Greening the transport fleet – in other words, electrifying it – is a central issue in Asian cities and farther afield (Ajanovic and Haas, 2016, Featherman et al., 2021). Sadly, the uptake of electric vehicles for personal use is much lower in poorer cities where purchase and operation costs are high relative to local incomes (Lutsey et al., 2015, Rajper and Albrecht, 2020). Higher hopes for improvement are pegged on the electrification of (currently much polluting) urban bus fleets (Pojani and Stead, 2015, Wu et al., 2015) – the bus being the backbone of the public transport systems in those cities that lack rail-based transit (Nguyen and Pojani, 2018). China is the unquestionable leader of the e-bus market with a fleet of nearly 400,000 in 2018 (He et al., 2021; IES-Synergy, 2021). Shenzhen is the first city in the world to have fully switched to e-buses (Mao et al., 2020). Most other cities around the globe still run either conventional buses or a mix of conventional and e-buses.So far, little is known about users’ attitudes and beliefs around this new technology. Can it entice more people to use public transport? This study investigates whether youth (i.e., university students) intend to use e-buses in the capital of Vietnam. Hanoi recently introduced electric buses along 10 routes (out of more than 110 routes).1 Not only are the new e-vehicles zero-emission, but they are also equipped with driver behavior monitoring systems, surveillance cameras, announcement screens, free Wi-Fi and USB charging ports, and LCD entertainment screens (Sustainable Bus, 2021) (see Figure 1). A mobile app is available which shows the real-time position of e-buses. On conventional buses, these features are often broken or missing entirely.The e-bus routes run in urban districts connecting the main destinations and points of interest (except for one route which connects the city center and the international airport). The terminals are located in residential areas or VinFast department stores and have innovative designs. The operational schedules of e-buses are quite similar to conventional buses, with 10-20 minute headways. Most e-bus routes share the same infrastructure as conventional buses, meaning that they have no dedicated paths on the road. Therefore, the e-bus speeds and temporal reliability are the same as for conventional buses. However, the comfort and convenience of e-bus services is far superior while the fare is the same. E-bus passengers can pay with a contactless credit/debit card; this method is unavailable in conventional vehicles.While normally passengers (or potential passengers) are unfamiliar with the powertrains of buses, in this case it is immediately clear that e-buses are “special” and “novel” because their exterior and interior design is quite different to conventional buses. The municipality has launched the e-buses with much fanfare and touted them as smarter, safer, quieter, and cleaner, as well as more innovative, secure, comfortable, and reliable than conventional buses. E-buses have been presented as evidence of the transport authorities’ commitment to sustainability and innovation (People’s Committee of Hanoi, 2016).The problem is that Hanoi is not a bus-oriented city. Here motorcycles are the dominant travel mode, accounting for over 80% of daily trips (Huynh and Gomez-Ibañez, 2017). Buses are used in only 8-9% of trips; the rest of people mainly ride motorcycles. University students are the main bus patrons, accounting for nearly two thirds of passengers (Manh et al., 2021). This is not unusual: students everywhere tend to rely on buses to get around (Chen, 2012, Danaf et al., 2014, Duarte et al., 2016, Hafezi et al., 2018). Hence, examining students’ perceptions and behaviors in relation to public transportation is critical.In Hanoi, a special focus on students’ intention to use electric buses is particularly important because the Vietnamese capital is a megacity of 8 million inhabitants and a higher education hub within the country. More 600,000 students attend about 80 universities and colleges (Hanoi Statistics Office, 2019). It would be a major achievement if electric buses lured even a portion of the student population away from motorcycles. At the same time, one must keep in mind that the current e-bus fleet (about 100 vehicles) might not be able to service Hanoi’s entire student population.The study employs primary survey data collected by the authors, which are modelled through structural equations. We apply a tailored framework which incorporates elements of the Technology Acceptance Model. Below we review existing studies of students’ actual or potential use of public transport to highlight the gap which our study seeks to fill. Then we present the theoretical framework, followed by the methodology and analysis.
