In less than six weeks, about 1.97 billion passenger trips were taken in China for the Spring Festival holiday, most of them by train and bus.

China's population, which accounts for more than one fifth of the world's, seems to be on wheels, prompting concerns that so much travel will overburden the country's transportation systems.

"China now has 72,000 kilometers of railways, six percent the world's total," said Hu Siji, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University. "But China's railways have to accomplish 24 percent of the world's load."

Getting tickets has been a top priority for many who planned to go home for the Spring Festival, the most important occasion of family reunion according to the Chinese tradition.

Shanghai Railway Station, the largest railway hub in east China, opened 249 windows selling tickets during the traffic season. It even deployed a stadium to sell tickets. But it was still very hard for buyers.

"For three days I have gotten up much earlier than before to buy a ticket, but still failed to get one," said Zheng Shuhong, whose hometown is in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Chen Min was luckier than Zheng. He succeeded by lining up for a ticket overnight. But he and all the other passengers have to pay some 20 percent more for taking trains during the six-week transportation season which started on February 1 this year.

The railway authorities explained this was to discourage migrant workers not to take trains during the peak period.

"But how can we do that since it all depends on the boss when we are dismissed?" complained a migrant construction worker who was waiting to take a train back home in southwest China's Sichuan Province. He and his fellow townsmen paid some 300 to 350 yuan (about US$36 to 42) to get a ticket with a marked price of 126 yuan (about US$15). Scalpers made money.

With so many passengers worried about buying tickets, railway station staff became increasingly popular. Mr. Wang of Shanghai Railway Station said, "You never see these people for 325 days of the year, and they all appear in front of you during these 40 days."

Wang posted a note on his office door saying that he could invite the petitioners to dinner, but he couldn't get them tickets. 

Are migrant workers to blame for the traffic headache? 

Surplus labor in rural areas floating to cities is one of the most significant demographic changes brought by China's reform and opening up drive over the past two decades and more.

Shanghai, the largest city in China, reported 3.87 million migrant people in 2000 during its first census on migrant population. The number was believed to have grown to 5 million, according to Zhou Haiwang, deputy head of the research institute of population and development of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 80 percent of whom are rural workers.

The gap between China's urban and rural areas and the gap between the country's developed eastern part and the less developed western part have drawn millions of farmers to cities, contributing to the phenomenon of Spring Festival transportation.

A survey done by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that the income gap between urban and rural residents was 2.6:1 in1978 when China's reform and opening up drive started. The gap went down to 1.9:1 in 1985, but bounced to 2.9:1 in 1994 and 3.1:1in 2002.

That led to a growing number of migrant workers swarming into cities. The total migrant population in China is estimated to be 100 million.

Guangdong Province, a pioneering economic reform province in South China, announced earlier this year that its population has reached 110 million, passing central China's Henan Province as the most populous province in the country. Nearly one third of its population are migrant. 

Should the transportation department be blamed? 

Liu Jianmin, vice head of Shanghai Railway, said that the traffic problems also stem from China's mixed passenger and freight transportation. The idea of "passengers first" could not always be carried out, because coal and grain had to be carried, even during the Spring Festival.

Railway staff also felt the pressure. Ticket selling time was prolonged to 10 hours a day, which meant many ticket sellers had to go to work at about five o'clock in the morning and return home at about 11 o'clock at night. Sellers often had sore throats after receiving hundreds of buyers and selling five to six hundred tickets for a whole day.

That's not the end of the story. Traveling in an overloaded train makes some people feel depressed. Some suffer from mental disorder. The equipment on the train is also seriously damaged.

The railway department is not optimistic about solving the problem in the next five or six years.

Experts believe that to solve the problem of peak travel, China should speed up economic growth and narrow the gap between different regions so as to gradually diminish the large-scale movement of labor forces. At the same time, China should reform its household registration system which divides residents into two categories -- rural and urban -- according to where they live. The system enables urban people to benefit more from employment, housing, food, medicare, pensions and public facilities.

Experts also suggest that migrant workers should be paid more so they become part of the cities where they work.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2005)