Three billion trips made during 40-day Spring Festival travel rush

The 40-day-long Spring Festival travel rush, which came to an end on March 1, recorded three billion trips made during the period, according to the Ministry of Transport, CCTV reported.

The rush saw 410 million railway trips, up 7.4 percent on a yearly basis, while road trips fell 0.8 percent to 2.46 billion. The number of waterway trips stayed same as last year at 41 million, while plane travel jumped 12 percent to 73 million this year, the data showed.

Local transportation departments improved transfer efficiency for travelers by extending the operation time of subways, launching night bus lines, and arranging taxis pick-up at night, the Ministry said.

Customized passenger buses and bus booking services in rural and urban areas also met the personalized travel needs of certain passengers during the spring festival holiday.

E-tickets and self-service check-in were mass applied in this year's travel, with self-service check-in available in 300 train stations nationwide. Passengers were also offered the option to scan their second-generation ID cards for quick check-in at nearly 700 high-speed train stations, according to the report.

Bullying and ride-stealing behaviors at trains also declined sharply this year, thanks to severe punishments from the local governments, such as issuing travel ban on violators, the report said.