003 35

3.4.4 Phase 3: 2003-2004 36

3.5 Consensus building process analysis 37

3.5.1 The process management of a local public transport authority 37

3.5.2 The process management of international organizations 40

3.6 Main findings 42

3.6.1 Hypothesis evaluation 42

3.6.2 Lessons learned from the case of Asiatrans project 44

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 50

4.1 Conclusion 50

4.2 Recommendations 51

4.3 Limitation and further study 52

REFERENCE 53

LIST OF TABLE

Table 2.1: List of interviewees 11 Table 3.1: Service improvement in the Asiatrans Project 21 Table 3.2: Main events of Asiatrans project 30

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 3.1: Old Tramway Network in Hanoi 13

Figure 3.2: Public Transportation Ridership in Hanoi, 1979 – 2004 14

Figure 3.3: Asiatrans project organizational chart 19

Figure 3.4: Bus service in 2000 22

Figure 3.5: Increase bus ridership of Hanoi bus network 23

Figure 3.6: Tendency of modal split in Hanoi (1995-2008) 24

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

RBC: Bruxelles-Capitale region

IMV: Des Métiers De La Ville

EC: Europe Commission

HPC: Hanoi People’s Committee

RIF: Ile-de-France region

JICA: Japan International Cooperation Agency

RATP: Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens

TRAMOC: Transport Management and Operation Center TPWS: Transport and Public Work Services

STIB: The Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company TRANSERCO: Transport and Service Company of Hanoi

INTRODUCTION

Research background and problem statement

Right from the 2000s, the excessive increase in the number of motorbikes had caused negative impacts such as the environmental pollution and traffic congestion

in Hanoi Hanoi is considered a motorcycle-dependent city (Hung, K.V., 2006) To address this situation, the Hanoi government adopted a series of policies of prioritizing the development of public transport, which focused on public bus projects Up to the present time, public transport by bus is still the main mode of public transport in Vietnam even for special cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City because modern modes such as the new urban rail system or metro are just under construction

Although there are many support policies, the current shortcoming is that most policies just focus on expanding networks and increasing the number of vehicles participating in public transport In contrast, one of the key factors to encourage people to use the bus, "the quality of public bus service" has not been paid enough attention according to proposal: Improving the quality of public transport system by bus (2016) Back in time on period in 2002, it is notable that with limited conditions than the current, Hanoi and some international organizations had worked together to implement a project addressing a problem that even today is still considered the limiting point of the Hanoi bus operation- the improvement of bus services through management The project was set up in 2002 under the name of Asiatrans and the main objective was to improve the service quality of the Hanoi bus network through three pilot bus lines (32,33 and 34) The project then had been successfully implemented and was considered as a pioneer for the transformation about quality

of Hanoi's public transportation system (Walter Molt, 2016) For this reason, although it had been implemented a long time ago, this project is still a convincing illustration for current managers to study on how to make progress in improving the bus system

Another important point is that at the time before the Asiatrans project was launched, around the year 2000, there were many proposals from developed countries such as Germany, Japan or the World Bank for Hanoi These recommendations cover topics including the replacement of the bus system, the construction of large terminals or the urban rail system These were experiences that had been successfully applied in developed countries However, they eventually got stuck and did not receive the necessary support from the stakeholders for implementation

In fact, the Asiatrans project is one of exceptional cases whose policy process management was organized well that correctly identified the interests of the stakeholders and could harmonize them The implementation of the Asia trans project has received active support from international organizations, Hanoi departments and bus operators (Walter Molt, 2016) ―The first bus pilot line, successfully launched at the initiative of a German consultant, benefited from vast support from the Hanoi People's Committee, from the cooperation of the Tram Company's managing director, and assistance from several colleagues‖ (Eric Baye, Jean-Michel Cusset, Nguyen Thien Phu, 2017) Conflicts often occur in big transport projects because different stakeholders show diverse behaviors, often conflicting needs and concerns Consequently, failing to deal with and managing these things often results in failure of the project Understanding the perceptions of stakeholders and the difference between perceptions are very significant for an effective negotiation between stakeholders to find consensus building (Wei, M Liu and M J Skibniewski, 2016) It is clear that Asiatrans project had a different approach to the project stakeholders than the previous proposals

