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Train ticket buying tools fuel online debate
By Zhu Shenshen |
January 21, 2013, Monday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
IT sparked a heated debate after Chinese regulators asked Internet firms to withdraw their third-party train ticket buying tools, which allow users to act faster than others to book tickets online as hundreds of millions in China prepare to rush home for the Spring Festival.
The tools are affecting the operation of the official ticket-buying site www.12306.com developed and operated by the Ministry of railways, ministry officials said.
A surge of online bookers has caused the official website to crash several times and travelers need a bit of good luck to log on to the website.
The Spring Festival, which falls on February 9 this year, marks the world's biggest human migration as hordes of Chinese rush home for family reunions during the most important holiday of the year.
Since early this month, Internet firms including Qihoo 360, Kingsoft and Sougou all launched browser add-ons to help users purchase tickets through third-party tools that make using the 12306 website more convenient and user-friendly.
But the ministry asked them to shut down the plug-ins which added pressure to the already busy 12306 server and made it unfair for people who don't know how to use them. The decision fueled a heated debate on the Internet.
"If it is unfair, then everything is unfair. People can't buy air tickets through Qunar (a Chinese version of Expedia), learn English through software or drive with a navigation device," Kaifu Lee, Innovation Works founder and former Google China president, said on his Weibo microblog.
Lee has 26 million followers on Twitter-like Weibo and his post has been forwarded more than 20,000 times yesterday.
The ministry should improve its website and balance online and offline ticket resources to keep it fair, Lee added.
More than 1 million users have succeeded purchasing tickets with Qihoo 360's tool, which has a user-friendly interface and has been tested causing little pressure on the 12306 website because people would visit 12306 if not using these tools, according to Qihoo 360.
Despite the notice from the railway ministry, Internet firms continued providing these tools they claimed "100 percent legal."
Others, however, didn't like the tools.
"The 12306 represents a national rule and order. The tools just bring disorder," said Mi Wu Xuan Qing Liu on Weibo.
Meanwhile, most migrant workers who desperately need train tickets for home after a year of hard work don't know how to book tickets online. They just go to railway stations to try their luck, Shanghai Daily learned.
The railway ministry made no comments on the debate, but it posted ticket information every day on its website to tell people what tickets are available and what are in "limited supply."
The tools are affecting the operation of the official ticket-buying site www.12306.com developed and operated by the Ministry of railways, ministry officials said.
A surge of online bookers has caused the official website to crash several times and travelers need a bit of good luck to log on to the website.
The Spring Festival, which falls on February 9 this year, marks the world's biggest human migration as hordes of Chinese rush home for family reunions during the most important holiday of the year.
Since early this month, Internet firms including Qihoo 360, Kingsoft and Sougou all launched browser add-ons to help users purchase tickets through third-party tools that make using the 12306 website more convenient and user-friendly.
But the ministry asked them to shut down the plug-ins which added pressure to the already busy 12306 server and made it unfair for people who don't know how to use them. The decision fueled a heated debate on the Internet.
"If it is unfair, then everything is unfair. People can't buy air tickets through Qunar (a Chinese version of Expedia), learn English through software or drive with a navigation device," Kaifu Lee, Innovation Works founder and former Google China president, said on his Weibo microblog.
Lee has 26 million followers on Twitter-like Weibo and his post has been forwarded more than 20,000 times yesterday.
The ministry should improve its website and balance online and offline ticket resources to keep it fair, Lee added.
More than 1 million users have succeeded purchasing tickets with Qihoo 360's tool, which has a user-friendly interface and has been tested causing little pressure on the 12306 website because people would visit 12306 if not using these tools, according to Qihoo 360.
Despite the notice from the railway ministry, Internet firms continued providing these tools they claimed "100 percent legal."
Others, however, didn't like the tools.
"The 12306 represents a national rule and order. The tools just bring disorder," said Mi Wu Xuan Qing Liu on Weibo.
Meanwhile, most migrant workers who desperately need train tickets for home after a year of hard work don't know how to book tickets online. They just go to railway stations to try their luck, Shanghai Daily learned.
The railway ministry made no comments on the debate, but it posted ticket information every day on its website to tell people what tickets are available and what are in "limited supply."
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