After more than a year of piloting, the public bike rental service will continues to be deployed  in Da Nang. This is a positive signal for residents and tourists who want to experience taking a city tour by bicycle.

Introducing the use of public bike rental services at the Tien Son Sports Arena. Photo: THANH LAN

Pham Thi Hong Ngoan, a pupil from the Nguyen Ba Ngoc Primary School based in Hiep Duc District, Quang Nam Province, said "I really like this public bike rental service, so whenever I follow my parents back to Da Nang, I often use the service. The current fee is very suitable for pupils like me."

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Hoang Quoc Thanh, a tourist hailing from Ha Noi, it is very convenient for tourists to take a tour around the city by bike because main streets are spacious and airy, and local attractions are close together like the APEC Sculpture Park, the Nguyen Van Troi Bridge, the Dragon Bridge, the Thuan Phuoc Bridge, the Dien Hai Citadel, the Museum of Cham Sculpture and the Marble Mountains.

According to a report released by the Da Nang Department of Transport, the pilot implementation of the public bike rental service has greatly contributed to connecting means of public transportation, increasing convenience, and creating more choice of means of transportation for residents and visitors to use to move around the city center.

During a year of the pilot implementation, no traffic accidents involving users of public bike rental service were recorded in the city. The pilot implementation of the abovementioned service also contributes to realising the goal of green transformation in the transportation sector. This service also connects with buses to create more convenient conditions for bus passengers.

​​​​​​​Mr. Do Ba Quan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tri Nam Digital Transport Services JSC - the investor of the public bike rental service project, said that a total of 61 stations with about 600 bikes have been so far opened across the city. The stations are built near bus stops and crowded areas to attract users.

People are seen using public bike rental service on Nhu Nguyet Street, Hai Chau District. Photo: THANH LAN

From March 29, 2023 to December 28, 2023, 108,758 customers used the service, with a daily average of 402.8 customers. Of which, the total number of trips was 192,677, with a daily average of 701 trips, with a total distance of more than 1 million km, he informed.

Like 5 other localities in the country, in the first 3 months of operation, the public bike rental service received the great attention and concern of the media and press, creating a strong effect. Over the following months, the service gradually became familiar to residents and tourists, so the number of service users decreased and gradually stabilized.

In addition, due to the harsh weather in the last months of 2023, Da Nang experienced continuous rains in the afternoons and evenings, leading to a sharp decrease in the number of service users compared to the first three months.

Trips on weekends have increased but not significantly compared to weekdays, the overall number of trips is very even between weekdays. This shows that TNGo public bicycles are gradually becoming a familiar means of transport for people and tourist. Many people engage in using bicycles regularly to serve their daily travel needs or do exercise.

“For Da Nang, we think the market is very positive. Da Nang is basically a tourist city with a large number of visitors, so it is very suitable for the city to continue to maintain the service" Mr. Do Ba Quan emphasised.

Director of the municipal Department of Transport Bui Hong Trung suggested the city continue to waive fees for the temporary use of sidewalks to arrange public bicycle stations in the city, facilitating people and tourists to be able to access and use public bicycle services at the low price as recently of VND5,000 /30 minutes.

He added that, in the near future, more public bicycle stations will be installed in 27 other locations in districts in a bid to increase the coverage of service points, and the ability to serve people and tourists.

The arrangement of public bicycle stations near schools, shopping centers, and bus stops has contributed to supporting residents and visitors to use means of public transportation such as bicycle or bus to use as a substitute for personal motor vehicles, maximising traffic congestion and accidents, and reducing fuel consumption and environmental pollution. This, thereby, ensures the goals set out in the Project to build Da Nang into an environmentally friendly city for the 2021-2030 period as well as the local transport sector's action programme for green transformation and carbon and methane reduction.

Reporting by THANH LAN - Translating by M.DUNG