 |
| Passengers prepare to board the train at the Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 17, 2013. (Photo/Xinhua) |
The approach of the Spring Festival travel rush reignites a public debate on the price of standing ticket on the train.
For years, the train’s standing ticket and seat ticket are sold at same price in China. Some criticisms say that the passengers without seats on the train actually don’t enjoy the same services offered to those who bought the seat tickets.
A recent online survey on Sina Weibo shows that more than 90 percent of the 930,000 respondents support the proposal that standing ticket price should be cut 50 percent.
Selling standing tickets is a compromise adopted to cope with the sharp disparity between supply and demand in railway service, according to railway authorities.
“If we stopped selling standing tickets, a number of people would not be able to return home during the travel rush,” said a railway official on Wednesday.
In fact, even standing ticket is difficult to get during the peak of the holiday travel rush because it means the last hope to go back home for some people. “We won’t sell standing ticket unless the buyer is willing to buy it,” said the official.
“I don’t agree with half price for standing train ticket,” said Wang Mengshu, academician from Chinese Academy of Engineering during an interview with People’s Daily Online on Wednesday.
Railway staff members express Spring Festival greetings
Feedback
RSS
