China’s Lunar New Year travellers to make 100 million more trips this year
Most of the 2.8 billion trips made during the festive peak between February 4 and March 15 are expected to be by public road transport
Chinese passengers are expected to make 2.8 billion trips on China’s public transport network over the Lunar New Year next month – 100 million more than last year.
This would be a 3.4 per cent increase from the same period last year, the National Development and Reform Commission deputy chief Liang Weiliang said on Thursday.
Among the forecasted 2.8 billion trips, 2.42 billion – 2.5 per cent more than last year – would be by public road transport, making up the bulk of the trips, the People’s Daily reported.
About 295 million trips would be made by train, 47.5 million by air, and 44.3 million by boat. The number of train trips were expected to rise the most from last year, by 10 per cent.
The peak Lunar New Year travel period would last 40 days, from February 4 to March 15.
Those likely to travel before then would mostly be from the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions as well as Beijing and Tianjin. Those from Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuyang, Hefei, Nanchang and Wuhan were expected to embark on their journeys only after February 4.