JR lines, expresways and air services saw significant increases in the amount of people traveling during this year's Golden Week holidays compared to the same period last year when the first novel coronavirus state of emergency was declared, according to surveys conducted by the service operators Thursday.
About 2,958,000 passengers boarded Shinkansen and limited express trains between April 28 and Wednesday, up by about 5.7 times from last year's Golden Week holidays, according to JR companies.
Passenger numbers on the Tokaido Shinkansen lines surged by about 5.3 times and the Sanyo Shinkansen lines saw passenger numbers jump by about 4.9 times from the previous Golden Week holiday period.
But holiday traffic on the Shinkansen and JR-owned limited express trains plummeted by 74% when compared to the 2019 period before the novel coronavirus pandemic struck.
On average, traffic volume on major expressways stood at 28,900 vehicles per day, about twice as much as last year, according to surveys conducted by expressway operators.
On Tuesday, a 41.1-kilometer-long traffic jam occurred near the Kawagoe Interchange on the inbound lanes of the Kanetsu Expressway in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture.
Traffic volume on average was down by 43% from the 2019 Golden Week holidays.
Between April 29 and Wednesday, All Nippon Airways Group had about 410,000 domestic passengers, 11 times more than last year, and Japan Airlines Group had about 320,000 domestic passengers, about 8 times more than last year. Both tallies mark decreases of just under 40% from the 2019 Golden Week period.
The two airlines had about 10,000 passengers aboard international flights.
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