Travel during holiday hits new record

Transport network expected to have handled 270 million passenger trips

China's transport network is expected to have handled 270 million passenger trips during the five-day May Day holiday, which concluded on Wednesday, the Ministry of Transport said.

From April 29 to Wednesday, a daily average of more than 54 million trips were expected to have been made by railway, road, waterway and civil aviation, an increase of more than two and a half times over the same period last year, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, transport service providers increased capacities to manage the peak return of travelers, as traffic was expected to hit a record during the holiday.

Also on Wednesday, the national railway operator, China State Railway Group, planned to operate 11,993 passenger trains, an increase of 1,630 services. It is expected to handle 19.3 million passenger trips, the company said on Wednesday.

Beijing extended operation time for subways and added more buses at railway stations on Wednesday, the city's transport commission said.

The return peak was from 2 pm to 7 pm on the national highway system. Vehicles were moving slowly on several expressways, according to the Ministry of Transport.

The holiday was the second long break since China downgraded its prevention and control measures for COVID-19, following Spring Festival, which fell at the end of January.

The transport sector experienced a travel boom during the holiday, and on Saturday a single day record of 19.6 million rail passenger trips were made.

Earlier data showed that the average daily traffic flow on the expressway network was expected to reach 53.3 million to 54.3 million vehicle trips, a year-on-year increase of from 73 to 77 percent.

Earlier data also showed that about 120 million trips were expected to be made by Chinese railway passengers from April 27 to Thursday, an increase of 20 percent compared with the same period in 2019. An average of 15 million passenger trips were expected to be made every day.

The Ministry of Transport said it has improved highway services such as adding more parking spaces and charging stations for electric cars.

"I am very happy to see a crowded airport again," said Feng Liwei, a staff member from the operation control center at Beijing Capital International Airport, one of Beijing's two civil airports.