In the context of new development, Hanoi today needs more modern bus projects to meet the transport demands of the citizens and reduce the number of people using private transport modes Consequently, the BRT project has been selected as a new development for the capital’s bus However, in practice, the implementation of this project was not as favorable as expected The project was in

conflict with some public opinions and encountered many debates about its efficiency With a total investment of $ 55 million, after 10 years behind schedule, 3 missed appointments for the introduction and went into operation on January 1,

2017 The Hanoi BRT bus project has been controversial and not received much approval from the traffic experts (Voice of Vietnam Online, 2018) Over the past 10 years, Hanoi has prepared for the BRT project to find solutions for the problem of traffic jams However, as soon as it was put into operation, BRT faced the opposite reaction of public opinion (Nhan Dan Online, 2017) Without regard to technical factors, the BRT project has not reached consensus among the stakeholders It is planned in 2004 by the idea of the World Bank and takes more than 10 years to go into operation if the BRT project is better prepared to plan and organize the interests

of the stakeholders It is likely to encounter fewer obstacles later ―Addressing and managing the interests and concerns of these different stakeholders at the planning stage is increasingly recognized as crucial to a successful sustainable transport project‖ (Mok et al., 2015, Yang et al., 2011) It is very clear that the study of consensus building among the stakeholders in the Asiatrans project from 15 years ago still remains its value

Nevertheless, in Vietnam, research papers on policy management for consensus building is quite new in the academic field, especially in the area of public transport, there are almost no articles available Previous studies on public transport are primarily concerned with the technical aspects of project implementation In the world, there have been some studies on these issues by authors from developed countries However, it is difficult to apply lessons from these countries to Vietnam because of differences in institutions and economic characteristics of each country Therefore, the need to carry out a systematic study

of the process to reach consensus in public transport project is necessary For this reason, in order to contribute to the perception of the policy process management and its role to build consensus among stakeholders in public bus project in the

present period, I decide to choose the topic “Policy process management in public

bus project and its impacts: Case study from Hanoi, Vietnam focusing on consensus building process” as my master thesis

Research purpose

The objective of the research is to elucidate the impact of the policy process management on reaching consensus among stakeholders in public bus as well as draw lessons to reduce potential conflicts between them

Research question

Research is done to find the answer to the main question ―How was consensus for the new policy of the public bus system in Asiatrans project built?‖

Scope of the research

The research focused on analyzing and evaluating the impact of policy process management on the consensus building in the public bus project through the Asiatrans project in Hanoi, Vietnam, which occurred in the period from 2002 to

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Studies about consensus building in Vietnam

There is very few research on the process of building consensus in projects in Vietnam Most studies tend to focus on a number of aspects of technical direction or management in the project For example, research ―Estimating time performance for building construction projects in Vietnam‖ of the authors, Long Le-Hoai,Young Dai Lee, Anh Tuan Nguyen (2013) refers to the problem of time management; research

―Some Applications of Advanced Technology In Solving Transport Means Surveillance Problem in Vietnam‖ by LE, Hung Lan; NGUYEN, Thanh Hai; DANG, Quang Thach; NGUYEN, Trung Dung (2010) refers to the monitoring, surveillance and management problem of transport means; or research ―Evaluation

of qualitative value for money of public-private partnership projects in Vietnam‖ of Hang, Dinh Thi Thuy (2017) propose a qualitative value for money assessment of project

More commonly, some researches are aimed at assessing the factors that lead

to the success or failure of a project rather than seeking answers to the question of the interaction process between the project stakeholders to lead to those factors For instance, the subject of the authors Kim, Soo-Yong; Tuan, Kiet Nguyen; Luu, Van Truong (2016) analyzed the factors that cause delay the time of hospital projects in Vietnam Likewise, study of Bartlett, A G; Kanowski, P J; van Kerkhoff, L; Byron, R N (2017) indicates factors considered to either enhance or diminish forestry research project success such as collaborative scoping and design; skills mix and time allocations; funding and equipment, etc Also, ignore the importance

of project planning and project planning; lack of experience in complex project implementation; lack of knowledge and ability to manage construction projects; lack of financial capacity of owners; and so on are considered as important factors still cause failure in construction projects in Vietnam (Tan P N.; Nicholas C.,

2015) The approach to building consensus among partners in these studies is not explicitly mentioned

A few rare studies have analyzed in some extent the link between consensus and project implementation For example, in the field of political economy, in order

to build consensus in the Asia community, Vietnam should harmonize the liberalization of Vietnam's commitments in three levels: multilateral; area; and bilateral, combine action plans or programs to implement international economic integration commitments (especially within the Asian economic community) and

