China's rails, roads,
boats and airlines are gearing up for the Spring Festival transport
peak, a 40-day season that began on Tuesday.
The country's transport departments estimated the
total number of passengers for journeys should be 1.97 billion
this year, a 3.4percent increase from last year.
Spring Festival, or China's Lunar New Year, falls
on February 9 this year.
The holiday is an important occasion for Chinese
families, similar to Christmas in the western world.
For years, the transport facilities have been strained
during the season as millions of migrant workers, college students
and other Chinese flock back home and then return two weeks later.
On the first day of this season, highway and waterway
transport authorities reported good news, civil aviation sector
added more flights while railway administration continued complaining
of facility shortages.
The Ministry of Communications said Tuesday that
about 1.79 billion people are likely to travel by highway, a year-on-year
rise of 3.5 percent.
The highway transport facilities are ready and enough
to cope with the passenger rush, the ministry said.
Tianjin, some 120 km east of Beijing, is estimated
to receive 2.6 to 2.7 million passengers at the transport season,
a year-on-year rise of 20 to 25 percent, but the local transport
department pledged that bus prices will not rise.
About 100 coaches have made a backup facility to
cope with an emergency need, the city transport department said.
In China's economic hub Shanghai, the Spring Festival
season has started earlier to receive a record of 20 million highway
passengers. The relevant administrations have embattled the coming
peak, local authority said.
North China's Shanxi Province has cut charges on
bus companies that run regular service between cities and rural
areas so that migrant workers will enjoy easier and cheaper bus
service.
About 27 million people will travel by ship and there
will be many passengers along east China's Bohai Sea, the Pearl
River Delta and Hainan Islands in south China.
Passengers should not have to wait long for seats,
the shipping department of the Ministry of Communications said.
People traveling by air will probably increase by
12.5 percent to 12.6 million this season. From Tuesday Chinese
airlines will add 270 flights every day, the General Administration
of Civil Aviation of China said Tuesday.
About 750 planes have been put into operation, up
from 670 last year, providing 500,000 seats daily. The administration
said they believe it will meet the need.
But the railways with a daily capacity of carrying
2.74 million passengers still fail to meet the demand of 3.64
million seats in average every day, according to the Ministry
of Railways.
"This year the country still lacks of railway
facilities to deal with such a huge passenger wave," said
Hu Yadong, vice minister of Railways, told a press conference
Tuesday.
The ministry predicted that 145 million people will
take trainsacross the country, a 3.5 percent increase from last
year.
The season peak for railways may fall from Feb. 4
to 6, from Feb. 15 to 17 and from Feb. 25 to 28.
Passengers and cargo transports will elbow
each other as demandfor cargo transport also increases fast recently,
Hu said.
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