To avoid crowed buses or trains, a number of migrant workers have found other ways to get home for Spring Festival. Riding motorcycles home is one such method.

To avoid crowed buses or trains, a number of migrant workers have found other ways to get home for Spring Festival. Riding motorcycles home is one such method.

When limited supplies and the high price of train and bus tickets hindered plans for migrant workers to return home, people in the Pearl River Delta region in southern China came up with this new idea.

A motorcycle usually carries two people, often a couple, sometimes with a child sandwiched in between. Every year, fleets of motorcycles carrying thousand of migrant workers pass through national roads.

Li Peirong, vice minister of Publicity Dept. of Zhaoqing Municipal Committee, said, "Migrant workers returning to Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan will cross a thousand miles to get home. The main period for the rush is usually about 10 days surrounding the Spring Festival."

Instead of bringing home daily necessities, migrant workers prefer local specialties this year. A migrant worker said, "I bought the Guangdong speciality, Jiujiang Sesame balls for my family. I would like to bring something special for home. "

Due to the increasing popularity of motorcycles in recent years, the Ministry of Public Security set up service stations along the country’s major highways to provide free food, medicine and rest stops for migrant workers on motorbikes.

The stations also send police cars to clear the way for large groups of motorists.

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