Comment on "For migrants, no Web, no train ticket" (China Daily, Jan 6)

I think the online ticket booking system is not only problematic, but also biased against migrant workers.

We all know that migrant workers as a group need train tickets the most to travel back home during Spring Festival. For almost all of them, Spring Festival is more than a long holiday - it is the only time in the year they can be with their families. And taking a train is the most convenient and practical way for them to travel to and from home.

To some extent, booking train tickets online is convenient and rapid compared with buying them over the counter at railway stations where one has to wait for a long time. But given migrant workers' financial condition, most of them do not have or cannot get access to a computer. Since tickets for a particular train available over the counter are limited, migrant workers have the least chance of getting one because they are booked rapidly online by others.

The basic principle of policymaking is fairness, which means giving everybody the same right on any given issue. And if social justice is the criterion, disadvantaged groups should be given priority in cases like booking train tickets. It's ironic that the policymakers have not taken the difficulties and rights of migrant workers into account while making tickets available online, which almost equals to depriving them of the chance of going home. I hope the authorities would give their policy a rethink.

Karen, via e-mail

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(China Daily 01/10/2012 page9)