Approximately 4.73 billion trips were made in China during the recently concluded Spring Festival travel rush, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

This year's 40-day travel rush began on Jan 7 and ended on Wednesday. It was the first such travel rush since China optimized its COVID-19 management measures last month.

Of the trips made, nearly 1.6 billion were made via the public transportation system, a year-on-year increase of 50 percent and about 53.5 percent of the volume seen in 2019.

Railways, highways, waterways and civil aviation made up 348 million, 1.17 billion, 22.45 million and 55.21 million of the trips, respectively, up 37.5, 55.8, 37.1 and 38.7 percent over the same period last year.

More people prefer to drive during the travel rush. During the period, some 1.18 billion vehicles were used on expressways. Those cars carried about 3.14 billion passengers, a year-on-year increase of 18.6 percent and 17.2 percent more than in 2019.