● Beijing citizen Mr. Liu’s hometown is in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. In recent years, he took the high-speed rail home for the New Year during the Spring Festival.
The price difference for second-class seats is more than 200 yuan
● The Passenger Transport Department of China Railway Group responded that the railway department formulated a differentiated ticketing organization strategy in accordance with the division of labor for long- and short-distance passenger trains and the number of trains in accordance with the principle of giving full play to the efficiency of transport capacity resources and taking into account the needs of long-distance passenger flow in accordance with historical passenger flow laws.
● Some experts believe that the implementation of the restricted sale of train tickets by railway enterprises is a normal operation mechanism design, and the main consideration is the passenger flow of the station and the operating needs of the railway enterprises.
If too many tickets are allocated at the stop, it will be difficult to sell the tickets from the stop to the terminal, which will cause losses to the railway enterprise.
● Some experts believe that the railway companies are designing processes with the goal of maximizing economic benefits without taking into account the maximization of consumers' interests, which infringes on the passengers' right to choose and fair transaction rights.
At the same time, because the railway company did not clearly inform the passengers of the reason, it violated the passengers’ right to know
● Some experts suggest that railway companies should respect consumers’ right to choose, fair transaction, and information in accordance with the law, consider consumers’ reasonable demands, fully open long-distance, medium-distance, and short-distance tickets, and implement ticket sales policies more fully and in detail. Information disclosure obligations, allowing consumers to clearly buy tickets and rides
□ Our reporter Chen Lei and Zhou Bin
□ Our newspaper trainee reporter Sun Tianjiao
Beijing citizen Mr. Liu’s hometown is in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. In recent years, he went home for the Spring Festival. He bought a full “Beijing-Shanghai” ticket when buying high-speed rail tickets, and then got off at Xuzhou East Station halfway.
Take the G105 train from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao on August 19 as an example. The second-class ticket for the whole journey is 553 yuan, and the halfway to Xuzhou East is 309 yuan, with a difference of 244 yuan.
Why does Mr. Liu stay close and seek further distance?
"Because I can't buy a high-speed rail ticket to Xuzhou East. Before the Spring Festival, no matter how many days in advance I grab the ticket, I always get no tickets to Xuzhou East Station. I often have to extend the ticket range to Shanghai to show that I have tickets. "Mr. Liu said helplessly, "Why can I only buy full tickets when I go home on holidays?"
It's not just Mr. Liu who has this doubt.
A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" recently discovered that many passengers have similar ticket purchase experiences: for the same train, tickets are shown to the terminal station when they buy tickets, but some stops on the way show no tickets.
In response, the Passenger Transport Department of China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. responded that the railway department, based on historical passenger outflow rules, takes the principle of giving full play to the efficiency of transport resources and taking into account the needs of long- and short-distance passenger flows. Differentiated ticketing organization strategy.
During the interview, some experts believe that although railway companies have undertaken public welfare transportation tasks stipulated by the state, they are also market players. They need to consider economic benefits when selling tickets. The main consideration for the limited sales of interval tickets is the passenger flow of the station and the railway. The business need of an enterprise is the design of a normal operating mechanism.
Some experts also pointed out that the railway companies designed the process with the goal of maximizing economic benefits without taking into account the maximization of the interests of consumers, which in fact violated the right of choice and fair transaction rights of passengers as consumers.
Many passengers encountered similar situations
China Railway Group explains the reason behind
Mr. Liu, who is in his 30s, works in an institution in Beijing.
He recalled that it was "a painful thing" to go home to buy high-speed rail tickets during the Spring Festival. It was impossible to buy tickets if the time was set in advance to grab tickets and use ticket grabbing software to grab tickets.
One year before the Spring Festival, he discovered that there were multiple "Beijing-Shanghai" trains on the same day. The first and second-class seats of the high-speed rail from Beijing south to Xuzhou east showed no tickets, and then there were no tickets to the intermediate stations of Shanghai Hongqiao until the end. Station Shanghai Hongqiao Station, multiple trains show tickets.
"Although it cost a lot of money to buy the terminal, I have no other better choice." Mr. Liu said.
Since then, when he took the high-speed rail back to Xuzhou, he followed the above-mentioned method many times.
