Overcrowding, ticket price increase

(Baonghean) - After Tet holidayLunar New Year,number of people in the areaback to the provinces and big citiesto study, to workincreaseTaking advantage of this situation, many bus companiesSatisfiedcrammedpassengers, carrying more people than the prescribed number andarbitrarily increase ticket prices.

Through the citizen's denunciation to the hotline, at 11:50 p.m. on January 29 (the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year), at Km 624+400 on National Highway 1A (through Quang Binh province), the traffic police force inspected a passenger car with license plate 37B-011.64 (Tuu Phuong bus company) driven by Nguyen Van Tinh (from Nghia Dan district) traveling from Nghe An to Hue city for inspection, and discovered that the car was carrying 69 people (while the car was only allowed to carry 43 people). According to the bus company's statement, the passengers were herded from 2 buses and although the passengers did not agree, the bus company still brazenly "crammed" the passengers.

Traffic inspectors check passenger buses preparing to depart at Vinh Bus Station. Photo: PV

Then, on the evening of February 5, the Nghe An Department of Transport Inspectorate arrested a passenger bus with license plate 37B-00535 running on the Vinh - Thai Nguyen route, driven by driver Le Van Cuong (residing in Quynh Luu district). Through the hotline, people reported that the bus had picked up a passenger in Dien Chau district to go to Hanoi and collected a ticket of VND250,000 (according to the listed price of Dien Chau - Hanoi is VND150,000). After being inspected by the Traffic Inspectorate, the driver admitted to collecting a higher fare from the passenger than the regulation.

These are two of many cases of passenger vans "cramming" and arbitrarily increasing ticket prices during the recent Lunar New Year. According to statistics from the Traffic Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police, from December 16, 2016 to February 7, 2017, 1,737 passenger vans were discovered in the province violating traffic safety regulations, including 66 cases of passenger vans carrying more passengers than the prescribed number, causing frustration for many passengers. Even when passenger vans violating the regulation on carrying more passengers were discovered by the authorities, the drivers deliberately tried to find ways to deal with it, leading to a series of other violations such as speeding and recklessly overtaking to escape, stopping and dropping off passengers in the wrong place... causing disorder in traffic safety.

During Tet, at Vinh Bus Station, there are 260-280 trips per day, both domestic and inter-provincial, serving 7,000-8,000 passengers per day. According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Huynh - Director of Vinh Bus Station Joint Stock Company, although the number of vehicles and passengers is quite large, before the vehicles are ordered to depart, the number of passengers on the vehicle and the ticket prices sold to passengers are still strictly controlled. Most violations occur in "illegal" vehicles that pick up passengers along the way.

Faced with this situation, the traffic police and traffic inspectors have increased coordination and handled violations on major roads in large urban areas and inter-provincial highways in rural and mountainous areas. Patrol forces have also concentrated on many key intersections entering and exiting national highways, intersections with beltways, to avoid passenger buses taking detours and dropping off passengers in the middle of the road; at the same time, there are plans to arrange for vehicles carrying passengers to be crammed when unloading, to avoid the situation of people walking alone on prohibited roads.

Ticket prices are posted at Vinh Bus Station. Photo by Phuong Thao

At bus stations, the authorities have announced hotline numbers to receive feedback on the operations of bus companies and transport businesses. When receiving feedback from people via the hotline, police patrolling the route will be notified and arranged to intercept the moving vehicles of the violators to handle the case. In addition, the traffic police force coordinates with road management units, using images from cameras to effectively impose penalties.

Mr. Ha Tien Son - Deputy Chief Inspector, Nghe An Department of Transport said that compared to the same period last year, this year the number of people reporting on passenger transport activities via the hotline is very low. This makes it more difficult for the authorities to detect and handle violations.

Therefore, in addition to strengthening the control of the traffic police and traffic inspectors, people need to promptly report to the authorities to rectify the situation, avoid the situation of "cramming", arbitrarily increasing ticket prices, and overcharging passengers. In addition, people need to go to the station to buy tickets, catch the bus, not catch the bus along the way, buy tickets from brokers to avoid overloaded buses, stopping to pick up passengers in violation of regulations and arbitrarily increasing ticket prices./.

Phuong Thao