During Lunar New Year Holiday, Population Movement Increases... But Roads Get More Congested

During the 5-day Lunar New Year holiday this year, daily average travel volume decreased by 32.6%
Highway vehicle count increased by 15%... Private car use instead of public transportation
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport establishes and implements joint special traffic measures... Strengthening COVID-19 prevention

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of people traveling to and from their hometowns nationwide during this year's Lunar New Year holiday is expected to decrease by more than 30% compared to last year. On the other hand, traffic is expected to become more congested as the number of private car users increases instead of public transportation.

According to the "Lunar New Year Holiday Travel Survey" conducted by the Korea Transport Institute on 9,398 households nationwide on the 3rd, a total of 21.92 million people, averaging 4.38 million per day, are expected to travel over the five days from the 10th to the 14th. This represents a decrease of about 32.6% compared to last year's Lunar New Year in terms of total travelers and daily average travel volume.

The expected number of travelers is also the lowest when compared to the past three years. During this period, the total number of travelers and the daily average during the Lunar New Year holiday were 34.45 million (6.89 million per day) in 2018, 42.69 million (6.1 million per day) in 2019, and 32.51 million (6.5 million per day) last year. This is interpreted as a result of government recommendations to refrain from visiting hometowns and traveling due to concerns about COVID-19 infection.

On the other hand, the number of vehicles using highways is expected to increase by 14.9% to an average of 4.01 million per day. This is because 93.5% of respondents said they would use private cars rather than public transportation when travel is unavoidable, making up an overwhelming majority. This is more than 7 percentage points higher than the private car share rate of 86.2% over the past five years.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has designated the period from the 10th to the 14th as the "Lunar New Year Special Traffic Measures Period" and plans to establish a hotline in cooperation with related agencies to formulate and implement a government joint special traffic plan. During this period, highway tolls will be charged as they were last Chuseok, and public transportation seat sales will be reduced. Additionally, in preparation for the increase in private car use, disinfection and congestion management at highway rest areas will be strengthened.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.