With high airfares, Hanoi residents may opt to travel by bus and visit nearby destinations for the upcoming five-day holiday, which runs from  April 27 to  May 1.

Traffic inspectors check a bus at the Giap Bat terminal. Photo: Pham Cong/The Hanoi Times

The change in travelers' preferences will lift the workload at local stations by 300-350% compared to normal days, station managers predict.

Vuong Duy Dung, Deputy Director of My Dinh Bus Station, said his facility is expected to handle 22,000 passengers a day during peak hours, an increase of 350% compared to the average on normal days. The station plans to add 350 bus trips a day.

"Most passengers have booked tickets to northern mountainous provinces such as Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Dien Bien and Yen Bai," he said. "These are long-distance trips, so passengers will depart on the afternoons and nights of  April 26 and 27."

At Gia Lam Bus Station, the number of passengers is expected to peak at 8,000 per day during the five-day break. This is a 300% increase compared to normal days. The station has prepared for a maximum of 500 trips per day to coastal localities such as Haiphong City and Quang Ninh Province.

Nguyen Hoang Tung, director of Giap Bat Bus Station, said the bookings showed that most travelers were planning to go to the coastal provinces to the east and south of Hanoi.

"We expect the traffic to quadruple and reach a peak of 12,000-15,000 passengers from the night of April 26 to the end of April 28," he said.

"All bus operators have planned to increase their capacity by 25% to 950 to 1,000 trips a day," he said.

The upcoming holidays, which mark National Reunification Day (April 30) and International Labour Day (May 1), are the perfect time for families to take their children on vacation to prepare for upcoming exams, said Pham Manh Hung, Director of Hanoi Transport Station JSC.

Hung said the increase in airfares and the demand for cheaper travel were the reasons for the surge in bus and train services.

The flow of passengers will increase sharply in the first two days of the national holiday (26 and 27 April) before cooling down, he said. "Traffic will get busier as people find their way back to Hanoi on May 1 and 2."

To meet the demand for holiday travel, the Vietnam Department of Roads under the Ministry of Transport has asked domestic transport companies to keep their fares stable from  April 27 to  May 1.

The department has also asked the city's  Department of Transport to step up inspections of buses to ensure road safety and prevent them from carrying more passengers than capacity.

Bus terminals are also required to develop contingency plans to accommodate more buses, adopt e-ticketing systems, and ensure that bus fares are sold directly to passengers. They are asked to work with local authorities to maintain road safety and quality standards for buses.

Bus operators must provide a sufficient number of buses, drivers, and staff to ensure that all drivers do not use drugs or alcohol while driving.