With bags and joy, people embarked on the journey home.

On January 7, the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush or Chunyun kicked off. According to the preliminary forecast of Wenzhou Spring Festival Travel Rush Office, the city’s total passenger volume during the 2023 Spring Rush will reach about 9.749 million person-times. As the first Chunyun after the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policy, how is the travel situation in Wenzhou? Are there any new changes? It is found that the long-lost bustle and busyness are making a comeback. We find the long-lost hustle and bustle coming back.

Significant increase in passenger flow on the first day of Chunyun

At about 11:30 on January 7, Ma Hongyan, taking her child in one hand and the suitcase in the other hand, arrived at the waiting hall through the security check. She went around the hall twice, but could not find a vacant seat, and finally picked a railing opposite the ticket gate and leaned against it. From time to time, she looked at the screen displaying train information through the dense crowd.

This was the first time that Ma and her child left Wenzhou in the past three years. She was full of expectations for this return. “I really miss my family. Lele has yearned for seeing his grandparents for a long time. Knowing that he will go back today, he has packed his luggage two days in advance and just waited for today.”

On the first day of Chunyun, many passengers and migrant workers like Ma constituted the main force of the travelers, and the station was filled with a lively and festive atmosphere.

What made Ma more pleased was that according to the recently implemented “Regulations on Railway Passenger Transportation”, her child who was over the height standard could also enjoy the discounts on child tickets. “My child, at the age of 11, is more than 1.5 meters tall. In the past, I had to buy him a full-price ticket, but now I can buy a child ticket for him directly based on his age with his ID card, regardless of his height, which saves a lot of money.”

With the implementation of the new regulations, more children aged under 14 have received benefits, but also more careless parents have forgot to bring their children’s identity documents. The window for handling temporary identity certificates has become popular. According to the staff, the number of children who came to apply for the certificates increased significantly, and more than 400 certificates were issued in the morning. Most of them were issued to children under the age of 14 who can enjoy child-tickets.

In order to ensure the travel of parents and children, the station has set up a new regulation announcement at the entrance and ticket office and sent more people to publicize it. According to the staff of Wenzhou South Railway Station, the estimated departure passenger volume of the station during Chunyun is 991,000 person-times, and it is expected that the peak passenger flow before the Chinese New Year will be ushered in from January 10 to 13. The passenger volume of the first day of Chunyun was 25,000 to 26,000 person-times, a significant increase compared with usual times. The number of running trains has been restored to 219 now. Next, the station will depart more trains during the peak of passenger volume to ensure passenger travel.

Put “health” in bags

On the first day of Chunyun, all the passengers entering the Wenzhou South Railway Station, whether adults or children, were wearing masks and well protected. Some passenger added a medical mask on top of the N95 mask, and some added a clear face shield out of the mask.

For this trip, Ms. Li, the mother of two kids, specially bought face shields online for her children to cover their whole faces. “They are quite naughty, and I don’t know when the mask will come off while they are playing, so I bought these shields. Wearing masks and then shields is double safety,” she said.

The personal protection awareness of passengers has been greatly improved, which is the biggest feeling of the station’s staff these days. “Lots of passengers carry disinfection products. In just one morning, about four hours, we have seized more than 100 bottles of disinfectant.”

The security inspection staff reminded that the high concentration alcohol disinfectants were flammable and explosive substances and could not be carried to the trains. If it was necessary to carry some disinfectant products, disinfectant wipes or pads were suggested.

Although high concentration alcohol disinfectants were forbidden to carry, some passengers still thought that personal disinfection was necessary. At the convenience store in the arriving hall of Wenzhou South Railway Station, many brands of disinfectants and disinfectant spray were placed in a more conspicuous position. Xiao Li, who had just arrived, bought one and immediately sprayed it on his body after opening the cap. “There are so many people along the trip. It’s better to be careful not to take the virus home.”

