Can I use cards on buses and public transport in Vietnam?

From my experience traveling in Vietnam, especially in cities like Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, paying for buses is definitely cash-only no card machines on board. For the metro systems, newer lines have card readers and some vending machines accept cards, but many tourists have trouble using foreign-issued cards there. I found it easiest to buy a local prepaid travel card or just use cash to avoid delays. Also, taxi apps like Grab allow card payments, which is convenient for longer trips. But for public buses and metro, carry cash as a backup.

I used GrabPay and cash for getting around Da Nang last year. The buses there only accept cash, so always have small denominations ready. The metro is still under development in Da Nang but in other cities like Hanoi and HCMC, metro ticket vending machines do accept international cards sometimes, but it can be unreliable. Overall, if you don’t want to worry about card acceptance, carry enough cash for your daily travel on public transport.

In Hanoi, the public bus system still operates mainly on a cash basis. When I took buses around the Old Quarter, I paid the driver in cash  usually small bills or coins since they don’t give change for large notes. The city metro (Line 3) is more modern, and some stations have card payment options for tickets, but the acceptance of foreign cards is spotty. If you have a local Vietnamese card or e-wallet app like MoMo or ZaloPay, you can use those for the metro, but for tourists, cash is still king.

When I traveled around Ho Chi Minh City last year, I mostly used cash to pay for buses and the new metro line. The buses don’t accept cards at all, so you have to pay the driver directly in Vietnamese Dong. For the metro, they have ticket vending machines that accept cash and some debit or credit cards, but I found it easier just to buy a stored-value card called the “Vé Thẻ” at the station and top it up with cash. Cards like Visa or Mastercard aren’t widely accepted yet on public transport.