Records on the 6th day of Tet at Giap Bat bus station, My Dinh bus station (Hanoi) show that although transportation activities still took place bustlingly on the last day of Tet holiday, the number of passengers on bus trips did not increase sharply.
Even, some passenger car routes running short routes to Hanoi recorded only about 80% of passengers, some seats were still empty compared to the peak period before Tet.
Mr. Nguyen Van Xuan (running the Hanoi - Lai Chau route) said: "Regarding traffic congestion, many people have also proactively scheduled their trips, they often travel by private cars, rent shared cars, and book bus tickets to Hanoi 1-2 days in advance. Today is the 6th day of Tet, bus trips to Hanoi are usually more crowded, but some trips still have empty seats, not too crowded".
A representative of a bus company running the Thanh Hoa - Hanoi route said that from the afternoon of the 3rd day of Tet to now, many people have also booked bus tickets to Hanoi very early, the proportion of passengers on bus trips has not increased sharply. Customers are mainly workers, students, and working people, so they actively book tickets early to Hanoi to avoid traffic congestion.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang (from Thanh Hoa) said that this year she booked a sleeper bus ticket from early morning on the 5th day of Tet and arrived in Hanoi.
In previous years, Ms. Hang often went to Hanoi close to her working day, so she was often congested on the Ninh Binh - Hanoi highway, sometimes it took up to 6 hours to get to the Capital.
Not only workers, many families with young children also calculate the time to return to Hanoi early to avoid travel pressure. Mr. Tran Van Dung (36 years old, from Nghe An) said that his family of 4 people, if going during peak hours, is very hard.
From 3 am on the 6th day of Tet, his family booked a car to go to Hanoi to make the road more clear and children less tired. His family also has more time to rest before returning to work.
Regarding the number of passengers serving during the Tet peak season at 3 bus stations, Giap Bat, My Dinh and Gia Lam, Hanoi Bus Station Joint Stock Company said that from December 20th to the 3rd day of Tet, 3 bus stations served over 200,000 passengers.
During the Tet peak period from February 7th to February 19th (ie from December 20th to the 3rd day of the Binh Ngo Tet), 3 bus stations Hanoi Giap Bat, My Dinh, Gia Lam served 204,881 passengers going to the station to catch buses to provinces and cities across the country.
For days during and after Tet, on February 19 (ie, the 3rd day of Tet), Giap Bat bus station had 2,305 passengers (up 66% compared to normal days), My Dinh bus station had 4,670 passengers (up 108% compared to normal days), Gia Lam bus station had 982 passengers (up 93% compared to normal days).
According to the Traffic Police Department, in the last 3 days of the Tet holiday, from February 20 to February 22 (from the 4th to the 6th day of Tet), traffic police forces will focus on controlling passenger cars.
The acts focused on handling are carrying more people than prescribed; carrying goods on the passenger compartment, on the roof of the car; carrying oversized and overloaded passenger cars; speeding.