―the country should strengthen the universal, but flexible, social security system that

is currently in place‖ (Vo Tri Thanh, 2015) The study is concerned with promoting consensus at a high level in relations among Asian countries and it is not limited to

a specific project but extends to areas of economic and political cooperation However, on a smaller scale, such as the public bus project and with more participants in the project, such as public, private, and foreign partners, the use of research views is inappropriate Similarly, Nhat H.N., Skitmore, Martin, Wai Wong, Johnny K (2009) have shown that the construction project may include a wide range of stakeholders and the success of the project depends heavily on meeting the needs and expectations of them It is therefore important to classify and distinguish project stakeholders and foster a closely related stakeholder management process However, the limitation of the study is that instead of conducting a survey of all project stakeholders, it focuses solely on the role of project managers to find solutions for project implementation under the viewpoint of managers

It is very clear that domestic studies on the relationship between policy management and achieving consensus in bus projects are not yet common

Conducting “Policy process management in public bus project and its impacts:

Case study from Hanoi, Vietnam focusing on consensus building process” to fill

the gaps in awareness about consensus building in public bus field is essential

1.2 Studies on building consensus in countries

Different from Vietnam, some countries such as United States, Japan, China have conducted in-depth studies on the process of building consensus among partners For instance, Hsi-Hsien Wei, Muqing Liu, Mirosław J Skibniewski, Vahid Balali (2016) stated that when executing a project sketch for project planning, managers need to carefully consider and address specific local issues and differences in the interests of the stakeholders In cases where many project partners have requested the same requirements for certain criteria, it is essential to determine the source of those criteria as they may represent serious problems that affects the majority of stakeholders Once the appropriate consensus building method has proven effective in the field of transport it can be applied to other projects in the field of infrastructure

In another study, failure in traffic-related decisions can be observed in some areas and key elements for successful planning must be based on the quality of the decision-making process Transport planning is perceived as a complicated decision-making process, both in the private and public sector perspective, where diverse stakeholders (decision makers, stakeholders and specialists) interact in different contexts and in various models From a different perspective, plans and projects often impact diverse and contrasting interests in a complex institutional environment with many interwoven relationships, and the results from the decision-making process often involve a number of stakeholders, both public and private (Ennio C., Armando C., Francesca P., Marcello M., 2015)

Furthermore, awareness of the management of the partners is said to still exist many big gaps and this has not been thoroughly resolved by past studies For this reasons, four research gaps were recognized: (1) a full list of factors influencing the success of stakeholder management is yet to be completely established (2) it is needed to further improve a systematic framework for stakeholder management (3) consolidated, (3) a series of practical approaches that can be used to manage stakeholders are united, and (4) most studies focus only on relationship promotion

issues, but are less concentrated on project impact analysis by related relationship networks (Jing Yang, Geoffrey Qiping Shen, Manfong Ho, Derek S Drew, Xiaolong Xue, 2011)

From another angle, the researchers of the Toyama Light Rail Transit Introduction Project (LRT) project stated that well-organized policy process management contributes to smooth consensus-building and policy process management play an essential role in linking project stakeholders and making the best use of financial, technical and geographic factors Special attention is given to the policy making process including agenda-setting, option-setting and decision-making The researcher's approach to the project is based on two perspectives: the framing recognized and the evaluation of a main actor that play an essential role in policy process management (Kato H., Shiroyama H and Fukayama T., 2008)

Overall, the studies mentioned above all pointed out the importance of understanding concerns of the stakeholders and priority should be given to addressing the greatest concerns of the majority of project stakeholder as soon as possible to ensure the sustainable development of the project

Among the approaches and analyzes that foreign studies have conducted, the case study on the introduction of the Toyama Light Rail Transit (LRT) project has many similarities to the case study of public bus project in Hanoi First, private vehicles are the main means of transport in both Toyama and Hanoi Second, projects brought new changes to public transport for their city through a process of guiding stakeholders to reach consensus Therefore, the approach in the present research also focuses on a series of policy making process including agenda-setting, option-setting and decision-making First, factors such as project phases, stakeholder behaviors, main agenda, framework recognized by the stakeholders, and events in project phase will be highlighted Then, the consensus building process for the project will be analyzed and finally the factors influencing the smooth introduction of the project from the perspective of the policy management will be drawn

