Online booking doesn’t help migrant workers

Updated: 2012-01-05 11:00

By Sun Yuanqing (chinadaily.com.cn)

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Huang Qinghong, a migrant worker from Chongqing, complained in a letter to the Ministry of Railways that the newly launched online railway ticket booking system made it more difficult for him to get tickets, Wenzhou Metro reported.

The real-name online railway booking service was launched by the Ministry of Railways on Dec 21, at www.12306.com, in an effort to curb rampant ticket scalping and ease the burden of buying train tickets during Spring Festival.

But for migrant workers not familiar with the Internet, let alone the procedures for online purchasing, booking online has only made it harder to get tickets.

As the online booking system opens two days before the physical ticket agents, tickets left after online purchases are very limited.

"Online booking is too complicated for us. We have no idea how to do it. Queuing for tickets during Spring Festival used to be torture for us, but now we don't even have the chance to join the torture," Huang wrote in his letter.