Ean Vutha has been working as a city bus driver for seven years now, and he loves his job. It’s a job that demands of him a lot of patience whenever he is behind the wheel navigating his bus through congested streets of Phnom Penh.
“It will be good if there are lanes just for buses. That will help me do my job better,” said Ean Vutha, 45.
As Phnom Penh keeps growing and modernizing, public transportation is being seen as an increasingly important option for tackling traffic jams. But as the city bus drivers mark the 10th anniversary of their service in September, they find themselves in an uphill task as they have to constantly compete against private vehicles for lanes on the roads, where traffic signs, lights, and rules are often ignored.
“Sometimes, it takes me 50 minutes, or sometimes more than an hour, to get from one terminal to another [on my route],” said Vutha, who operates his bus on an old stadium roundabout to Prek Samrong Bridge route. “What bothers me the most is the congestion.”
The Phnom Penh Capital Administration launched the public bus service for the first time in late 2014, with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The service operator—City Bus Authority (CBA)—then had a fleet of 54 second-hand South Korean buses that ran on only three routes in the city, according to the 2023 JICA’s report titled “Data Collection Survey on Urban Transport in Phnom Penh.” But today CBA has over 300 buses operating on a network of 13 routes. Each route is about 20 kilometers long and takes a bus driver one to two hours to complete a one-way journey depending on the traffic conditions, according to the report.
Cambodia’s 2019 census has projected that the population of Phnom Penh will grow to more than 2.5 million people in 2024. The city alone accounts for more than 2 million motorcycles out of the total 7.5 registered vehicles of all kinds nationwide, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.
With a ratio of almost one motorcycle per inhabitant — not to mention yet the number of private cars and the growing number of three-wheel taxis known as tuk-tuk — Nat Leanghan, another city bus driver, has no choice but to keep his cool each day he navigates his bus through busy streets in Stung Meanchey commune. The area is home to many factories and roadside stalls.
“Between 4 and 6 p.m, when the factory workers and students go back home, I experience difficulties every day while driving through traffic congestion, which mostly occurs at Stung Meanchey and Lou 5 [intersections],” said Nat Leanghan, who has been working as a city bus driver for four years now.
“Both motorcycles and cars fail to respect each other’s lanes, causing everyone to get stuck on the road. I normally drive in the middle of the road because there’s no bus lane yet,” he said.
For Chour Sereypich, a local bank employee who prefers to ride her own motorcycle to taking a bus to go to work, trying to beat the traffic jams is a daily routine.
“I always get stuck in traffic jams almost every morning near Stung Meanchey market because the traffic flow into Phnom Penh center is very busy,” she said.
Rim Sopanha, a university student, is among the minority who uses public transportation daily. He said the service is far from being efficient, and the bus he is using often runs behind schedule due to the congestion. Even so, he still prefers it to his motorcycle for going to school because it’s cost-saving and convenient.
“I don’t have to spend money on petrol. Another reason is the air conditioning inside the bus,” he said, adding that by using public transportation, “I also play a part in reducing traffic congestion and air pollution in the city.”
Bus-only lanes
By all accounts, the congestion is likely to persist despite the city government’s ongoing efforts to ease it up by expanding existing roads and building new ones and flyovers.
In a speech during a groundbreaking ceremony for a twin flyover in Phnom Penh in June, Prime Minister Hun Manet called on the city administration to establish bus-only lanes to enable the city bus system to improve its service and help address traffic jams. He also said that bus lanes should be incorporated into the design and planning for infrastructure development in the future.
For passengers, getting on and off a bus at a stop can also be a risky undertaking.
In a comment on the CBA’s official Facebook page, a Phnom Penh resident by the name of Thoeun Thida (ធឿន ធីតា) complained about safety concerns for her children each time they catch a ride to school at a bus stop near their home north of the city. She said the station is often blocked by several trucks parked right in front of it, forcing the bus to roll past to halt a few meters further for passengers to get on and off.
“Every single day my children have to stand behind those trucks or on the road itself, which is very dangerous. Who wouldn’t want to wait in the bus stop if it weren’t because of those trucks?” Thoeun Thida wrote, echoing similar issues at bus stations elsewhere in the city.
Both passengers and drivers who were interviewed agreed that the service would be improved when the streets have designated bus lanes.
But until that happens, Ma Kol, another bus driver, said he will just keep doing his best and trying not to be bored during his daily eight-hour shift behind the wheel.
“If you are bored or tired, you should not drive,” said Ma Kol, 50. “It’s normal for me to face traffic jams. But I hope to have lanes just for buses [in the future]. If there are, it will be fantastic,” he said, his face beaming.
NOTE: This story was produced by ‘Batch 22’ student of the Department of Media and Communication (DMC), Royal University of Phnom Penh.