1.3 Research hypothesis

Through the careful review of consensus building studies in the countries mentioned above, the author finds that the active role of local project stakeholders is decisive and dominate In almost cases, local stakeholders are the key drivers of project implementation In the case of Vietnam, the project has many stakeholders including both local stakeholder and foreign partners

Based on the original observation, the authors propose the following research

hypothesis: Vietnamese agencies actively reached an internal consensus on the

approval of the Asiatrans project from the outset first After that, they requested the help of international organizations for the project operation

In the following analysis, the author will examine and evaluate the validity of this hypothesis

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Choosing methodology

The objective of the research is to assess the impact of policy process management on the Hanoi public bus project in 2002 under exploratory research Instead of focusing on the technical or financial factors that make the bus project successful in increasing the modal split, the thesis explores the interconnection process between stakeholders to achieve consensus, primarily on the relationship between people and people, which leads to the introduction of technical elements for success This is an exploratory research because the issue of building consensus

is a relatively new issue, especially among Vietnamese academics Previously, when the Asiatrans project achieved impressive success in restoring the status of Hanoi's public transport, many studies had analyzed this phenomenon However, most studies focus on technical changes made the project successful compared to previous projects Meanwhile, the process behind these technical decisions to ensure the harmony of interests and mitigate the conflict between the stakeholders had not been deeply studied

In case of experimental research, such as case study in Hanoi, qualitative method is considered as the most suitable method to apply Unlike research topics

on conventional technical aspects, the research clarifies the relationship links between stakeholders, the way they used it to work together, which is hard to prove

by data or mathematical equations Moreover, the number of people involved in this process is relatively small and each of them usually only undertakes certain tasks in the process As a result, conventional statistical methods in qualitative methods appear to be ineffective Qualitative methods will be used as it is appropriate to analyze issues related to social and cultural relations as well as good for exploration (Myers, 2013)

In the same way, meta-analysis method is also applied to the research Meta‐analysis can be used to estimate an overall effect across a number of similar

studies (Sarah E Brockwell, Ian R Gordon, 2001) First, with theoretical analysis, scientific papers, research papers and materials from city authorities will be collected and analyzed in relation to historical progress to find trends and select information necessary for the topic Subsequently, the research will conduct study

of staff, experts and project managers involved in the project through in-depth interviews or studying their paper This helps thesis to gain various opinions and assessments of each person as well as to ensure objectivity Next, for the synthesis

of information, from the data and relationships gathered, study will link them in a complete body and use logical analyzes to determine the rules of events to generate insights on the topic of research

2.2 In-depth interviews plan

To collect opinions from experts and related persons, the author conducted depth interviews with the following people

in-Table 2.1: List of interviewees

Dr Luu Xuan Hung Former deputy director of Transport Management and

Operation Center (TRAMOC)

Dr Phan Le Binh Traffic expert of Japan International Cooperation

Mr Nguyen Huu Toan Expert of the organization Institut des Metiers de la

Ville (IMV) in Hanoi

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS

3.1 History of public transportation in Hanoi

Doi Moi is the name given to the economic reforms initiated in Vietnam in

1986 with the goal of creating a "socialist-oriented market economy The history of public transportation in Hanoi has changed markedly in the period before and after Doi Moi

3.1.1 The period before Doi Moi

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam with a population of about 2.740.000 at the time of 2000 (Hanoi Newspaper, 2006) Its total area is 927 , but the actual built up area is only about 47 square kilometers (Report of Asia Urbs program, 2002) Hanoi's unique characteristic is the compactness of its urban area with a high population density About 1.2 million people resided in the core area within a radius

of 4 km (HAIDEP, 2007) Consequently, the central districts of the city have a very high population density, sometimes overcrowded such as Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Hai

Ba Trung, and Dong Da However, there are very few roads in these areas to meet the transport needs of the people Public transportation was established to contribute

to ensuring these needs of the city's residents

Hanoi's public transport started since the 1990s when the first tramway routes were established under French colonial rule After independence, Hanoi Tram company was put into operation and quickly expanded to 5 lines along the capital with a total length of 34 kilometers The operating axes of tramway network became the main development axes of Hanoi at that time In parallel with the development of the tramway, in 1920, the first bus routes were also used to serve the transport demands of population who lacked private means Both bus and tramway system were fully supported by the state They were operated under a monopoly regime and not subject to competitive pressure from other private means

of transport

Figure 3.1: Old Tramway Network in Hanoi (Source: HAIDEP, 2007)

