Buses in Pleiku: local routes and what to use

Does Pleiku have buses? Yes, but it is a small network that links the centre with nearby districts and one route to Kon Tum, not a frequent city bus service. The latest published timetables and fares date from 2016 and 2020, so treat every number below as a guide. For a visitor, taxi or Grab is the practical choice; the bus only makes sense for a day trip out to a district.

One note on names: Đak Đoa, Chư Sê and Pleiku are the district names at the time each route was announced. After the provincial merger in 2025, names and borders may have changed, so check the old name too when you search on a map.

Bus routes from Pleiku

In 2020 the province had five local bus routes from Pleiku to Đức Cơ, Chư Prông, Chư Pưh, Đak Đoa and Chư Sê, and An Khê, plus one intercity route to Kon Tum. These are the routes with a published timetable or fare.

Route 04: Pleiku, Đak Đoa and Chư Sê

This route runs 33.7 km. It starts at the Pleiku wholesale-market car park and ends near Phan Đình Phùng Primary School in Ia Tiêm commune, Chư Sê. There are 12 trips a day in both directions, from 5:30 am to 5 pm, in buses that hold 40 to 50 passengers, seated and standing. It gave the people of Ia Tiêm and Ia Băng communes and the area around another way to travel. Ask for the current times before you go.

Route Ia H’Drai to Pleiku

At the end of 2020, the transport departments of Gia Lai and Kon Tum agreed to let a Kon Tum company, Anh Thạch, open a bus route from Ia H’Drai district to Pleiku. The route is 75 km long and ends at the Pleiku Commercial Centre car park. On the way it passes three hospitals, so patients can get to treatment.

The planned timetable was a first bus at 6 am, the last at 4 pm and one bus every 120 minutes. The first declared fare was 48,000 VND per passenger and 450,000 VND for a monthly ticket, with a 50% discount for people with revolutionary service, older people and people with disabilities, and 100% for people with severe disabilities. Ask for today’s price.

Bus from Kon Tum to Pleiku airport

From 12 November 2016, a private company, Phú Hòa, was allowed to add a pick-up and drop-off stop at Pleiku airport on its Kon Tum to Pleiku route. It was then the only operator, with 10 buses, over 45 km between Pleiku and Kon Tum. Buses ran to match flight arrivals and departures, at 30,000 VND per passenger. That is old, so confirm it before you count on it for the airport or the trip back to Kon Tum. The route has also been interrupted: on 28 March 2020 Gia Lai asked Kon Tum to cut trips or suspend the Phú Hòa route until 15 April 2020 because of Covid-19.

Quy Nhơn to Pleiku: only a plan so far

In July 2025 the Gia Lai Department of Construction was drawing up a plan for a Quy Nhơn to Pleiku bus. After the two provinces merged and the headquarters moved to Quy Nhơn ward, travel between the two places grew fast, and the Quy Nhơn to Pleiku expressway will not open before 2029. The route is expected to have a fare subsidy from the budget. No timetable or fare has been published, so for Quy Nhơn you still book a coach; see Pleiku to Quy Nhơn and Pleiku coaches.

Going to Quy Nhơn without a bus: coaches are busier now

While the bus plan waits, coaches and limousine vans carry the demand. Before the merger four operators ran this route. By July 2025 there were eight companies, an average of 20 trips a day and fares of 150,000 to 220,000 VND each way, depending on the vehicle and departure time. Most vehicles seat 9, 16 or 29. By October 2025 the Tuấn Anh company had raised its trips from 20 to 34 a day, 30 of them in 9-seat limousines. One company that opened on 25 September ran every 15 minutes from 2 am to 7 pm, and a few pick you up at your door in Pleiku and Quy Nhơn.

About 370 people a week go from Pleiku down to Quy Nhơn for work and return at the weekend, mostly on the 6 pm Sunday trip and the 3:30 am Monday trip. Book early if you travel then; in mid-week the coaches are quieter, and one operator says mid-week days are almost empty. Call the operator to confirm fares and trips. The province also tried a fixed shuttle for officials and stopped it from 23 July because of problems; that was for civil servants, not a public route for you.

Electric carts around town: a trial

For getting around the centre rather than a bus to a district, there is something new: four-wheel electric carts on a trial in the west of the province, on three routes. Route 1 links Great Unity Square (Đại Đoàn Kết) with Minh Thành Pagoda and the Hội Phú stream embankment, and route 2 links the square with Plei Ốp village. Route 3 passes Biển Hồ Lake, the hundred-year-old pines, Tiên Sơn bridge, the Ngô Sơn rice fields and Chư Đăng Ya volcano.

Routes 1 and 2 run from 5:30 pm to midnight every day, and route 3 from 8 am to 6 pm. The carts go at up to 30 km/h and carry up to 10 people, a slow ride for a family, not a rushed trip. The operator, the Gia Lai branch of Sun Taxi, had put two carts on the trial and planned about 10 more. Ask for the fare and pick-up point when you call; the schedule may change during a trial.

How to find the current timetable and fare

There is no current public timetable, so go to the Pleiku wholesale-market car park, where the local bus routes start and ask a driver or the staff three things: does the route still run, when are the first and last trips, and what is the fare. For the Ia H’Drai route, ask at the Pleiku Commercial Centre car park. Ask a few days before you travel, so you can still switch to a coach if the route has stopped.

If you are in a hurry or close to a flight, do not count on a bus. A taxi or Grab is more reliable; see Pleiku airport and taxi and Grab in Pleiku. Other ways to get around are in Getting around. For Kon Tum, Pleiku to Kon Tum has the distance and the options.