Make buying train tickets easy for all

That cancellations will be free if done 15 days in advance will certainly prompt many people to book multiple tickets. But it will also create an artificial shortage of tickets initially because one person would be booking tickets for multiple journeys and canceling the “not-needed” ones only at a later date. Moreover, the frequent (and unnecessary) bookings and cancellations will overburden the railway sites and could cause it to collapse. The fact that the railway authorities have not extended the advance booking period for tickets purchased at railway stations and through travel agents is unfair to aged people and migrant workers who usually use them to book train tickets.

Despite the government’s tangible efforts to promote a paid holiday system among employees, Chinese people still believe Spring Festival is the best time for family reunion and thus create a massive and rigid demand for travel across the country during the chunyun period. The railway authorities have taken several measures — for example, adopting real-name ticket system and increasing the number of trains — to ease the pressure of traffic during the chunyun period, but for many, getting train tickets to their destinations during Spring Festival remains a big problem.

Statistics show about 266 million train trips were made during the 2014 chunyun period, up 12 percent from the previous year. To ease the pressure on the railway network during next year’s chunyun period, China Railway Corporation plans to run 3,063 pairs of trains, 335 pairs more than in 2014.

But at a time when some tech-savvy passengers have mastered the art of booking tickets through the Internet or mobile apps, the majority of Chinese people still buy tickets at railway stations or via travel agents. It’s good to make life easier for tech-savvy passengers. But the railway authorities should take measures to bring convenience to other passengers’ life too.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. wuyixue@chinadaily.com.cn