In parallel with the development of the tramway and bus, Hanoi also developed railways to open economic links with China in the north These lines, however, focused on linking Hanoi to neighboring provinces and China rather than meeting the inner city needs of urban residents Consequently, they did not play an important role in the inner capital's transportation

During the later years due to the effects of war and embargo, public transport services in Hanoi continued to operate with very old equipment ―In the early period

of 1980’s, a large number of busses manufactured by German Democratic Republic and built up in Vietnam by local firms, Karosas from Czechoslovakia and Paz busses from Soviet Union were imported‖ In addition, there are some second hand France-funded busses for transport development Based on this fleet, public transport of Hanoi transported in nearly 52 million passengers per year

3.1.2 The period after Doi Moi

The Doi Moi policy which was approved in 1986 had a profound impact on all aspects of Vietnam's socio-economic life, and the transport sector is no exception Ridership of public transport was declining, with the tramway system (inherited from the French) lost its role and faced the risk of being wiped out due to the scarcity of spare parts during the prolonged period of embargo Tramway network ended its historic mission by completely shutting down operations in 1990

Public transport in meanwhile relied on buses and a small portion of the rail system's capacity However, both modes of transport had not yet caught up with service quality requirements in a market-oriented economy after Doi Moi An

important cause which HAIDEP's research has shown is that ―population’s

dissatisfaction with the service levels that the old public transportation system provided‖ The number of passengers using public transport is decreasing year by

year In 1988, the number of passengers was recorded at nearly 40 million passengers, but by 1992 this number had fallen sharply to 2 million

Figure 3.2: Public Transportation Ridership in Hanoi, 1979 – 2004

(Source: HAIDEP, 2007)

This was explained by the explosion of private means of transport in Hanoi after the renovation, it started with the increase in the number of bicycles and then the motorcycles accompanying the open of the free market Along with economic development, people had more appropriate modes to choose from to suit their needs and improving income levels such as bicycle, motorcycle, car or taxi and so on, rather than just relying on public transportation as before Due to the advantages of low price and high mobility in the small streets, motorcycles quickly became popular not only in Hanoi but in other big cities of the country In the period 2000,

―the unique feature of the traffic of Hanoi is the huge number of motorbikes, mixed with still very few cars, which are however also increasing by an annual rate of 20%‖ (EU)

This impressive growth of motorcycles as opposed to limited road capacity caused some negative results The first thing is that the mobility of the city was reduced The phenomenon of serious congestion was not yet common on a large scale but had begun to occur at rush hours Motorbikes became the main mean of transport while buses were becoming less popular with most passengers The report

of Haidep pointed out ―Hanoi found itself with the lowest public transportation usage and the highest percentage of private transportation usage in all Asian capitals‖ The second thing is the problem of traffic safety According to the European Commission report, the number of accidents is rising fast Accident statistics are very deficient But the number of fatal accident has reached more than

12000 in whole Vietnam Motorbike is also the most dangerous vehicle, according

to European statistics 7 times as dangerous as the car The final one is that the emission of gases beyond the environment of private means of transport, which is contrary to the goal of Hanoi to develop into a green and beautiful city

On the other hand, local experts from the University of Transport and Communications also contributed their voices in recommending the development of public transport, especially bus system Though the opinions differed on the items

to be invested and how they are implemented, the general idea of these plans is that

public transport should be considered as the main backbone of future city transportation After all, for many reasons especially due to lack of available funds, they all got stuck

Finally, how to realize these ideas and develop the appropriate public transport system for Hanoi is still a big issue At that time, the Asiatrans project was

an exceptional case when the process from the project idea to the actual deployment was implemented smoothly The idea and implementation project were considered

to receive a great deal of consensus from the project stakeholders, including foreign organizations, city authorities as well as direct bus operators Eric Baye, Jean-Michel Cusset, Nguyen Thien Phu (2017) remarks that ―The first pilot lines were successfully launched at the initiative of a German consultant (see below), benefited from vast support from the Hanoi People's Committee, from the cooperation ofthe Tram Company's managing director, and assistance from several colleagues‖

