The Hanoi Public Transport Management Center will offer an offline mode for virtual tickets starting September 20 to make public transport more convenient for commuters, according to the center's director, Thai Ho Phuong.

A rapid transit bus on Lang Ha Street in Hanoi's Dong Da district. Photo: Chien Cong/The Hanoi Times

According to Phuong, passengers need to update "The Ve Giao Thong Ha Noi" (Hanoi public transport tickets) application on their mobile phones to be able to use the e-tickets without an Internet connection.

"The application is user-friendly and suitable for all passengers, ensuring privacy," said the director.

Virtual tickets are generated from the customer's identification account and displayed on mobile phones, with full information like a physical chip-embedded travel pass (card code, cardholder information, card expiration date, and others).

Virtual cards are expected to help reduce fraud and lost revenue. The use of virtual cards helps save the cost of issuing physical cards and avoids the time and travel costs for customers to pick up and affix stamps to monthly cards. They are valid immediately after successful registration, instead of the passenger waiting 3-4 days to get the physical card or standing in line to get a monthly ticket stamp.

The use of virtual tickets can help streamline administrative processes, reduce ticket management and issuance costs, and meet the management needs of transit agencies.

In particular, the virtual tickets will be applied to all the monthly passes and the free bus passes on the entire network of public passenger transport by bus in Hanoi.

Currently, Hanoi operates a total of 153 bus lines, including 128 subsidized lines, nine non-subsidized lines, 12 lines to neighboring provinces, and three city tour routes. The bus system operated by Hanoi Transportation Corporation (Transerco) carried over 118 million passengers in the first half of 2024.