In-depth
Train tickets for short trips in demand
  • | laodong, dtinews.vn | October 26, 2019 06:28 AM
People in HCM City are complaining about difficulties in buying short-trip train tickets for the Tet Holiday.


  

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Saigon Railway Transport JS Company announced that the firm would sell around 287,000 train tickets for the Lunar New Year holiday. However, few people in HCM City can buy tickets for the routes they want.

Nguyen Thi Lan said she couldn't buy the desired ticket to Tuy Hoa, Phu Yen Province, on January 20. She decided to buy tickets for a longer route from HCM City to Quang Ngai, which would go past Tuy Hoa. However, even tickets for longer routes were also booked.

Nguyen Manh Linh from Binh Dinh Province was also in the same situation. He wanted to buy four tickets to Binh Dinh on January 20 but all of the tickets have been booked.

"If I want to go to Binh Dinh, I'll have to spend an additional VND200,000 (USD8.60) per ticket for a longer route to Danang. It will cost me a total VND6m (USD258) for four tickets, not to mention the return tickets to HCM City after Tet," he said.

Meanwhile, some brokers boasted that they have a lot of tickets for any day. Do Van Quang, director of a Saigon Railway Transport branch, warned customers against buying tickets from third-party sources because of scams. In previous years, some customers were asked to pay a deposit for the tickets then the sellers would disappear immediately.

According to Quang they have tweaked the online system so that customers will have only 48 hours instead of 72 hours to pay for their booked tickets. The police would also co-operate to deal with brokers and more cameras will be installed to monitor the station.

On the other hand, not many passengers in Hanoi start buying train tickets for Tet yet. Hanoi Railway Transport Station said the majority of ticket buyers are from the south and they often buy return tickets. Passengers in Hanoi often start buying tickets when Tet Holiday nears. Short-trip tickets to Thanh Hoa and Vinh are the most popular and special and additional tickets are only open for sale near Tet.

As of 2 pm on October 20, Hanoi Railway Transport JSC had sold a total 11,000 tickets. Tickets are being sold on three websites dsvn.vn, vetauonline.vn and vetau.com.vn.

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