Records to fall as Chinese rush for home during Spring Festival
Chinese have been warned to behave as they travel in record numbers during the annual Spring Festival rush.
Chinese have been warned to behave as they travel in record numbers to visit family at home and make trips overseas during the annual Spring Festival rush that starts from Monday.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport are among nine government organisations that have issued a notice warning that those who misbehave while travelling in China during this year’s festival period will be punished.
The world’s biggest annual migration period, China’s Spring Festival, ranges from next Monday to the end of next month with the peak period being the official Lunar New Year holiday week of February 4 to 10.
The authorities have warned that bad behaviour on roads, railways, buses and passenger vessels could see offenders banned from rail or air travel. According to China’s national credit information sharing platform, more than 5000 people have been banned from buying airline tickets since June with another 1600 banned from buying train tickets.
The traditional time for visiting family in China, the Spring Festivals in the past have been associated with tensions between travellers in overcrowded train stations and on packed buses. Disputes erupt over seats and travellers argue with bus drivers over missed stops, and transport and security officials crack down on passengers travelling without tickets and using fake IDs.
Last November 15 people on a bus travelling over a bridge across the Yangtze River in Chongqing were killed when a woman passenger hit the driver in the head with her mobile phone after she missed her stop. Struggling to fend off the attacks, the driver swung the steering wheel, sending the bus plunging 50m into the water, killing all on board.
The notice from the agencies has warned that any misbehaviour on transport during the Spring Festival will be recorded in the offender’s social credit records, a data base of their social pluses and minuses that is being introduced to control public behaviour and increase security.
“A social credit system is indispensable for any modern government,” Zhu Lijia, a professor of public management at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the China Daily recently.
“Instead of giving fines or other light penalties, putting severe offenders on a public blacklist will be more effective in constraining their behaviour.”
Despite the slowing economy, Chinese are set to break records for travel during this year’s Spring Festival. The National Development and Reform Commission said people were expected to make almost three billion trips from January 21 to March 1.
Announcing the figures yesterday at a press conference, NDRC deputy head Lian Weiliang said the expected number of trips was up by 0.6 per cent from last year. The NDRC figures show an increasing preference for Chinese to fly and travel on the country’s rapidly expanding fast train network over more traditional road and boat transport.
The number of train trips during the Spring Festival this year is expected to rise by 8.3 per cent to 413 million, with road trips down by 0.8 per cent to 2.46 billion. Air travel is expected to be up 12 per cent with an estimated 73 million trips, while boat trips are expected to remain flat at 43 million.
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