Shocking 60% increase in bus fares to go home for Tet

Many transport companies have announced to adjust ticket prices to return home for Tet Dinh Dau 2017, increasing from 30 - 60%.

In the days before Tet, ticket prices of transport units at some bus stations in Hanoi such as My Dinh, Gia Lam, Giap Bat, Nuoc Ngam, etc. have all been adjusted to increase.

Bus ticket prices increase from 30% to 60% during Tet

Transport businesses operating short routes of under 150 km have not seen strong price fluctuations, with only a few units experiencing slight, insignificant price increases.

However, some medium-range routes from 300km - 800km have had "shocking" price increases. For example, some operators of the Hanoi - Hue, Da Nang routes at Giap Bat bus station, Nuoc Ngam bus station (Hoang Mai district) have increased ticket prices by 60% from 340,000 VND/passenger to 580,000 VND/passenger.

Explaining the reason for the “shocking” price increase, some transport units said that the number of customers wanting to return home for Tet is increasing. Therefore, to ensure service quality, transport units have submitted a request to the authorities requesting an increase in ticket prices.

For buses with routes longer than 1,000km, there is a tendency to... decrease in price. Some bus companies with routes Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City said that the ticket price from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi is tending to decrease by about 100,000 VND (excluding meals). On the contrary, the ticket price from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City tends to increase by 100,000 VND.

The reason for this paradox is that one direction is crowded and the other is empty, so bus companies have to balance their revenue. Therefore, they plan to increase ticket prices to compensate for the empty direction to ensure that the bus schedule can accommodate the influx of passengers during Tet.

According to regulations, if a transport company wants to adjust the price, it must notify in writing, giving the bus station at least 1 week to update the new ticket price. However, on January 20, the transport companies have automatically increased the ticket price, leaving customers "unable to react".

Ms. Anh Minh went to Giap Bat bus station on the afternoon of January 201 to book a ticket to Quang Tri on the 28th of Lunar New Year. She said she was quite surprised by the company's move to increase ticket prices, but she happily accepted it because prices on holidays and Tet are always unstable like that.

“I am not surprised that bus stations increase ticket prices during Tet, because it happens every year. However, a 60% increase like that is really too expensive,” said Ms. Minh.

It's not yet a holiday but the bus station is already crowded

Mr. Nguyen Van Lap - Director of Nuoc Ngam bus station confirmed the increase in ticket prices of 24 transport companies. However, according to Mr. Lap, the regulation of Nuoc Ngam bus station only increases the price by a maximum of 40%. Therefore, the request of businesses at Nuoc Ngam bus station to increase the price by 60% is unfounded.

“If any business violates the price increase of more than 40%, customers can completely report it to the bus station hotline so we can get the information,” said Mr. Lap.

Regarding the situation of customers complaining about the sudden price increase of bus companies, Mr. Lap said that he has not seen any customers complaining to the bus station leaders: "Customers are also used to the increase in ticket prices during Tet and they also sympathize with the transportation businesses serving people during Tet" - Mr. Lap said.

Faced with the “shocking” increase in ticket prices, some businesses have pledged not to let the situation of picking up and dropping off passengers indiscriminately and stuffing customers happen again. However, according to Mr. Lap, such a commitment by the bus companies is not feasible.

“Almost every bus company has the problem of overcrowding customers during Tet, not on quiet afternoons, but definitely on busy days. However, businesses have some measures to avoid being detected,” said Mr. Lap./.

According to VOV