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China's back-to-work travel rush begins
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CNTV, January 30, 2012
As China's Spring Festival holiday comes to a close, the back-to-work travel rush begins. With millions of migrant workers joining in, the number of travellers are at a record high. CCTV reporter Hou Na finds out what is being done to make sure the transport system stays up and running.
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With China's Spring Festival period drawing to a close, traffic departments across China are coping with the post festival travel rush. |
It might be a tough journey home, but an easy one when they return.
Carrying bags full of hometown memories, they are ready to kick start new life in the city.
On the Saturday, the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, more than 150,000 people were expected to return to Beijing.
Train conductor Tai Fuli said, "There are more than 1200 passengers on our train. More than 300 of them are migrant workers."
Measures have been taken to ensure safety during the back to work rush.
An additional 672 trains have been added to the railways nationwide, including 16 on popular routes to benefit migrant workers from southwestern China.
For the first time, the authorities are fully enforcing the real-name ticketing system brought in just before the Spring Festival.
It requires passengers to provide their ID card when buying tickets and sometimes for boarding trains. The aim of this is to cut down on ticket scalpers.
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With China's Spring Festival period drawing to a close, traffic departments across China are coping with the post festival travel rush. |
But for some migrant workers, the unfamiliar routine is more of a hindrance than a help.
The same mixed reaction applies to the new ways to buy train tickets.
One of the intentions of the new booking system was to reduce the number of people lining up for hours at the country's train stations.
Figures released by the Ministry of Railways indicate some success.
About 2.16 million people bought tickets online or over the phone everyday, accounting for 36 percent of all tickets sold.
But many are still trying to adapt to new trend.
Xie Jingyi, Spokesman of Beijing Railway Station, said, "It has been a unique characteristic this year, as many migrant workers are trying to book their tickets online or over the phone. For those who are not familiar with the new approach, we have set up special selling windows for them."
Even people who are familiar with online booking have found it's not an easy task to catch a ticket on a website that receives 1 billion clicks a day.
Maybe the system needs an upgrade, so it fully benefits its target travellers - those being China's migrant workers.
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