China's transport network sets a new record in cross-regional passenger trips

China's transport network set a record by handling a total of 2.8 billion cross-regional passenger trips during the nine-day Spring Festival holiday, which ended on Monday, with daily mobility reaching historic highs as millions of people returned home for family reunions or traveled for leisure, China Media Group reported on Tuesday, citing data from the Ministry of Transport.

According to the report, the total cross-regional passenger trips nationwide exceeded 2.8 billion from Feb 15 to Feb 23, averaging 311 million trips per day, up 8.2 percent year-on-year and marking a new record for holiday travel volume.

"All modes of transport registered notable growth," Gao Bo, deputy head of the ministry's Transport Services Department, said. Average daily passenger volumes by rail, road and waterway each rose by more than 10 percent year-on-year, while civil aviation traffic increased by 7.3 percent.

Road travel continued to dominate holiday mobility, reflecting the growing preference for flexible self-driving trips. Self-driving journeys averaged nearly 270 million trips per day, accounting for 86 percent of total travel and rising 8.3 percent from a year earlier.

New energy vehicles played an increasingly prominent role during the holiday rush. Expressways nationwide recorded an average of 11.52 million NEV trips per day, a surge of 34 percent year-on-year, supported by the deployment of roughly 1,900 additional mobile charging facilities daily to ease long-distance travel concerns.

The smooth operation of the transport system during the holiday provided strong support for family reunions, tourism consumption, and the steady functioning of the holiday economy, the ministry said.