New ticket system won't solve the real problem

• Source: Global Times
• [01:43 January 11 2010]
• Comments

By Chen Chenchen

As the Lunar New Year approaches, the daily greeting in China now starts like this: "Have you bought your ticket home?" "No! The huangniu (ticket scalper) I contacted said he needs a few more days." For many who work and live far from home in China, the Spring Festival means returning home, which entails getting a train ticket through huangniu.

This year, there's a bit of good news. Guangzhou Railway Group and Chengdu Railway Bureau will run a pilot real-name train ticket system at nine stations in southern China. Passengers have to show a valid identification card for buying tickets. The names and ID numbers will be printed on the ticket, and both have to be presented for the journey.

Doubtless, this will affect some of the huangniu who queue up for tickets. Normally, each huangniu can buy up to five tickets at a time, and a huangniu group quickly corners a chunk of tickets that are sold at a premium. Now, if ID information is required huangniu will be hit badly.

Unfortunately, these are the lowest level of huangniu. The ones at the top of the pyramid are in cahoots with railway employees, ticket agencies, other huangniu colleagues and even gangsters. They get tickets hours before these are officially released. The tickets are then sold to lower-level huangniu or acquaintance buyers, and margin keeps rising. The collusion between huangniu and ticketing staff has worsened the situation.