BEIJING -- China's 40-day travel period covering the Spring Festival ended Wednesday with a record high 3.42 billion trips being made using public transport, according to authorities.

The Ministry of Transport said passengers made 3.1 billion journeys in long-distance buses during the 40 days, up 8.8 percent from the same period last year.

The country's railways saw a total of 240 million trips, up from about 220 million in the same period last year, the railways authority said.

Passengers made 42.5 million trips by ship and 38.07 million journeys by plane, according to authorities.

The Spring Festival, also called China's Lunar New Year, is the country's most important traditional holiday as most people go home to visit family.

This year's travel season around the festival was from January 26 to March 6, according to the MOT.