Hanoi (VNA) - Transportbusinesses, including railway and buses, have prepared plans to serve themassive influx of passengers travelling during Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

In big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,construction sites of important traffic projects have also been arranged totake less spaces of the streets, in a bid to avoid congestion in peak hours.

According to a report from the Hanoi CityTraffic Committee, the city has 637 transport coach routes operating in sixstations, providing a total 4,751 trips each day.

The committee has also asked transportcompanies to be ready to provide additional vehicles when needed.

Further, inspectors must monitor transportand be prepared to fine violators for overloading, as well as guard against theuse of illegal coaches and terminals. Authorities must also preventunreasonable increases in fares to take advantage of people who are returninghome.

Overloaded coaches or coaches picking uppassengers at incorrect locations are to be given strict punishments to ensuretraffic remains safe during the Tet holiday, said senior lieutenant-colonel DoThanh Binh, deputy head of the Traffic Police Department.

Other violations such as parking in wrongplaces, travelling in wrong lanes, drivers who drink alcohol, and coachestravelling in wrong lanes are to be fined, as per the Law on Road Traffic, hesaid.

In an inspection of bus stations in Hanoi, KhuatViet Hung, deputy head of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said that Hanoiand HCM City were two hotspots that will witness severe traffic congestion inthe days prior to Tet.

To deal with the situation, Hung has askedthe cities’ police and relevant offices to carry out measures to reduce trafficcongestion, as well as impose strict penalties for traffic violators.

“The Traffic Police Department must stopthe use of unregistered coaches and bus-stops, especially along belt road No 3in Hanoi,” said Hung.

The committee has set up hotlines to reporttraffic congestion and violations.

According to Phan Thi Thu Hien, deputy headof the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, in recent years, coach tickets havebeen sold online, which helped passengers save time as they did not have toqueue at stations to purchase tickets.

However, many passengers had to pay higherprices than what was listed.

According to regulations, if businesseswant to increase fares, they must submit proposals to transport departments andthen publish the new fares. But during the Tet holiday, due to the enormousdemand of travellers, many coach businesses increased fares without permission.

The Urban Traffic Centre was asked to cooperatewith the Hanoi Transport Corporation to increase the number of urban bus tripsto coach and railway stations, and airports before and after Tet.

Also, there are 45 trains daily from Hanoi,carrying some 14,000 passengers.

“The Hanoi railway station would see asudden increase in passengers in the days prior to Tet, and the number oftrains would be increased,” said a railway representative. - VNA