Besides personal protection, the health of family members was also concerned. Many passengers took all kinds of antipyretic drugs and health care products as their “souvenir” to go home. Mr. Li from Jiangxi put three boxes of ibuprofen in his backpack. Many of his relatives and friends in his hometown were “positive”. Some drugs were difficult to purchase there, so he bought them in Wenzhou and brought them back, he said.

Ma, having old people and children at home, even carried a bag full of fever-reducing, cough-relieving and diarrhea-relieving medicines.

Expressway traffic increased by 40%

At 10:00 on January 7, the traffic kept flowing in order at Wenzhou West Expressway Gate.

A policeman from the Third Group of the Expressway Traffic Police Detachment of the Municipal Public Security Bureau said that the Wenzhou West Expressway Gate in the Wenzhou-Lishui Expressway was an important gate to leave the city. Most of the vehicles leaving there were returning to Jiangxi, Hunan and other provinces (cities).

As the first Chunyun after the optimization of COVID-19 response measures, the willingness of self-driving travel was also strong. Most vehicles leaving the city were heading to the southwest-central and south-central directions. The traffic flow of the main lines of Wenzhou’s expressways was 87 vehicles every three minutes, and the overall traffic flow was stable and orderly. The traffic volume on the first day of Chunyun was about 42,000 vehicles, which increased by 40% compared with normal days, and decreased compared last year.

The traffic police reminded citizens that the Jingning-Wencheng Expressway had been officially opened to traffic a few days ago, providing another route leaving Wenzhou to Hunan and Jiangxi, especially for travelers in Cangnan, Pingyang and Rui’an.

To ensure the safety and smoothness of Chunyun, the Wenzhou Traffic and Transportation Administrative Law Enforcement Group launched the “Spring Thunder” action to escort the transportation during Chunyun. As of 15:00 on January 7, 134 law enforcement personnel were dispatched, 208 vehicles were inspected, more than 620 kilometers of roads were scrutinized, and 14 traffic violations were investigated and dealt with, including seven violations of bus drivers soliciting passengers outside the stations.

More overseas Chinese returned home

At 15:00 on January 7, the Wenzhou Longwan International Airport was also bustling and crowded. Even Ms. Wang, who was responsible for cleaning, said that she had not seen so many people for a long time, and there was more garbage.

According to the responsible person of the airport, during the 2023 Spring Rush, the airport is expected to complete 9,000 to 11,000 passenger flights’ taking off and landing, transport about one million people, and handle about 25,000 passengers per day.

In terms of domestic passenger travel, most of the passengers were returning home and visiting relatives, some were taking trips. More passengers flied to the southwest and south-central China. As for international flights, the airport will carry out international scheduled passenger flights between Wenzhou and Milan, Rome, Jakarta and Phnom Penh during Chunyun. It is expected that the passenger flow of overseas Chinese returning home will be more obvious.

At 16:00, a flight from Rome arrived in Wenzhou, and passengers rushed towards the exit. Mr. Jiang, an overseas Chinese who had just arrived, said that many Wenzhouese who were abroad could not wait to go home. Most of the passengers on this flight had been scheduled to go back together.

Starting from January 8, no quarantine and infectious disease management measures will be taken for entry personnel and goods, and the outbound travel of Chinese citizens will be resumed in an orderly manner. On the afternoon, Wenzhou opened a regular international passenger flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Each airline has increased its international transport capacity in Wenzhou. The China Eastern Airlines plans to encrypt international routes from Wenzhou to Rome. The staff of the Wenzhou branch of Air China said that during the Spring Festival, the direct flight between Wenzhou and Milan, Italy, will maintain the capacity of one flight per week. Many overseas Chinese from Wenzhou who are in Italy takes this opportunity to return to Wenzhou to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and some local residents have chosen to travel to other countries. The passenger load factor is relatively high.

In order to ensure the travel of passengers, the Longwan International Airport has synchronously launched the full-process convenience integrated service platform “Zhelifei” mini-program, integrating the functional modules of air travel, ground transportation, consulting assistance, and business services, to realize the full-process convenience intelligent service from “home door to cabin door to home door”.