A college girl was deducted 3 yuan for entering and exiting the same station in Shanghai's Xujiahui subway station. The student, along with other students, formed a student team to sue the subway company in court. Eventually, the Shanghai Metro introduced a new rule that allows free entry and exit at the same station for a short period of time. Yesterday, Luo Yujie, a girl who sued the subway company, told a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that she was not sure if she would be able to change the status quo in the future at the time of the lawsuit, but she thought it was something she needed to try.
The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice recently introduced that under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, sponsored by East China University of Political Science and Law and the Shanghai Bar Association, the final of the 9th "Xiaocheng Cup" Public Welfare Star Creative Litigation Competition ended recently.
According to the Shanghai High People's Court, Shanghai Metro has issued a new regulation that passengers who temporarily need to enter and exit the same station in a short period of time can go to the station service center for manual processing within 10 minutes. The implementation of this system has greatly facilitated passengers who enter and exit the subway station for a short time due to some special circumstances and have not actually taken the subway. The introduction of this new regulation is related to a ticketing dispute case accepted by the Shanghai Railway Transport Court.
It is reported that in December 2022, after taking the subway to scan the code and walk out of the turnstile, Luo Yujie found that the subway entrance was far away from her destination, so she re-scanned the code to enter the subway, and walked through the station to the exit closer to the destination to "borrow the road". Although she did not take the bus, Luo Yujie found that her account was automatically deducted 12 yuan for the ride.
Luo Yujie believed that such a toll standard harmed her own rights and interests, and sued Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Metro Company") to the Shanghai Railway Court, requesting the court to make a judgment to confirm the invalidity of the standard clause of "Shanghai Rail Transit 0 km fare is 3 yuan" formulated by the Metro Company, and to order the Metro Company to return the fare of 3 yuan.
"First, I didn't enjoy the passenger service provided by the subway company. Second, the MTRC has not clearly stipulated the charging rules for entering and exiting the same station or provided reminders. Luo Yujie explained her appeal to the presiding judge Zhou Qi. She also pointed out that the subway company's default charging rule of "Shanghai rail transit 0 km fare is 3 yuan" is unreasonable, and does not fulfill the obligation of prompting and explaining, and the rule should be an invalid standard clause.
After the work of the judges and other aspects, the subway company formulated the aforementioned new regulations, and the agent of the subway company also explained to Xiao Luo in person the measures to solve the ticketing problem involved in the case, and said that in the future work, it will strengthen the publicity and implementation of the system. At the same time, Zhou Qi also explained to Luo Yujie in detail the legal norms and rules involved in this case. After learning of the new rules, Luo Yujie withdrew the prosecution.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that Luo Yujie was the leader of the "Pry Up Metro" team that won the first prize in the finals of the "Small Town Cup" Public Welfare Star Creative Litigation Competition, and was a junior at the School of Economics and Law of East China University of Political Science and Law. Han Lingling, the team's participating lawyer, recalled to a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that she met Luo Yujie through the arrangement of the organizing committee of the competition in April this year, and was mainly responsible for guiding the team to complete a series of litigation processes, including the preparation of preliminary litigation materials, such as determining the subject of the lawsuit, clarifying the litigation claims, collecting and sorting out evidence, etc., as well as communicating with the judge and the lawyer of the Shentong Metro before and during the trial, and adjusting the litigation strategy and other specific content, so as to finally achieve a satisfactory result for all parties through litigation.
Han Lingling said that in her opinion, the 3 yuan ticket does not seem like much, but Luo Yujie's team "uses the professional knowledge they have learned to defend their rights and interests with perseverance, which is a great thing." It's really great that these students are able to put in place a new rule for the subway company to put in place and protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens."
dialogue
3 yuan is not much, but to protect your rights and interests to the end
I didn't expect to be deducted if I didn't take the subway
Beiqing Daily: How did you find out that the subway has to be deducted when entering and exiting the same station?
Luo Yujie: At the beginning of December 2022, I took Shanghai Metro Line 12 to a shopping mall, and after getting off at the Xujiahui subway station, I took the wrong exit due to the large size of the station.
I asked the staff at the subway station, and they said that I would have to take a detour outside, or take another exit after entering the subway station. But the other party didn't tell me about deducting fees for entering and exiting the same station. After I entered and exited the station, I did not receive the deduction information for the first time, but after leaving the station for a period of time, I received a text message that I was automatically deducted 3 yuan.
Beiqing Daily: How did you come up with the idea of defending your legitimate rights and interests through litigation?
