Motorcyclists warm to free journeys home

A procession of bikers hits the road on Sunday in Foshan, Guangdong province, to travel home in time for Spring Festival. Qiu Quanlin / China Daily

"But there is still a shortage of train tickets. Many of my friends would rather ride home than line up to buy tickets," Wei said.

He was among thousands of people — most of them migrant workers — who opted for motorcycle travel during the national Spring Festival travel rush, which began on Sunday.

According to the transportation authority in Guangdong, more than 500,000 migrant workers travel home by motorcycle to neighboring provinces and regions during the annual festival rush.

Thousands of migrant workers and students in the Pearl River Delta, a major economic hub in South China, began their homeward journeys by rail on Sunday.

Guangzhou Railway Group said about 134,000 people traveled by train, with most heading for their hometowns in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces.

The company will arrange for more temporary services to operate during the travel rush.

More than 2.26 million trips by train will be made from stations in Guangzhou before Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 8, the company said.

The Ministry of Transport expects about 2.91 billion trips to be made during the 40-day Spring Festival travel period that will end on March 3.