3.2 Asiatrans project

For all these reasons, both local authorities of Hanoi and central governments began to recognize the importance of public transport and the view of restricting private vehicles to a capital like Hanoi A political target was expressed by Hanoi People Committee that individual modes would be reduced In much the same way, experts from foreign organization shared this view Since 1997, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) supported Ha Noi to make report ―The master plan of urban transport for Hanoi City in Viet Nam‖ Japanese experts recommended the government to first plan a comprehensive upgrade to the bus system, including plans to purchase more busses and construct large terminals in Hanoi Next step, the government should develop the railway infrastructure system for public transport according to the master plan of urban transport for Hanoi City in Viet Nam (1997) The plan was designed in great detail but it was not realized after that Unlike in Japan, Dorsh and MVA organizations, sponsored by the German Development Bank, suggested that Vietnam should focus on developing the mass railway transit system in order to meet the transport demand of people in the city Negotiations

with the German government on the grant of $ 20 million for the rehabilitation of public transport were made later but failed

3.2.1 Overview of Asian project

The Asiatrans project was established with the aim of improving the quality

of Hanoi's public transportation through the pilot bus lines It is within the framework of the Asia Urbs program based on cooperation between the cities of Europe and Asia The idea of the project came up by the initiative of Hanoi and Ile-de-France region in collaboration with the Bruxelles-Capitale region The goal of project is to increase the number of modal split of public bus This rate was recorded at around 3% in 2002 and estimated to reach 10% at the end of the project

The project was officially established in October 2002 and ended in March

2005 Asiatrans project would study general traffic situation in Hanoi and propose improvements to the existing bus network, especially through three modal bus lines The Asiatrans project's operational principle is to implement a step-by-step approach based on improving the service quality of the three modal bus lines that run through the city's main roads Bus lines selected for the first experiment were line 32 followed by lines 33 and 34 Next aspects would be extending regular services, improving bus information for passengers and ticketing-system and building a standard depot with full maintenance facilities Finally, a particular value

as desired by the Europe commission would be created that is a new perception of modern public transport on all levels of the city leadership (The Asia Urbs program, 2002)

About funding, Europe financed almost 50% of its capital through the Asia Urbs program, which promotes decentralized cooperation partnerships between European and Asian municipalities Hanoi People's Committee was the second capital contributor and the main beneficiary of the project as the project activities were carried out in the Hanoi’s area through the relevant authorities of the city In fact, the amount of capital that Hanoi had to pay for the project is not so much when

the city's contribution was calculated by the cost of the project office and the cost for the Vietnamese staff and experts who work in the project that the city can take advantage of the available resources such as offices and staff of functional departments

3.2.2 Stakeholders of Asiatrans project

The representative office in Hanoi is Transport Management and Operation Center (TRAMOC), a department under the authority of Transport and Public Work Services (TPWS) Ile-de-France region (RIF) is a partner that had the initiative to set up the project and also participates in funding and organizing most of the project activities Bruxelles-Capitale region (RBC) is also a partner in funding and financing the project The project was under TRAMOC's main coordination and its main activity is based on the transfer of experience between partner cities and among the public transportation companies of the three cities involved in the project

Each city has its own partner transportation companies operating public

transportation system Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) and The Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB) are the two main public passenger transport companies in the Ile-de-France region and Bruxelles-Capitale region In Hanoi, the public transport business was assigned to Transport and Service Company of Hanoi (TRANSERCO) By requesting the European Commission's co-financing of three pilot bus lines, the RIF together with the HPC and the RBC made improvements to the functioning of the Hanoi bus network

Figure 3.3: Asiatrans project organizational chart

In Vietnam, the TRAMOC is the main coordinating unit of the Asiatrans project The establishment of this office was remarkable not due to the inherent mechanism of Hanoi but because of the proposal of a foreign organization It was set up in 1998 under the suggestion of the Swedish expert Harn On from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) At that time Sweden wanted to support Vietnam to build a public transport system based on the experience of European countries On the administrative structure, TPWS is generally in charge of all matters related to public works, water works, sewage, water, traffic and transport In smaller scope, TRAMOC, a functional unit under

Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens

(STIB)

TPWS, specialized in managing the operation of public transport as it is assumed to play a role of real authority for public transport field of Hanoi