Luo Yujie: There is no subway in my hometown, and I didn't have much experience taking the subway before I came to Shanghai to study. So when I accidentally entered and exited the same subway station at such a big station as Xujiahui, I didn't expect that I would be deducted if I didn't take the subway. At that time, I felt a little confused, just a few days later, I saw the news of the 9th "Xiaocheng Cup" Public Welfare Star Creative Litigation Competition, I thought I could defend my rights on this matter, and see if I could get the subway company to adjust the rules for entering and exiting the same station.
The advocacy team is all undergraduates
Beijing Youth Daily: Can you introduce your team members?
Luo Yujie: Five members of our team are all 5 undergraduates, four from East China University of Political Science and Law and one from Fudan University. I am mainly responsible for team coordination, preliminary research, litigation practice, etc.; Li Qiushi is responsible for preliminary research, administrative appeals, and post-research; Huang Zheng is mainly responsible for the search of similar cases and the writing of indictments. Qin Shuyi is responsible for administrative appeals, information disclosure, post-research, etc.; Zhu Xinyi, a student from Fudan University Law School, was responsible for preliminary research, information disclosure, and field visits.
Beijing Youth Daily: After you have an idea, what ways do you protect your rights and interests?
Luo Yujie: My teammates and I sent a letter through Shanghai's citizen service platform and consumer rights protection platform, and then the staff at the subway station replied to us that adjustments would be made. In June this year, when we were writing the indictment, we saw that some media said that how to charge for entering and exiting the same station of the Shanghai Metro, and netizens had different opinions. Later, we checked with various parties and did not find any express provisions for the relevant fee adjustment, so we decided to continue to follow up and sue.
Being a plaintiff for the first time has helped Xi students
Beiqing Daily: What materials did you collect in order to prosecute?
Luo Yujie: We have applied for information disclosure from various departments, and it took us a day or two to design a questionnaire listing a number of questions related to the entry and exit of the same subway station, and sending them to relatives and friends to understand the situation. Most of the questionnaires came from Shanghai, but there were quite a few other cities. We also went to Xujiahui Station, People's Square and other large subway stations to conduct investigations. Unfortunately, there are not many people who have been in and out of the same station, so the situation of the questionnaire collection is not ideal.
Beijing Youth Daily: How did you sue you?
Luo Yujie: Actually, when we filed the lawsuit, we weren't sure if we could really change the status quo in the future, but we felt that we should try. My parents have always been very supportive and encouraged me to try bravely. Although 3 yuan is not much, I feel that I have to protect my rights and interests, and I must persevere to the end, and it is a kind of testimony to go wherever I go.
On January 1 this year, our team submitted an application for the preliminary round, which can be regarded as the official start of the preparation for the "Shanghai Metro 'same station entry' toll dispute case in a short period of time". After that, in June, we completed the investigation and other preparations, and in June we wrote the indictment. In July this year, the court said that our lawsuit was successfully filed, and then we had several communications with the subway company under the court's arrangement.
Beijing Youth Daily: Is this the first time you have personally contacted the court and prosecuted? What are the differences between your usual law studies and your usual Xi?
Luo Yujie: I have been Xi in court, but this is the first time I have filed a lawsuit as a plaintiff. I am still an undergraduate, and I am still learning the framework of legal theory in Xi school, and the cases taught by the teachers are relatively more typical. In contrast, some of the details of the case involved this time will be more complicated, and this prosecution has brought me a lot of help in my Xi.
After agreeing to the new provisions, the mediation successfully withdrew the lawsuit
Beijing Youth Daily: How did you succeed in mediation?
Luo Yujie: The subway communicated with us many times about each other's thoughts and demands, and later met with us under the arrangement of the court. Their lawyer explained to us the new rules on entering and exiting the same station, and we agreed to the new rules, and finally the mediation was successful, and we withdrew the lawsuit.
Beiqing Daily: After the mediation was successful, did you try to enter and exit at the same station again?
Luo Yujie: In mid-November this year, we went to the subway to try it out, and everything went very smoothly. After leaving the station, we went to the service desk and told the staff about the situation, and the other party asked us to register in a notebook. The deduction information received later is shown as 11 yuan.
Beijing Youth Daily: How do you feel about your actions that won the first prize of the "Small Town Cup" Public Welfare Star Creative Litigation Competition?
Luo Yujie: We feel very honored that more than 260 teams participated in the preliminary round, and in the end we were able to win the first prize, which was completely unexpected. I am very grateful to everyone who has helped us, such as the judge in charge of the case and lawyer Han Lingling, and we also hope that in the future, the subway company can further develop the relevant technology in terms of access to the same station, and there is no need for manual registration, only according to the time interval of entering and exiting the subway station turnstile to automatically identify the refund, which will be more convenient.
This group of articles/reporter of this newspaper Qu Chang and Xi student Miao Xunning
(Beijing Youth Daily)