HCM CITY — Thousands of migrant workers in HCM City are worried about transport ticket shortages as the biggest festival of the year approaches, Thanh Niên (Young People) Newspaper reports.
A survey conducted at the Eastern Region bus station shows that almost all buses with beds from HCM City to provinces in Mekong Delta, Northern and Central regions were fully booked.
Nguyễn Hoàng Huy, deputy director of the bus station, told the newspaper that the total number of tickets during the Tết (Vietnamese New Year) Holiday registered by transport enterprises was 170,000. Only 70,000 tickets are still available. However, major transporters such as Phương Trang, Chín Nghĩa or Thuận Thảo are hiring or mobilising more buses from the Western Region bus station to satisfy rising demand.
Tiến, a worker from the northern province of Nam Định, told the newspaper that he struggled to buy tickets to travel home.
“All buses with beds are fully booked, so we had to pay a fare of more than VNĐ1 million ($44) for a seat ticket. How can my child sit still for more than a day?” he said.
According to Saigon Railway Transport Company Limited (Saigon Railways), available tickets are mostly for trains departing before February 8 (December 23 on the lunar calendar), on February 14 (December 29 on the lunar calendar) and after the Tết Holiday, including more than 7,600 tickets from HCM City to Biên Hoà Station in Đồng Nai Province, Nha Trang Station in Khánh Hoà Province and Hà Nội Station. For the return route from Hà Nội to Central and Southern provinces, there are nearly 49,000 available tickets from February 19 to March 3 (January 4 to 16 on the lunar calendar). The number of tickets is subject to fluctuation as some passengers may return or change tickets.
Jetstar Pacific said that their flights from HCM City to Central cities of Vinh, Thanh Hoá or Tuy Hoà and Northern city of Hải Phòng near Tết and return flights after the holiday were about to fill up. Meanwhile, as there are several flights from HCM City to Đà Nẵng City and Hà Nội, some tickets are still available. However, ticket prices remain high, ranging from VNĐ3.4 million (US$150) for night flights to VNĐ3.6 million ($160) for day flights from HCM City to Hà Nội on February 10 (December 25 on the lunar calendar).
According to Vietjet Air, during Tết, they will provide 1,500 domestic flights with 324,000 seats, an increase of more than 38 per cent in comparison to the same period last year. Additional flights are for routes from HCM City to major cities including Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Vinh and Tuy Hoà.
In December, 2017, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc asked the Ministry of Transport to collaborate with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to tighten traffic safety during Tết, especially focusing on setting up detailed plans and measures for organising transport vehicle systems and selling tickets on online booking sites to best serve passengers. — Khanh
