I remember three days ago I was at the Thanh Buoi office to drop off a package, and while I was waiting, I scrolled on my phone and saw the news that Mr. Thanh had passed away. Although I'd been taking Thanh Buoi buses for over 20 years, I had never looked into him, but the news still gave me a slight feeling of emptiness.
To others, Thanh Buoi is just a bus company, but to the people of Da Lat, Thanh Buoi was the first DECENT bus service to Saigon. It was a bus that didn't stop for passengers along the road, didn't make you sit on someone else's lap, and didn't make you carsick because the driver drove like a maniac in a crammed 16-seater van. One of my older friends, Tuan, even called it the "life-changing bus ride."
There are many perspectives on business, but I confidently assert that Thanh Buoi successfully "hacked" the SG-DL long-distance bus market at the time, leading to the eventual demise of unauthorized, unofficial buses. It's not an exaggeration to say that Thanh Buoi changed the entire bus industry, setting a new standard for everyone. Anyone who has taken Thanh Buoi and used other long-distance services, even in other countries, can attest to the quality of Thanh Buoi's service—it's undeniable.
Unlike other bus companies, for some routes, you have to go to the bus station to buy a ticket, and then you get on the bus only to find that the operator has sold tickets for the aisle space for people to lie down, which my friends told me was "normal." Well, at Thanh Buoi, we don't do that 🙂
The marketing and media industry I work in has a concept called brand love, and Thanh Buoi definitely tops my personal list because they truly focused on the customer from the core, not just slogans. I believe millions of Thanh Buoi's customers share the same sentiment.
Rest in peace, Mr. Thanh, with the hope that one day Thanh Buoi will return and "hack" the industry once more.
