Da Nang is a large city in the Central region and also a tourist attraction, so the number of people and visitors coming and going by bus is very large. In particular, the route from Da Nang to Hue is only nearly 100km but still has a situation of overcrowding. On the morning of January 23 (December 24), many Hue - Da Nang buses departed with full passengers.
Posing as a person in need of going to Hue, the reporter boarded the Da Nang - Hue bus with license plate 43H - 10*** with a fare of 80,000 VND/seat from the Da Nang City Central Bus Station. At that time, the number of passengers on the bus was quite small and did not fill all the seats.
But as soon as the bus left the station, right at the gate of the Da Nang Central Bus Station, many passengers had just arrived and boarded the bus. Along the Ton Duc Thang (Da Nang City) route towards Hai Van Pass, this bus continuously picked up other passengers. Just on the route from the bus station to the intersection of Ton Duc Thang and To Hieu (Da Nang City), this bus company picked up 2 more passengers.
At the intersection of Nguyen Luong Bang and Nguyen Chanh streets (Da Nang City), this bus company continued to pick up 2 more passengers. However, when all the seats were full, the bus company still added an extra stop along the aisle to pick up more passengers and still charged 80,000 VND/seat.
Ms. No (character's name has been changed) and her husband and two young children had just gotten off the plane from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang and took the bus from Da Nang to Hue. However, when getting on the bus, Ms. No's family had to sit on plastic chairs along the corridor. This made Ms. No upset: "I am an adult and can stand it, but the children (Ms. No's children - PV) get carsick so I feel very sorry for them."
Accepting the cramped conditions, Mr. Ha (character's name has been changed) said: "It's almost Tet so we have to accept it. Tet comes once a year."
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Pham Loi - General Director of Da Nang Bus Station Management and Transport Joint Stock Company - said: "Currently, the functional forces of Da Nang Bus Station Management and Transport Joint Stock Company are strictly checking the situation of overcrowding passengers. When the bus leaves the station, there are enough seats, but there is no overcrowding. At the same time, with Decree 168, many bus companies will not dare to carry passengers, so this year's inspection is easier than every year," said Mr. Loi.
However, outside the bus station, the situation of picking up passengers along the way or overcrowding continues to occur. This leads to getting on and off the bus in the middle of the road, where there is no safe stopping point, increasing the risk of traffic accidents for both passengers and other vehicles. Overcrowding causes the bus to be overloaded, unbalanced, and prone to accidents.
