Vehicles flock back into the city centre after the long Reunification Day and Labour Day holiday, causing congestion along the Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ Expressway in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Nam Nguyễn

HÀ NỘI — People poured back into Hà Nội on Wednesday after the five-day vacation, causing congestion at many bus stations and on highways into the capital city.

Roads leading into the capital from the south such as the National Highway 1A and Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ Expressway experienced severe slowdowns because of the sudden increase in traffic.

From early afternoon, cars, motorbikes and coaches from Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Sơn La and Thái Bình provinces had reached bus stations, causing many main routes such as Giải Phóng, Phạm Hùng and Phạm Văn Đồng and Ngọc Hồi to be overcrowded. Later, coaches from other cities and provinces of Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh, Thái Nguyên, Phú Thọ, Nam Định, Thái Bình and Thanh Hóa flooded the Mỹ Đình and Giáp Bát bus stations.

According to the leaders of the stations, the number of passengers travelling through the stations was 100-150 per cent higher on Wednesday than on a normal day. The stations arranged personnel to guide buses to limit congestion. The stations also co-operated with authorities to ensure safety and order around the area, they said.

Meanwhile, in the south, hundreds of thousands of vehicles from the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta travelling to HCM City after the long public holiday caused traffic jams on sections of National Highways 1A, No 50 and No 60, the HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway, the Rạch Miễu and Mỹ Thuận bridges and other areas over the last two days.

Heavy traffic as residents return to HCM City after a five-day national holiday. — VNS Photo Ngọc Diệp

Since most businesses, offices and industrial zones resumed operations on Thursday, many employees from the Delta were travelling back to HCM City and eastern provinces.

On Tuesday afternoon, heavy traffic caused a four-kilometre gridlock on Rạch Miễu Bridge (which connects Tiền Giang and Bến Tre provinces) for many hours.

National Highway 1A running through Tiền Giang Province was also blocked on many sections, especially on small bridges.

Traffic police in Tiền Giang and Bến Tre provinces worked together to regulate traffic and handle the serious congestion.

The toll booth at Rạch Miễu Bridge shut down for 40 minutes to ease traffic flow.

At about 6pm, the number of vehicles travelling on the highway and Rạch Miễu Bridge sharply decreased.

At Miền Tây (Western) Coach Station in HCM City’s Bình Tân District, the number of passengers rose on the morning of May 1.

Every five to ten minutes, dozens of coaches dropped off passengers coming from other provinces and returning to HCM City at Miền Đông (Eastern) Coach Station in Bình Thạnh District.

Around the coach stations, public buses, taxis and app-based or traditional xe ôm (motorbike taxi) services expanded their transport capacity to serve high travel demand.

On the afternoon of May 1, an increasing number of vehicles was recorded on National Highways 1A in HCM City’s Bình Chánh and Bình Tân districts, and on Nguyễn Thị Định, Đồng Văn Cống and Mai Chí Thọ streets.

For this holiday period, the HCM City traffic police added more patrols to ease traffic flow and problems at traffic hotpots in the city.

Despite a high density of vehicles in both the city’s eastern and western gates, no serious traffic congestion was reported.

Tourist attractions

Thousands of people and vehicles blocked areas around Landmark81 in Bình Thạnh District, Thủ Thiêm Tunnel in District 2, and Đầm Sen Cultural Park in District 11 to enjoy the 15-minute firework displays on April 30.

The first HCM City Orchid Festival between April 27 and May 1 in District 1’s Tao Đàn Park attracted a large number of local and foreign visitors who took photos and bought flowers.

To attract more visitors, District 9’s Suối Tiên Theme Park charged the same price as normal days and doubled the number of art performances and entertainment activities.

Every night between April 27 and September 2, Đầm Sen Cultural Park is offering free laser shows from 7pm to 9pm and numerous entertainment activities to serve visitors.

During the holidays, Vũng Tàu Beach, one of the most attractive tourism areas in Bà Rịa -Vũng Tàu Province, welcomed more than 350,000 visitors.

Đại Nam Tourist Park in Bình Dương Province also organised many attractive programmes for the holidays.

During the holiday period, many tourism sites, eco-tourist destinations and beautiful landscapes in Delta provinces saw a large number of visitors.

These included the Happyland Entertainment Complex in Long An, Thới Sơn Tourism Site in Tiền Giang, Phụng (Phoenix) Islet in Bến Tre, Tràm Chim Tourism Area and Sa Đéc Flower Village in Đồng Tháp, Trà Sư cajuput forest in An Giang, Mỹ Khánh Tourism Village in Cần Thơ, Vinh Sang Eco-Tourism Area in Vĩnh Long and Phú Quốc Island in Kiên Giang. — VNS