The river bus pick-up and drop-off point in Ho Chi Minh City has been renamed from "Boat Station" to "Wharf".

The name “Waterway Station” on signs at river bus stops will be changed to “Wharf” after mixed public reactions to the use of the word.

In recent days, many people have had mixed opinions about the name " Waterway Station" at the pick-up and drop-off points for river buses in Ho Chi Minh City.

Many people believe that the word "station" in the Vietnamese dictionary is an architectural structure used as a place for passengers to get on and off or to load and unload goods at designated points on railways, trams or on air routes. On waterways, it is "wharf" or "port".

Điểm đón trả khách buýt đường sông ở TPHCM được đổi tên từ “Ga tàu thủy” thành “Bến tàu”- Ảnh 1. — "Waterway Station" is the name given since the opening of the river bus service.

Since then, many people have raised the issue of changing the wording on the signboard of the "Train Station".

"The name should be changed to 'Bus Terminal' or 'River Port'... to suit the waterway passenger transport activities. The Saigon River is a beautiful river and the river bus service is operating well, meeting the needs of residents and tourists when coming to Ho Chi Minh City," said Mr. Thanh Duong (District 1).

However, some opinions also said that there is no need to change to avoid inconvenience for passengers using river bus services.

Điểm đón trả khách buýt đường sông ở TPHCM được đổi tên từ “Ga tàu thủy” thành “Bến tàu”- Ảnh 2. — The sign "Ship Station" has been taken down and replaced with "Wharf"

Regarding this issue, on February 29, Mr. Nguyen Kim Toan - Director of Thuong Nhat Company Limited (the river bus operator) - said: "Regarding the name 'Waterway Station', when consulting on the project and naming, we saw that no one had any comments, so we used it. We are still listening, with the criteria of always aiming for the right thing. After a period of research, we realized that the name was not suitable, so we are currently in the process of changing the name on the signboard."

According to Mr. Toan, all passenger pick-up and drop-off stations named "Boat Station" will be changed to "Boat Wharf" from today (February 29).

River bus route No. 1 (Bach Dang - Linh Dong) has a 10.8km route and has been put into operation since August 2017. The entire route has 12 pick-up and drop-off points.

According to the operator, the route currently serves 3,000 - 3,500 passengers per day. On weekends and holidays, the number of passengers is very high, from 5,000 to 7,000. The current ticket price is 15,000 VND/person/trip.

Source