Pingyao ready for Spring Festival rush

Feb 4 is the first day of this year's Spring Festival travel rush, which will run about 40 days as just about every Chinese returns home to celebrate the biggest festival of the year and transportation departments everywhere get ready, including Pingyao county, Shanxi province which has been working on this for several months.

The county is putting a larger traffic police force out for railways, highways and airports this year and has set up checkpoints on major vital highways, including National Highway 108, and the Fentun provincial highway, round-the-clock, to examine intercity coaches with more than seven passengers, sleeper buses, travel agency coaches, vans and trucks with hazardous chemicals. All of these will have to report the driver's license, vehicle inspection certificate, number of passengers, and the driving time to prevent traffic accidents.

A county traffic police leader, Ma Dengyu, explained that rural traffic safety is being emphasized and, they are busy describing traffic rules and increasing public awareness of the need for traffic safety. Ma also said that Pingyao, as a popular tourist site, has added to their work burden.

At the same time, transportation services have been improved in a passenger-friendly way and the county is guaranteeing adequate passenger space, service quality, and emergency measures, with a scientific control system and price regulations adhered to across the transportation network.