The Hanoi Transport Service Corporation (Transerco) said the buses were designed to reduce traffic pollution, provide more comfort and make access more convenient for the disabled.

The Hanoi Transport Service Corporation said the buses were designed to reduce traffic pollution, provide more comfort and make access more convenient for the disabled.

Corporation deputy general director Nguyen Trong Thong said it had spent VND200 billion (US$11 million) replacing 132 of its 800 buses.

Of that number, 101 buses would meet the emission standards and 15 of them, which had been domestically manufactured, would be put into a pilot operation on Route 3 from Gia Lam to Giap Bat coach stations.

“We will use buses reaching the standards on our main bus routes as soon as they are built,” Thong said, “hopefully by the end of the year.”

He said the corporation was looking to raise funds to replace all of its 800 buses on 45 routes to meet the emissions standards, just as all newly manufactured cars and motorbikes had been required to do since July 1 last year.

Thong said the corporation would also develop two modern bus routes operated by busses equipped with global positioning system, digital maps and automatic information system. Bus stations and stops on these routes would be redesigned and rebuilt.

Nguyen Huu Tri, head of the Vietnam Register’s Department of Verifying Engined Vehicles, said under the new emission standards, petrol vehicles were not allowed to emit more than 4.5 per cent of carbon dioxide, 1,200 parts per million in case of four-stroke engines, 7,800 ppm in case of two-stroke, and 3,300 ppm in case of special engines.

Diesel vehicles are limited to a maximum of 72 HSU (Hartridge Smoke Unit), which measures the darkness of smoke.