"38 Million People on the Move This Seol Holiday, When Should You Depart to Avoid Traffic?"

Daily Average Travel Decreases,
But Holiday Period Gets Longer

The number of people traveling to and from their hometowns during this year's Lunar New Year holiday is estimated to exceed 38 million, a significant increase compared to last year. The homebound traffic is expected to be most congested on the 28th, and the return traffic on the 30th.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transport Institute conducted a "Lunar New Year Holiday Travel Survey" last month with 10,000 participants, and announced that a total of 38.48 million people are expected to travel over the 10-day period from the 24th to the 2nd of next month.

On Lunar New Year's Day, the 29th, up to 6.01 million people are expected to travel, with an estimated daily average of 4.89 million travelers. This is a 16.7% decrease compared to last year's Lunar New Year holiday (average 5.87 million). However, since this year's holiday period is longer than last year's, the total number of travelers is expected to increase by 29% compared to the previous year.

Congested road. The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. Yonhap News Agency

With the decrease in the daily average number of travelers, the maximum travel time by car for both homebound and return trips is also expected to decrease. The maximum travel time for the homebound direction is estimated to be 7 hours and 40 minutes from Seoul to Busan, and 4 hours and 10 minutes from Seoul to Daejeon. These times are 1 hour and 10 minutes, and 30 minutes shorter respectively compared to last year. For the return trip, travel times are expected to be 8 hours and 20 minutes from Busan to Seoul, and 7 hours from Gwangju to Seoul.

Survey respondents preferred the 28th, the day before Lunar New Year's Day, for the homebound trip, and the 30th, the day after Lunar New Year's Day, for the return trip. Among those who responded that they would travel during the holiday period, the largest proportion, 30.7%, were headed to the Gyeongsang region. This was followed by the Seoul metropolitan area (27.4%), Chungcheong region (15.3%), and Jeolla region (15.0%).

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will implement a "Special Lunar New Year Holiday Plan" from the 24th to the 2nd of next month to minimize congestion on homebound and return routes. Highway tolls will be waived for four days around the holiday (27th to 30th), and railway fare discounts will be offered, including 30-40% off for reverse-direction KTX and SRT tickets, and 15% off for family companion seats.

A "luggage delivery service" will also be provided at 15 stations including KTX Busan Station, Cheonan-Asan Station, Gangneung Station, and Daejeon Station. This service delivers passengers' luggage from the station to their accommodation or other destinations.

The number of express bus operations will increase by 8,730 trips to a total of 43,910 trips, with total seats increased to 330,000. Intercity buses will also operate an additional 17,242 trips. The total supply of seats will increase by 10.9% to 6.1 million seats. To facilitate public transportation use for late-night return travelers, city buses and subways in Seoul and other cities will operate extended hours during late-night times.

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