Taking advantage of Tet, bus ticket prices increase indiscriminately!

Faced with the high demand for travel during the pre-Tet period and the increase in gasoline prices, many bus companies have simultaneously increased ticket prices, with one bus company increasing by up to 61%. Meanwhile, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport forecasts that travel during the Lunar New Year this year will only increase by no more than 5% compared to last year. The Department of Transport affirms that the recent phenomenon of bus companies announcing sold-out tickets is only local to branded buses and commits to having enough tickets and buses to serve passengers.

Some branded transport companies announced that they are sold out of tickets for some routes and peak days during Tet. Photo: M.Quan

There are still train tickets, no shortage of Tet buses

In recent days, at the Eastern Bus Station (EBS) - where there are bus routes from Ho Chi Minh City to the Central, Northern, Central Highlands, and Southeastern provinces - it has "heated up" when thousands of people jostled and waited all day but still could not buy Tet bus tickets. Many bus companies announced that they were out of Tet bus tickets on peak days for routes to Thua Thien - Hue, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Da Nang, Phan Rang provinces... However, through the investigation of the reporter, the shortage of Tet bus tickets is "virtual" and only happens to branded passenger transport companies that rent counters at the EBS to sell tickets. Currently, the EBS has about 100 transport companies renting counters to sell Tet bus tickets.

Mr. Thuong Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of BXMĐ - said that in order to meet the increased demand for passenger service during Tet, the bus station encourages businesses to proactively rent more vehicles from outside to serve passenger needs. The fact that some bus companies are currently out of tickets is only temporary, because these companies will rent more vehicles and have plans to sell tickets for the next batches. "Even though the branded bus companies have run out of tickets to serve passengers, it does not mean that BXMĐ has run out of tickets to sell to passengers. Because in addition to nearly 100 branded businesses renting counters at the bus station to sell tickets, BXMĐ is currently selling Tet bus tickets from about 130 authorized businesses for all routes and there are still many tickets left. We are committed to not letting any passengers have to celebrate New Year's Eve at the bus station due to lack of vehicles" - Mr. Hai affirmed.

Passengers queue to buy bus tickets for Tet.

Not only for bus tickets, there are still many train tickets during Tet holiday. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - Head of Saigon Station - said that there are still 9,000 train tickets before Tet for Saigon - Hanoi, going to all stations on the days from January 20 to 22 and January 29, 2014. For the assistant seats of Thong Nhat train (before Tet for HCMC - Hanoi), there are also 4,000 seats left for the peak days from January 20 to 23 for stations from Quang Ngai and beyond and from January 28 to 29 for stations from Hue and beyond. For the post-Tet route, there are still 12,000 tickets going on February 3-4-5 and from February 9 to 15 for stations from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa to Saigon.

Head of Hanoi Railway Station Vu Dinh Dau also said that currently, the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City route has sold 85% of the tickets. In order to meet the travel needs of passengers on the Hanoi - Vinh route, from December 27 to 28, a number of additional trains will be added from Hanoi to Vinh to serve.

Increasing ticket prices by 60% is unreasonable!

Representative of Hanoi Bus Station One Member Co., Ltd. - Mr. Tung Anh - said: From January 18 to January 23, 2014, Vinamotor Investment Joint Stock Company will increase the ticket price for the route Giap Bat Bus Station (Hanoi) - Mien Dong Bus Station (HCMC) from 860,000 to 1,205,000 VND. Also on this route, Vinamotor has registered to increase the price at different times from January 15 to January 17 and from January 31 to February 2, 2014. In addition, the price of 1,205,000 VND/ticket will continue to be registered from March 2 to December 2, 2014, with the name of keeping the same from

after Lunar New Year for the whole year 2014. The new registration price of this unit increased by 40% compared to the old ticket price. Also according to the representative of Hanoi bus station, the highest increase in ticket prices of bus companies, up to 60 - 61%, belongs to the routes Hanoi - Vinh and Hanoi - Da Nang. Specifically: Hai Van Transport and Service Company Limited increased the price from 380,000 VND to 610,000 VND for the route Giap Bat - Da Nang (equivalent to an increase of 61%). Up to 5 transport units running routes from Giap Bat, My Dinh to Vinh, Nghia Dan, Do Luong will increase ticket prices during Lunar New Year. The common increase is from 200,000 VND to 320,000 VND/trip, equivalent to an increase of 60%. Short routes such as Giap Bat - Giao Thuy, Giap Bat - Hai Hau or My Dinh - Kim Son are also "taking advantage" of the increase in ticket prices by businesses during this occasion. The price increase will last from now until mid-February 2014. This is a significant loss for passengers using cars as a means of transportation during the Lunar New Year.

According to Labor