Safe and thoughtful journeys during the Spring season.

The Lunar New Year of the Year of the Snake (2025) is fast approaching. This is a time when transportation volume and travel demand increase significantly, especially for those studying, working, or living far from home, as everyone wants to return to their families for a complete, joyful, and warm New Year celebration. Therefore, improving transportation capacity, ensuring safety and attentive service for passengers celebrating the Spring Festival and the New Year is an early challenge for managers and relevant agencies, especially the Ministry of Transport, as the year 2024 draws to a close and the traditional Lunar New Year is drawing near.

Traffic inspectors and traffic police are intensifying inspections, controls, and strictly handling violations in passenger transportation.

Enhance transportation capacity, proactively prepare from an early stage and from a distance.

This year, the Gregorian New Year and the Lunar New Year are quite close together, requiring proactive planning and strategies to ensure safe travel for the people, guaranteeing that everyone can enjoy the Spring Festival and celebrate the New Year. In mid-December 2024, the Prime Minister issued a directive to strengthen measures to ensure a joyful, healthy, safe, and economical Lunar New Year celebration in 2025. This directive includes a comprehensive set of measures, with the Ministry of Transport taking the lead and coordinating with other ministries, sectors, and localities to strengthen the regulation and strict management of transportation activities to serve the travel needs of the people during the Lunar New Year, preventing situations where people are delayed in returning home for the New Year due to a lack of transportation.

The head of government also requested the transport sector to improve transport capacity and organize smooth passenger and goods transportation before, during, and after Tet, especially in remote areas, ethnic minority regions, and islands; and to strengthen inspection and control of the technical safety quality of vehicles participating in traffic. He also called for effective coordination in implementing solutions to curb and minimize traffic accidents and alleviate traffic congestion, especially on routes connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, major transportation hubs (train stations, airports, seaports...), and areas where Spring festivals are held.

Regarding the relevant ministries and agencies, according to Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Duy Lam, the Ministry will soon issue directives and plans to ensure good service for the people's travel needs and freight transport to serve socio-economic development; and closely coordinate with functional forces and local authorities in ensuring traffic safety during the end of the year, before, during, and after the Lunar New Year holiday and the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake 2025. "The Ministry will focus on directing transport units to develop service plans, implement transport organization plans, and promptly meet the increased transport demand, ensuring passenger flow and minimizing traffic congestion..." - Deputy Minister Nguyen Duy Lam emphasized.

Along with the road transport system, the railway sector has also proactively implemented plans to ensure the best possible service for passengers during the Tet holiday. Besides organizing early ticket sales and diversifying ticket sales methods to maximize convenience for train passengers, tickets are available through all railway sales channels such as websites: www.dsvn.vn, www.vetau.com.vn, www.vetauonline.vn, or through e-wallet applications, train ticket booking apps on mobile devices, or at train stations, ticket sales points, and agents of Vietnam Railways, and through ticket sales hotlines. The railway sector has also organized an additional 11 trains from Ho Chi Minh City to Quang Ngai, Hanoi and vice versa, providing an additional 5,000 seats for passengers...

Passengers can find information about routes, schedules, and price lists at Viet Tri Bus Station.

Operates smoothly and synchronously.

It is evident that, under the direction of the Prime Minister and relevant ministries and agencies, localities have actively participated, proactively planning from an early stage and preparing thoroughly, creating a smooth, synchronized, and unified operational mechanism to ensure safe and attentive service for the people's travel needs, contributing to bringing joy and happiness to everyone during the Spring Festival and Tet holiday. For example, the Hanoi Department of Transport has a plan to serve the people's travel needs and ensure traffic safety during the New Year, Lunar New Year, and the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake 2025, clearly defining the tasks and responsibilities of each agency, unit, and type of goods and passenger transport.

Specifically, instructions were given to interprovincial, contract, and tourism passenger transport units to maximize the use of vehicles to minimize pressure at bus stations before and after the Tet holiday; bus stations were instructed to coordinate with interprovincial passenger transport businesses to implement ticket sales directly to passengers as soon as possible; and to proactively sign contracts with universities, colleges, industrial parks, export processing zones, agencies, and units of the armed forces... that require passenger transport to provinces and cities nationwide. Contingency plans for vehicles on routes were to be in place to promptly alleviate sudden passenger surges, and businesses were strictly prohibited from canceling trips to use contract passenger transport vehicles...

Transportation companies are ensuring sufficient vehicles and personnel to meet passenger travel needs during the Tet holiday.

In Phu Tho province, the Department of Transport has implemented a comprehensive set of measures, including inspecting and reviewing the road infrastructure, level crossings, and accident-prone areas to ensure traffic safety and promptly address any incidents. They have also prepared a sufficient number and ensured the quality of transport vehicles to meet the travel needs of the people, preventing passengers from being delayed in returning home for Tet due to a lack of transportation. Furthermore, they have strengthened coordinated patrols and inspections, strictly handling violations; providing guidance and organizing traffic flow to prevent congestion; and preventing the transportation of prohibited goods, goods that pose a risk of spreading disease, and goods that could be used for terrorism.

In addition to proactively improving transport capacity and service capabilities, the Department of Transport requires vehicles to be in good technical condition and safe when participating in traffic; drivers must strictly adhere to regulations on time and speed, and absolutely not use alcohol, beer, or prohibited substances before and during driving. They must proactively coordinate direct and online ticket sales for passengers to avoid congestion; declare and post prices according to regulations, and not take advantage of the increased passenger volume during Tet to raise prices; and provide the best possible priority and preferential treatment for those in difficult circumstances, policy beneficiary families, people with disabilities, and the elderly... ensuring thoughtful, safe, and convenient service for all passengers.

“We have established a hotline; assigned staff to be on duty, monitor, gather, and periodically report on the results of task implementation, proactively advising on timely handling of difficulties and obstacles to ensure safety and smooth traffic before, during and after the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Snake 2025,” shared Ha Trung Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Transport.

Hoang Anh

Source: https://baophutho.vn/an-toan-chu-dao-nhung-hanh-trinh-xuan-225449.htm