“I feel so happy and warm to be on this free bus home!”
This was the first morning day of Chunyun (January 8), and Mr. Yuan of Sichuan province, along with his family, were about to set off on a free bus trip from Shenzhen to their hometown, Guang’an. This is the third consecutive year, writes Guangzhou Daily, that Yuan has traveled home for Chinese New Year for free.
Guangzhou Daily writes that more than a thousand migrant workers from across China were gathered last Sunday morning at a Shenzhen bus station, waiting for their free seat, courtesy of the Shenzhen government, in one of 34 hometown-bound buses.
Shenzhen began offering the annual service to migrant workers in the city in 2007, which this year will eventually send more than 3,000 people back to their homes in 30 different cities spread between Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces
Yuan, who has been working in Shenzhen for 11 years, says the free trips home these past three years have saved him 4,200 RMB in transportation costs:
“I’ve called all my relatives and friends and told them to sign up, and now we’re seven adults and one child all getting bussed home for free!”