It is noted that at TRAMOC, in addition to the local staff appointed by the city, there are also foreign experts assisted by countries that want to help develop the public transportation system for Hanoi Dr Water Molt, a traffic expert from German, is one of them Back to 1999, through the support of CIM, an agency of the German ministry of cooperation, Germany enthusiastically supported Hanoi with a large number of technical experts in areas such as construction, transportation, machinery or football and so on Noticed Dr Water Molt had expertise in the field of transport, Hanoi city had sent him to work in TRAMOC as a foreign advisor This decision later proved its correctness when Dr Water Molt was the initiator and gave many important ideas for project He really played an essential and decisive role in the transformation of Hanoi's public transport network For France, cooperative relationship with Vietnam began a long time ago Ile-de-France region (RIF) had been working with Hanoi since 1989 based on a cooperation agreement signed between the two countries According to the agreement, France will support Hanoi to address the problems arising from rapid urbanization, especially in the field of urban planning that France has strengths To

do this, France had set up an office called Institute Des Métiers De La Ville (IMV)

in Hanoi to facilitate the provision of technical tools and expertise to help Hanoi gradually change its old perceptions and adapt better to the process of going to a free market economy For many years IMV has provided new tools for people working in the city's agencies in the field of urban development through training programs, consultations and workshops Since 2000, Ile-de-France region (RIF) had begun to recognize the tremendous demand of Hanoi for improving public transport, since then the main support resources of Ile-de-France region (RIF) had been concentrated in this area

Since 2002 Ha Noi, together with Ile-de-France region (RIF) and Capitale region (RBC), had jointly launched Asiatrans project with the initial focus

Bruxelles-of developing three model bus lines The 14 buses operated first pilot line were used from the old buses that France had previously funded This created the premise for the transformation of the whole public bus network later Moreover, during the implementation of Ile-de-France region (RIF) was also an active partner calling for international attention for the project According to the report of Europe fo Asia Urbs Programe, Ile-de-France region (RIF)'s role is defined by more than 10 years

of commitment of this region of France to help growth of Hanoi city

In the same way, Bruxelles also participated in Hanoi support based on the partnership that was built before It participated in the preservation of the old quarter of Hanoi in another project within the framework of the European program Asia Urbs In the Asia Trans project, Belgium were in charge of some parts of the project such as the new ticket and information system Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB) of Bruxelles is strong in these field in Europe Although taking in part only some sector of the project, Bruxelles would be informed about the whole operation of the project It is noticeable that a meeting of all project partners would be held every two years to review the process of revising the plans if necessary

3.2.3 Results of the project

The details service improvements inthe Asiatrans project are listed in follows:

Table 3.1: Service improvement in the Asiatrans Project Service item Detail of service improvement

Phase 1 (line 32 only)

Frequency Operation with fixed interval, six per hour

Final bus schedule Extend from 19:00 to 22:00

Fare system Offer a cheap transit pass including monthly ticket which

is valid for several time in one line Bus fleet Make use of 14 second hand busses sponsored by France Bus stop Arrange one bus stop in front of a technical school

Phase 2 (all lines)

Frequency Six per hour for all lines and 12 per hour for line 32

Final bus schedule Extend to 22:00 in the evening

Fare system Offer a monthly pass valid for whole net

Bus fleet Increase 50 second hand busses from Ile de France, 60

new Mercedes buses and 200 Daewoo busses Bus stop

Post bus maps on all bus stops Publish a digitized bus map on the internet Create a first depot with maintenance facilities

Before Asiatrans project, public transport lost its passengers The impression

of public transport was blurred in the minds of the capital Hanoi's public transport was ineffective On the one hand, the fleet that operated since the years before Doi Moi had been seriously degraded and did not meet the technical standards On the other hand, the service was cheap but unreliable and it was difficult to use the bus for commuting in daily life It was also difficult to reach bus stops and people were less interested in bus operation (Water Molt, 2016) The percentage of people using public buses in 2000 was estimated at only about 3% (Water Molt, 2016)

Figure 3.4: Bus service in 2000 (Source: Walter Molt, 2016)

On the contrary, thanks to its high accessibility and flexibility, motorcycles became the most convenient way to travel Hanoi's data show that annual motorbike growth rate in Hanoi was so high in the 1980s and 1990s, at 22% per annum and the one in the next decade was lower but still about 13.5% (Hung, K.V., 2006)

After the implementation of the Asiatrans project, as a result, the bus service had been significantly improved and public transport received a tremendous boost The number of passengers had increased dramatically each year and multiplied by

30 in just eight years (from 12 million users in 2000 to 400 million in 2008, to nearly 600 000 passengers a day in 2008) This far exceeded the initial expectations

of the project implementers themselves

Figure 3.5: Increase bus ridership of Hanoi bus network

(Source: Walter Molt, 2016)