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Original Title: Spring Festival Transportation Begins: Flights Halved and Rail Passenger Flows Reduced by Over 70%
Beijing Commercial Daily (Reporter Tao Feng and Wang Chenting) January 31, the fourth day of the Spring Festival travel season in 2021. A reporter for the Beijing Business Daily learned from the National Railway Group that on 28, 29 and 30 of January, three days before the Spring Festival trip, the national railways shipped 3.08 million, 2.83 million and 2.96 million passengers, which was only 1 / the level of the same period last year, 4 approximately.
Under the influence of the national New Year’s Eve policy, the passenger flow of rail transport during the Spring Festival this year has decreased substantially. On January 31, the national railway is expected to send 2.9 million passengers, a decrease of 75% year-on-year and 6,218 passenger trains are forecast. Affected by the flow of passengers, the railway has recently canceled a large number of trains. Let’s take the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed train as an example. From January 28 to February 4, about half of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will be suspended; after that, until New Year’s Eve, 4-8 trains will continue to run. suspended every day.
Civil aviation is also facing a significant reduction in passenger flow. On the first day of travel for the Spring Festival, civil aviation carried approximately 540,000 passengers, a decrease of 71.2% compared to the first day of travel for the 2020 Spring Festival. According to data from Air Travel, They planned a total of 18,500 flights for the entire day of January 28 and 10,000 flights were canceled, which represents 54%.
According to the “Prediction of the will of passengers returning to their hometown during the Spring Festival” issued by CAPSE (Evaluation of the civil aviation passenger service), affected by the latest epidemic prevention and control management plan , the number of returnees by air travel is expected to decrease by 6 million, and more than 80% of the expected returning passengers have canceled their itineraries. According to the Civil Aviation Administration, airlines currently exhibit characteristics such as slower peak travel times and dispersed travel times. It is estimated that approximately 39 million passengers will be carried during the Spring Festival, which is about half of last year’s Spring Festival.
Due to various factors, the price of travel tickets for the Spring Festival continued to fall. According to data released by Qunar, as of January 25, the average price paid for air ticket reservations fell to 651.36 yuan, the lowest average price paid for air tickets before the Spring Festival trip in five years. The price of flights from Beijing to Shanghai is discounted by 1.1%. Take February 1 as an example, almost 60% of flights under 40%; on New Year’s Eve, more than 90% of flights below 40%.
China Railway Group has also implemented “one-off” discounts on certain passenger trains. Through an accurate analysis of the characteristics of the passenger flow of the rail transport of the Spring Festival in 2021, the preferential trains will be expanded from unpopular routes or “reverse” trains to some popular routes. The discount is reported to involve more than 200 trains. For general speed passenger trains, the minimum discount of 55% for each seat is extended to a minimum of 20% for hard seats, a minimum of 50% for soft and rigid sleepers, and the maximum discount for trains EMU is extended to a minimum of 55%, implemented during the Spring Festival travel season from January 28 to March 8, 2021. For example, the price of a rigid seat ticket for the Wuchang-Wenzhou K4505 train is as low as 20%, and a rigid seat costs only 13 yuan.
China National Railway Group stated that during the Spring Festival, it will also precisely and flexibly arrange transportation capacity according to changes in passenger flow. According to the epidemic prevention and control situation and changes in passenger flow, we will strengthen big data analysis, implement “one map per day”, and organize the upper limit of passenger transport capacity flexibly and accurate to meet travel needs.
Regarding the ticket refund policy, on January 13, the department of railways announced an announcement regarding the adjustment of the pre-sale period and the refund rate rules. Beginning with ticket sales on February 12, 2021 (first day of the first month), the pre-sale period for train tickets will be adjusted to 15 days.
The Civil Aviation Administration also issued a policy on January 26, clarifying that passengers who purchased tickets for flights between January 28 and March 8 before 0:00 on January 27, 2021 can refund their tickets or reschedule your tickets at least once for free. The aviation sales agent will not charge any fees.
On January 29, the Ministry of Transport issued a notice on guaranteeing people’s local transport services for the New Year, once again improving the free return service for passengers during the Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival, a free refund policy will be implemented for shuttle bus passenger ticket refunds more than 24 hours in advance. It also requires local transportation departments to guide road and water passenger transport operators, passenger stations and ticketing platforms to provide passengers with free refund services in accordance with regulations.
“The general judgment is that this year’s Spring Festival passenger flow will be significantly reduced. The latest estimated data is: The total number of passengers shipped during the Spring Festival across the country is around 1.152 billion, which is an average of more than 28.8 million passengers per day, which represents a decrease compared to 2019. More than 60%, more than 20% less than in 2020 “. Transportation Ministry spokesman Wu Chungeng told a press conference on the first day of the Spring Festival that the actual number of people is expected to be slightly lower than the estimate after the Spring Festival.
Although passenger flow is low, the National Railway Group stated that the railway department insists on implementing various epidemic prevention and control measures and strives to ensure that passengers are safe and secure. On the basis of conscientious application of preventive measures, such as controlling the body temperature of passengers, guiding passengers to wear masks throughout the journey, and strengthening the ventilation and disinfection of stations and trains, the railway department has focused in strengthening “contactless” services to reduce the risk of epidemic transmission.
In the stopping and boarding process, we will take full advantage of the full coverage of e-tickets and guide the vast majority of passengers to use self-service gates for “one pass”; in the waiting process, we will arrange passengers to sit separately; in the boarding process, persuade passengers to reduce the number of cabins When walking, it is recommended that passengers use the QR code order and the Internet order; When exiting the station, guide passengers to maintain a safe distance.
