New regulations passed to help ease congestion

Traffic fines will be doubled and police will have greater powers to impound vehicles in a move to help keep traffic order during Tet.

Traffic-light and lane violations, overloading and drink-driving fines will be VND400,000 ($20) instead of the current VND200,000.

Buses and coaches will also be targeted to avoid traffic jams around Nuoc Ngam, My Dinh and Gia Lam terminals caused by drivers searching for passengers and stopping illegally.

Nguyen Ha Song, a passenger from Nam Dinh Province, said, "I had to sit on the coach for an hour to run around Hanoi because the driver wanted to have more passengers."

Overloading buses would also be targeted.

Of great concern were traffic jams which occur regularly in main streets such as Nguyen Trai, Tay Son, Chua Boc, Kham Thien and Cat Linh.

Nguyen The Tuan, a resident of Chua Boc Street, said, "In peak hours the roadway is dense with vehicles and many motorbikes even run on the pavement."

City police had appointed 500 police academy students to help traffic police control vehicles at cross-roads, police deputy director Tran Long Xuyen said.

City authorities were also considering installing a temporary poonton connect Tu Liem District\'s Dong Ngac Commune with Dong Anh District\'s Vong La Commune, Xuyen said.

The poonton would carry 6,000-10,000 vehicles a day to ease traffic jams on Thang Long and Chuong Duong bridges, he said.

Meanwhile, long-distance coaches had asked to increase ticket prices by 60 per cent, Ha Noi Coach Terminal Management Company director Nguyen Hoang Trung said.

They included Sai Gon Transport Co-operative, the Dac Lac Transport Corporation and the Cao Nguyen Transport Co-operative.