Bittersweet travel period comes to an end in China

The world's largest human migration came to an end on Monday, the last day of China's 40-day bittersweet travel period. As many as 3.6 billion trips were made during "chunyun" this year, the travel period around the Spring Festival, which started on Jan. 16. About 266 million train trips were made, up 12 percent from a year ago. Journeys by road, air and water stood at 3.26 billion, 44.07 million and 42 million respectively, said the Ministry of Transport (MOT). Meanwhile, the battle for tickets and traffic jams caused anxiety for many. TRAFFIC DILEMMA Ticket shortages are a common occurrence during chunyun. Official data showed that more than 90 million tickets were on sale each day during the the travel period. The peak fell on Feb. 6, the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, when a record 8.36 million railway trips were made, the ministry said. Cai Tuanjie, director of the MOT's chunyun office, said it was difficult for people to get back home because of the vast number of passengers. Overcrowding in the richer east and south areas led to ticket shortages, Cai added. Constructing more railways, roads and having more air routes would be a waste of resources when chunyun has ended. Xu Yahua, deputy director of the MOT's road transport department, said it would not blindly provide more capacity.