Society
Scalpers laugh off the new train ticketing system
By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu, Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou, Peng Yining and Wang Shanshan in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-01 06:40
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So how are scalpers getting around the anti-scalping system?
"The new system makes things a little complicated but we have our ways," one huang niu explained to Yangcheng Evening News. "Initially, the tickets are under my name, but they are not printed with my name or ID card number. When people find me for tickets they give me their ID card information and their names are printed on the tickets instead."
Huang Xin, an official at the Guangzhou Railway Group, which operates 15,000 ticket hotlines and handles more then 1.5 million calls at peak times, dismissed concerns that scalpers were getting tickets through the "back door".
Each ticket contains information about who called and booked it, who bought it at the station booth, who sold it to them, when and where, he told Nanfang Daily, a Guangzhou-based newspaper.
"Scalpers can keep ringing the hotline and reserving tickets, then sell on the confirmation numbers, but we have introduced strong measures to monitor the ticket-selling process. Video cameras are installed in every booth," Huang was quoted as saying. "The scalpers are lying when they say they have connections inside our group. They just want their clients to believe them."
Dai Xinming, a member of the Shenzhen municipal committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory body, has been calling for an identity-tagged ticket system since 2003. If run correctly, he said the system should wipe out huang niu.
"India also has a spring rush but it has no scalpers. The reason is India has long installed an identity-tagged ticket system," he said. "If we increase the fee for ticket transfer, the cost of scalping will go up and scalpers will make less profit. This way we can get rid of scalpers."
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 Children enjoy snacks as they wait for their train to leave Harbin Railway Station on Saturday. The boys were returning to see family for Spring Festival. [Photo/Wang Jianwei] |
Scalpers should be eliminated because they block the urbanization process, he said. "Farmers travel to cities mainly by train and bus. For urbanization to continue, we need to lower the cost of labor flow and get rid of anything that may add to the cost, such as scalping."
But the new system is not a fix-all solution, said Yang Tao, a procurator in Jiangxi province, writing in the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post. "For those powerful scalpers with connections, the system will only increase the cost of scalping and decrease the profit. It is not going to eliminate scalping," he wrote.
Under the pilot system, scalpers will just work more closely with rail company insiders. They will find clients and collect ID card information, insiders will provide tickets or confirmation numbers, said Yang.
"Scalpers do not work as individuals, they work in groups. Only those scalpers without connections will line up at ticket booths and buy as many tickets as possible. The more powerful scalpers have insiders working with ticketing companies, as well as regular customers," he said. "The identity-tagged system will just cause a reshuffle. Those with the best connections will expand their business, lower ones will be edged out."
Train tickets can only be purchased in China at stations or through licensed agents within 10 days of the intended travel date, and transport experts warn that huang niu are not the only ones making it difficult for ordinary people to get tickets home at peak travel times.
"Government bodies and large State-owned enterprises can always get their share of railway tickets, even though the number of tickets for ordinary people is very limited," said a Beijing Railway Administration official who did not want to be identified.
Most long queues outside train stations across China comprise of migrant workers, while the most in-demand tickets are for journeys from Shanghai to Sichuan, a major source of the country's migrant workforce, according to Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News.
"The more disadvantaged some people are in society, the more difficult it is for them to get the precious tickets ahead of Spring Festival," said a manager for China Youth Tourism Service in Beijing who asked to remain anonymous. "When it comes to the competition for such rare resources, I'm afraid it comes down to the law of the jungle. It's every man for himself."
Zhang Ao in Chengdu, Gao Tao and Wang Yao in Guangzhou contributed to the story
(China Daily 02/01/2010 page5)
