[jackbl]

Holidays begin on nightmarish note
===================================

Travelers around the country have been suffering since late Wednesday at overcrowded bus stations that failed to cope as people streamed in to take advantage of the long holiday weekend.


Together with Liberation Day on April 30 and Labor Day on May 1, the weekend has made for a four-day vacation.

In Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, even those lucky enough to clamber aboard a bus suffered as all exits from the city and ferry stations were gridlocked with queues stretching dozens of kilometers in some places.

City authorities deployed a further 113 buses from Mien Dong Bus Station and 92 from Mien Tay Bus Station but passengers still had to wait for hours to get a seat.

Mien Tay Bus Station is the main departure point for passengers traveling to the Mekong Delta while buses leave Mien Dong for the southeastern, central and northern regions.

There were several traffic jams Thursday morning at An Lac Intersection in Binh Tan District and near the Suoi Tien Theme Park, the two major gateways into HCMC, partly because of motorbikes.

The overcrowding at these two stations eased gradually Thursday afternoon after they served more than 144,000 passengers since Wednesday.

They reported that the most crowded routes were to Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Vinh Long province and Can Tho City in the Delta, the beach towns of Vung Tau, Phan Rang, Phan Thiet and Nha Trang and Da Lat.

Many buses leaving Mien Tay Bus Station Thursday said they were unable to return in time because of the severe delay at Can Tho Ferry Station.

Vehicles had to wait for around three hours before they could reach the ferry station, which connects Vinh Long Province with Can Tho on National Highway 1A.

“The gridlock worsened at 3 a.m., with thousands of vehicles queuing for more than six kilometers,” Vinh Long Province traffic policeman Nguyen Tuan Ga said.

The situation worsened as the day progressed, with more vehicles joining the line, he said.

The ferry station management said it did foresee the situation and set up temporary ticket booths and is operating all 14 ferries around the clock.

It expects similar problems on Sunday when passengers make the return trip.

The Can Tho Bus Station was also besieged Thursday with many people returning to their hometowns deeper in the Delta.

Higher fares, jammed roads

Many transport operators in Hanoi nearly doubled bus fares Thursday but many people were still willing to buy after waiting for hours at the overloaded stations.

An employee of Dong Hien Transport Company admitted fares are up nearly 100 percent over normal days. The fare from Hanoi to Ha Tinh Province was up from VND110,000-180,000 (US$6.18-10.12), he said.

Other companies said buses to Ha Tinh, Nghe An and Quang Binh Provinces were sold out.

Nguyen Tat Thanh, director of the capital’s Giap Bat Bus Station, said around 30,000 passengers passed through.

Thanh Nien found a number of students at My Dinh Bus Station giving up after waiting hours and deciding to ride back to their hometowns on motorbikes.

But they faced a further wait as National Highway 1A from Hanoi to Ha Nam and further was gridlocked.

Thousands of vehicles were stuck for hours Thursday all the way from Phap Van Street in the city to Dong Van Railway Station in Ha Nam Province more than 50 kilometers away.

The traffic police said a minor accident Thursday involving a car and a truck on National Highway 1A in Dong Van Town was also partially responsible for the traffic jam, as was the overloaded Cau Gie Tollbooth in Ha Nam Province.

The Hanoi and Ha Nam police instructed the vehicles to take a detour near Dong Van Industrial Park.

Things began to move again at 2 p.m. Thursday.