China's Spring Festival travel rush (Chunyun) started Monday, unleashing the country's largest seasonal migration of people as families reunite for China's most important traditional holiday. The travel rush began 15 days ahead of the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 5 this year. In the following 40 days, from Jan. 21 to March 1, nearly 4.227 million trips are to be made via Changzhou's transport system, an increase of 5.2% over last year.

This year's Spring Festival is 11 days earlier than last year. it is a long-held tradition for most Chinese people to reunite with their families during Chinese New Year. People return home from work or study to have Reunion dinner with their families on New Year's Eve. The peak of the travel rush is slated to happen from February 1 to 3, and the passenger flow will be relatively stable after the holiday.

To ease the tremendous pressure caused by the holiday crowd, the Municipal Bureau of Transport set up a network to scientifically predict passenger flow and dispatch resources accordingly, optimize intercity transportation modes of railway, highway and civil aviation, and ensure backup services of extra night shift buses, shuttle buses and tailored taxi services.