Passengers wait to board buses at a depot in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Shutterstock/Phuong D. Nguyen

Grab has begun testing the bus-booking feature for customers traveling between Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport and Vung Tau Town in southern Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province starting Monday, the company said in a release.

The route is currently operated by local firm Avigo, Grab’s partner bus operator, which runs 24 trips a day. By the end of this year, Grab will test out one more route between District 7 and District 1 in HCMC, operated by local partner City View Bus at a frequency of 44 trips per day.

Grab’s Bus feature will help customers find buses and routes that best suit their schedule, book tickets in advance, track the bus in real time and know when it is arriving. Customers will be able to make cashless payments through the Moca e-wallet function on the Grab app, with international debit card, or by QR code, Grab said.

The Bus feature will allow Grab’s transportation partners to access Grab’s vast user base, boost operational efficiency and business growth through the use of the company’s technological platform, the company said.

Grab began testing the Bus feature in the Philippines two weeks ago, allowing customers to book tickets for two routes from Makati City, the country’s financial hub, to a nearby city.

Grab, with its app on more than 160 million mobile devices across eight countries, entered Vietnam in 2014 and now offers a wide range of services from taxi and motorbike hailing to food delivery, online payment, express delivery, and hotel booking.

In late August, the Singapore-based tech firm announced in a statement it will invest some $500 million in Vietnam in the next five years to expand its transport, food and payment networks.

The money would also be used to develop fintech, mobility solutions and logistics to spur the country’s digital economy, Grab said.

Vietnam’s ride-hailing and food delivery market is expected to top $1 billion this year and $4 billion in 2025, according to a recent report by Google, Singaporean investment firm Temasek and U.S. consultancy Bain.

VNF ( Vnexpress )