VietNamNet Bridge – The annual mass-movement of people to and from HCM City after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday is imitating the pre-festival rush at bus stations in particular.

The number of people returning to the city – mostly migrant workers and students – began to increase from yesterday, Feb 8. More than 100,000 people have been returning to the city every day after Tet, said Nguyen Ngoc Thua, director of HCM City's Mien Dong (Eastern) Bus Station.

The return rush began on Monday, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, but spiked sharply yesterday, he said.

Thua said more than 2,000 buses carried around 40,000 passengers to the city from the northern, central and Central Highlands regions on Monday.

Last Saturday more than 1,200 buses from these regions disgorged over 27,000 people at the Mien Dong Bus Station. The following day it went up to 1,400 buses and over 32,000 people, 20 per cent higher than on normal days.

To stimulate quick circulation of buses and avoid traffic jams as well as a shortage of vehicles, the station has reduced 50 per cent of its parking fee for the days after Tet.

The influx of returnees would be much higher in the coming days, Thua estimated.

The HCM City's Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station has also experienced a similar spike in the number of passengers it handles every day, with estimates putting it at three times the normal figure of 15,000. It has also decreased its parking fees to boost circulation of buses at the busiest time of the year.

The sharp increase in the number of people travelling back to HCM City means a departure rush at several major terminals in other cities and provinces.

In the central city of Hue, hundreds of mini vans and buses have been added to the fleet of vehicles transporting people to HCM City.

The Southern Bus Station in Hue is set to see a 5-7 times increase in the number of passengers, mostly leaving the city for HCM City, from now till the middle of the first lunar month, local officials say.

Since last Friday, the second day of the lunar new year, the number of bus travellers has increased steadily in the central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Da Nang City. Taking advantage of the high demand, a number of drivers have begun overloading their vehicles, sometimes with twice of the capacity.

The high demand has also resulted in a sharp increase in ticket prices at these stations with some routes fetching double the normal rates.

The Mekong Delta province of Can Tho is also seeing a 10 per cent increase in the number of passengers going to HCM City despite tickets costing 40 per cent more than normal prices.

Reverse surge

People are also travelling in large numbers in the opposite direction.

Nguyen Hoang Huy, head of the Mien Dong Station's traffic regulation department, said the number of passengers going from HCM City to Gia Lai Province and Buon Ma Thuot City in the Central Highlands, the coastal cities of Phan Thiet and Nha Trang, as well as Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province increased between the third and fifth days of the Year of the Cat.

The eastern station saw an average of 23,000 passengers leaving the city on these days, 3,000 more than normal.

"Most of them were going on short trips," Huy said.

From the city's western bus terminal, meanwhile, around 22,000 to 25,000 people have been leaving for the Mekong Delta every day.

Bus fares fell back to regular levels on Saturday at the western station and on Sunday at the eastern station, officials said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News