1: CULTURAL
Genenrally, there are various common behaviour patterns from almost passengers including queuing up before boarding the bus, pressing the stop button when the bus nearly comes to their destination or getting on the bus from the front door and getting off from the back door. Furthermore, people always offer their seat to pregnant woman, children and the elderly. All these things made a significant contribution to the improvement of public transportation system in Ho Chi Minh City. Interestingly, students usually wear headphones and access to the social networks when going alone instead of interacting with the others (Danang Urban Bus 2017). However, the older tend to talking with the bus staff and asking for useful information (ibid).
2: SOCIAL
According to Moavenzadeh and Markow (2007, p.8), using public transport can help people avoid sunburn due to an overexposure to ultraviolet radiation. Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 1.1 percent of annual deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution (ibid). Traveling by bus, in this case, can be one of the most practical solutions in Vietnam. Based on the research, a lot of people especially women travel by bus because they can not drive motorbike and want to protect their skin from sunburn. On the other hand, the flexibility and time-saving are the two main reasons why high income people tend to using motorcyles instead of bus or private cars (Lao Dong News 2018).
3: ECONOMICAL
There are multiple adverse impacts from congestion due to the significant increase in the number of private vehicles. One of them is decreased economic activity. Moavenzadeh and Markow (2007, p.9) proved that the UK loses 20 to 25 billion USD per year because of traffic congestion while the United States estimates over 43 billion USD per annum. It is obvious that improving public transportation system like offering transit pass is really important in the recent years. Two economical benefits are reducing the demand for gasoline, helping the passengers to have some money saved up.
4: EMOTIONAL
After a hard working day, people have a tendency towards relaxation and entertainment. Therefore, spending their free time on listening to music, chatting with friends, reading books or even taking a nap are absolutely some great ideas for the passengers. Instead of worrying about the bad weather, the traffic jam or getting lost; they can utterly enjoy a short moment while sitting on a bus bench like a self-reward.
5: POLITICAL
Sustainable society is the society in which it could support and protect the vulnerable, and improve everyone’s quality of life (Moavenzadeh & Markow 2007, p.15). Based on this purpose, public services are the inevitable approach. However, people are using them without the consideration of those meanings. It could be seen that the price for poor students as well as successful businessman are the same. Law reinforcement is necessary for the change. However, publishing new law without taking people’s opinions could not be a good idea. For this demand, opening channel for people to complain about bus services maybe a solution. To give people some information about the bus routes, free information in details should be provided. While general reinforcement might not have any impact, the specific one could be two difficult to create. Those feedbacks from the passengers have a high change to make a huge effect.
6: ETHICAL
Another negative impact which is caused by congestion is the bad behaviors from the residents. Lots of them disobey the traffic laws because worry about their lateness. Moreover, they might also feel uncomfortable and angry at being delayed then blame the people around for their small mistakes.
7: TECHNOLOGICAL
The technology has been involving in the modern life a lot. For that reason, the new technology could be applied to the transportation including buses. The passenger can use transit pass or buy tickets online and then swipe through the bus door instead of buying ticket traditionally, which is very time-consuming. Furthermore, with the innovation of technology, the stop button on bus can be replaced with the voice navigation system on the mobile phone, when the user nearly comes to their destination, the phone will automatically send a notice to the bus so that the driver will know where to drop them.
8: FUNCTIONAL
Based on the information from the three cultural probes video, the Hong Kong color themes from those reflective light at night could be one of the main aesthetic characteristics. More interestingly, the colors of traffic lights as well as the bus information sign are the same. Combining the online bus information and the transit pass within a minimal appearance is a practical solution to improve the public transportation system.
9: ENVIRONMENTAL
Air pollution is one of the most noticeable concerns in Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh City due to the increase in the number of personal vehicles. It not only had a negative impact on human’s health condition but also caused numerous environmental problems especially global warming – a long-term consequence of climate change and human activities. For that reason, the government should be focus on the sustainable development, which can be defined as a strategy to protect the environmental quality (Moavenzadeh & Markow 2007, p.35).
10: EDUCATIONAL/ AWARENESS
In order to overcome the use of personal transportation, every family and school need to be aware of the benefits of the public transport and mobilize people to use it. For each family, parents should support their children to travel by bus. Parents should also use buses to set an example for their children and reduce the demand for private vehicles. At school, teachers should support students to use public transport through lessons or organize campaigns for everyone to join. Besides, the university should cooperate with local banks to provide travel cards for each student. It could be said that using buses to replace personal vehicles is a positive action which can protect the economy, society and the environment.
11: INDUSTRY
Utilizing smart phones instead of the traditional maps or asking the bus staff is the current trend among people who travel by bus. It is clear that modern technology plays a vital roles in the improvement of bus system, the environmental quality and the economical activities.
REFERENCES
Moavenzadeh, F & Markow, M.J 2007, ‘Moving millions : transport strategies for sustainable development in megacities‘, Alliance for global sustainability bookseries, vol.14, The Netherlands.
Danang Urban Bus 2017, ‘The benefits of traveling by bus’, Da Nang Bus, Vietnam, 14 September 2017, viewed on 04 July 2019, <https://www.danangbus.vn/tin-tuc/tin-tuc/7-loi-ich-khi-di-xe-buyt-1080.html>
Lao Dong News 2018, ‘The trend of using motorbike’, VIETNAMNET, Vietnam, 07 October 2018, viewed on 04 July 2019, <https://laodong.vn/kinh-te/70-nguoi-co-thu-nhap-500-trieu-tro-len-van-chon-di-xe-may-thay-vi-mua-o-to-634735.ldo>
Creative thinking & Innovation 