HCM City (VNA) - Thousands of migrant workers in Ho Chi Minh City areworried about transport ticket shortages as the biggest festival of the yearapproaches.

A survey conducted at theEastern Region bus station shows that almost all buses with beds from HCM Cityto provinces in the Mekong Delta, Northern and Central regions were fullybooked.

Nguyen Hoang Huy, deputydirector of the bus station, told the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper thatthe total number of tickets during the Tet (Vietnamese New Year) Holidayregistered by transport enterprises was 170,000. Only 70,000 tickets are stillavailable.
However, major transporterssuch as Phuong Trang, Chin Nghia or Thuan Thao are hiring or mobilising morebuses from the Western Region bus station to satisfy rising demand.

Tien, a worker from thenorthern province of Nam Dinh, told the newspaper that he struggled to buytickets to travel home.

“All buses with beds arefully booked, so we had to pay a fare of more than 1 million VND (44 USD) for aseat ticket. How can my child sit still for more than a day?” he said.

According to Saigon RailwayTransport Company Limited (Saigon Railways), available tickets are mostly fortrains departing before February 8 (December 23 on the lunar calendar), onFebruary 14 (December 29 on the lunar calendar) and after the Tet Holiday,including more than 7,600 tickets from HCM City to Bien Hoà Station in Dong Naiprovince, Nha Trang Station in Khanh Hoa province and Hanoi Station.

For the return route from Hanoito Central and Southern provinces, there are nearly 49,000 available ticketsfrom February 19 to March 3 (January 4 to 16 on the lunar calendar). The numberof tickets is subject to fluctuation as some passengers may return or changetickets.

Jetstar Pacific said thattheir flights from HCM City to the central cities of Vinh, Thanh Hoa or Tuy Hoaand northern city of Hai Phong near Tet and return flights after the holidaywere about to fill up. Meanwhile, as there are several flights from HCM City toDa Nang city and Hanoi, some tickets are still available.
However, ticket pricesremain high, ranging from 3.4 million VND (150 USD) for night flights to 3.6million VND (160 USD) for day flights from HCM City to Hanoi on February 10(December 25 on the lunar calendar).

According to Vietjet Air,during Tet, they will provide 1,500 domestic flights with 324,000 seats, anincrease of more than 38 percent in comparison to the same period last year.Additional flights are for routes from HCM City to major cities including Hanoi,Hai Phong, Vinh and Tuy Hoa.

In December, 2017, PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc✤ asked the Ministry of Transport to collaborate withrelevant ministries, agencies and localities to tighten traffic safety duringTet, especially focusing on setting up detailed plans and measures fororganising transport vehicle systems and selling tickets on online booking sitesto best serve passengers.-VNA