VietNamNet Bridge – Managers of HCM City's Mien Dong East Bound Bus Station and Ha Noi Railway Station said there would be enough coaches and trains to transport workers during the Tet festival.

Passengers buy train tickets for Tet travel at the Ha Noi Railway Station. There will be enough coaches and trains to meet high demand during the festival, transportation officials have assured.

"We guarantee that workers will not have to desperately wait to buy tickets", the vice director of the Mien Dong station, Thuong Thanh Hai, said.

In addition, the station would deploy more extra buses to meet the high travel demand during the coming holiday as workers return to their hometowns, Hai added.

Thousands of passengers have flocked to the station since the beginning of this month to buy tickets to their hometowns, which caused overcrowding at the station.

Nguyen Thi Hau, a worker from the Linh Trung Export Processing Zone, on Sunday had to queue from early morning till afternoon for a ticket to her hometown in central Quang Ngai Province.

"Many people were even unable to buy tickets", she said.

According to Thuong Thanh Hai, the situation resulted from people being hasty.

He explained that tickets for Tet, recently sold to passengers, only belonged to some travel enterprises and, in fact, many enterprises have not begun selling tickets.

"The overcrowding would not occur if all enterprises sold tickets at the same time," Hai stressed.

According to the station's regulations, travel businesses are not allowed to raise fares on coaches by over 40 per cent for departure before January 23, or over 60 per cent for coaches for departures on January 24 and the days following that.

Passengers can search for details about ticket fares at and inform the station in case of finding violations, Hai said.

The station is expected to receive around 45,000 passengers per day during peak periods, which is nearly equal to the amount during the same period last year, he said.

Similarly, the Ha Noi Railway Station has reported moderate amounts of tickets sold or ordered so far this season.

Vice head of the station Phung Thi Ly Ha said the station currently had over 9,000 tickets for trains running from Sai Gon to Ha Noi before Tet, and nearly 19,000 tickets for the return journey after the holiday.

The station has also taken action to discover and combat violations involving ticket prices, such as installing a large screen in ticket selling areas to provide passengers with clear information about prices, Ha said.

Ha also advised passengers to purchase tickets directly from the station staff to avoid those illegally selling tickets.

In order to ensure travel safety during Tet holidays, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently asked the Ministry of Transport to strengthen inspections of passenger carrying vehicles to prevent illegal increases of ticket fares.

Source: VNS