Startled awake after two hours of sleep in the car, Minh Phuong realized that she had only traveled 10 km from My Dinh to Nuoc Ngam bus station, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, on the afternoon of April 26.
The 23-year-old girl said that every time she returns to her hometown in Ha Tinh before holidays like this, it is always hard “like fighting”. On April 30 last year, Phuong could not buy a ticket for the sleeper bus, so she had to sit in the aisle. It took Phuong 8 hours of hustle and bustle to get home, when it normally only takes about 5 hours.
This year, she took the entire afternoon of April 26 off to get on the bus early, but things didn’t get any better. At 2:00 p.m., Phuong got on the shuttle bus to Nuoc Ngam wharf. Normally, it takes her 30 minutes to travel, but now it lasts more than two hours because the high and low routes of Ring Road 3 are heavily congested.
It was after four o’clock in the afternoon when the bus left the station. Phuong was secretly happy because she thought the car would go faster after leaving the Phap Van – Cau Gie intersection. But the car “crawled” every meter on the road, sometimes standing still for ten minutes, leaving her helpless.
The car jerked continuously due to the traffic jam, making Phuong dizzy. Around her were the sounds of children crying and the passenger’s family phone ringing continuously, creating a chaotic scene. She said she was so tired that she thought she was exhausted.
Phuong calculated that with this situation, it would take another 10 hours to get home because the driver said the traffic would be cleared by passing through Thanh Hoa province.
Many people booked technology vehicles to take them to Nuoc Ngam bus station, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi to return to their hometowns on the afternoon of April 26. Image: PC
Wanting to go home early to visit her parents, Quynh Trang, in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi, booked a limousine for the 7:00 p.m. trip on April 26 to Hai Phong, right after work. The 28-year-old girl explained that she ordered this type of bus because it does not pick up passengers along the way, and the travel time is about 1.5 hours.
But things did not go as Trang planned. It was past 7:00 p.m. but the shuttle bus still hadn’t come to pick her up at her home. The driver called to say “all roads are blocked, passengers will have to wait at least 30-60 minutes”. The switchboard operator also announced that Trang’s departure time would be changed to 8:00 p.m. or even later.
She said that on September 2 last year, it took four hours to get home. This year, the driver’s warning was even later because all the bridges leading out of the city were clogged. Afraid that her parents would wait, she had to call and remind her family to sleep first because she wouldn’t be home until midnight, even though the distance was only 100 km.
Mr. Son, a shuttle bus driver for a limousine company specializing in the Hai Phong – Hanoi route, said the pick-up and drop-off situation was delayed by one or two hours starting at noon on April 26, because of widespread congestion in the inner city.
“I also want to pick up guests on time, but I’ll probably only have to grow wings in time,” Mr. Son said. According to his experience, the congestion and slow pick-up of passengers will last from the afternoon of April 26 to the end of April 27 due to the high demand for returning home. All bus tickets of this company are full with people booking trips from 5 am to 10 pm.
Tran Duy Hung Street, Cau Giay District, Hanoi, was so crowded that the transit vehicle carrying Quynh Trang was stuck at 8:00 p.m. on April 26. Image: Character provided
Survey of VnExpress Since the afternoon of April 26, thousands of people are leaving Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to return to their hometowns, and gateways in the city are congested for many kilometers. This situation starts at 4:00 p.m. and peaks after 6:00 p.m. when people get off work, starting the 5-day holiday on April 30.
Not only on the road, many airline passengers also say they are “exhausted” when flights continuously delay their take-off time.
Hoang Nhat from Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City went to Tan Son Nhat airport on the afternoon of April 26 but waited more than four hours and still could not board the plane. The 26-year-old girl from Ha Tinh said that in addition to buying tickets that cost two or three times more, taking a taxi to and from the airport also takes more than an hour because of overcrowding. “I thought flying would be fast, but the ending was unexpected,” Nhat said.
As for Minh Phuong, the bus had only traveled more than 200 km by 11 p.m. on April 26. She said it would take 1-2 a.m. to get home.
“More than 10 hours to travel 300 km. I thought I had to go to Da Nang already,” Phuong lamented. She said she would consider staying in the city on her next vacation.
An Phu intersection, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City on the afternoon of April 26 was crowded with vehicles, causing local congestion. Image: Quynh Tran
After finishing work, Thai An, 23 years old, in Ha Dong district, Hanoi said he was forming a group to ride a motorbike to Thai Binh at 1:00 a.m. on April 27. An said that running at night on open roads avoids congestion and has maintained this practice for more than three years.
“Instead of spending four hours on the bus, now it only takes me more than two hours and is much less tiring,” An said.
Thanh Nga – Quynh Nguyen