Mr. Liu said: “Since you can buy a full-trip ticket, you can theoretically buy a section ticket. Why can’t I buy a section ticket for the same high-speed rail trip but can buy a full-trip ticket?”
Jin Zhi, a native of Anhui, has worked in Beijing for many years with her husband. Her hometown is relatively close to Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. She often takes a train to Nanjing during the Spring Festival, and then drives to Nanjing by relatives to pick them up.
During the Spring Festival this year, she and her husband chose to go home on January 29 (the seventeenth of the twelfth lunar month), but the official railway ticket sales website kept showing that there were no tickets from Beijing to Nanjing.
Later, when they chose Shanghai as their final destination, two trains showed tickets.
In desperation, they had to buy two train tickets for Shanghai.
The reporter inquired about the D709 train that Jinzhi often took. On August 21, the fare for the second-class seat from Beijing to Nanjing was 214 yuan, and to Shanghai it was 269 yuan, with a difference of 55 yuan.
A similar situation does not just happen on the Beijing-Shanghai line.
Ms. Zhang, who works in an intermediary agency in Beijing, takes a train back to her hometown in Lingwu City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, to visit her parents every year, but she chooses Yinchuan Station when she buys a train ticket.
"No way, for the same train, I get a ticket when I buy it in Yinchuan, but I don't have a ticket when I get to Lingwu." To this question.
Before 2011, there was no direct train from Beijing to Lingwu. Ms. Zhang always traveled from Beijing to Yinchuan first, and then took a bus from Yinchuan home.
With the development of my country's railway industry, in 2011, Lingwu City had a railway station, and the trains between Yinchuan and Beijing were running on a new line with a stop in Lingwu.
After 2014, Yinchuan and Beijing realized that the two places were in the evening, and Ms. Zhang's journey home was no longer long.
"I stopped in Lingwu, but I couldn't buy the tickets. No matter how many days in advance I went to the agency to buy the tickets or grab the tickets on the railway ticketing official website, I couldn't buy them." Ms. Zhang said, in desperation, she could only buy tickets. For tickets to Yinchuan, get off at Lingwu Station.
At 10 o'clock on August 2nd, the reporter logged on the official railway ticket sales website. According to Ms. Zhang, choosing the train on August 6th (Friday) to find out that the train departs from Beijing West Railway Station. If you buy a ticket to Lingwu, the hard seat is displayed. There are no tickets for the hard, soft, and advanced soft sleepers, but if you buy a ticket to the terminal Yinchuan, the hard seat, hard sleeper, and soft sleeper will all show that there are tickets, and there are 2 tickets for the advanced soft sleeper.
Other passengers posted related doubts online.
On December 3, 2020, the "Leadership Message Board" column of People's Daily Online had a message from passengers, "If you buy a half-way station, you can only buy a ticket from the beginning to the end of the journey."
The message stated that I work in Beijing and my home is in Panjin City, Liaoning Province. I can only buy full-price tickets from Beijing to Dalian and Beijing to Shenyang to the destination every time I go home before a holiday. I have never successfully bought a regular ticket from Beijing to Panjin. Price ticket.
The reporter contacted China Railway Group in this regard, and received a reply on August 13.
According to the Passenger Transport Department of the National Railway Group, the railway department formulates a differentiated ticketing organization strategy based on historical passenger flow laws and the principle of giving full play to the efficiency of transport resources and coordinating the needs of long and short distance passenger flow.
After entering the pre-sale period, it will monitor and analyze the pre-sale of train tickets and standby ticket purchases, and dynamically adjust the ticketing strategy according to changes in supply and demand.
In the event that short-distance train tickets are sold out and long-distance tickets are relatively sufficient, the railway department will release part of the long-distance tickets in stages to meet short-distance demand and maximize the use of fares.
Railway companies consider operating needs
Multiple rights of passengers may be violated
How to treat this phenomenon?
The reporter interviewed many industry experts for this.
Wu Jingming, an associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law and director of the China Consumers Association, believes that railway companies' implementation of restricted sale of train tickets between intervals is a normal operation mechanism design.
In Wu Jingming's view, the main consideration for the restricted sale of railway inter-regional tickets is the passenger flow of the station and the operational needs of railway enterprises.
From the perspective of passenger flow at the station, the terminal of a train is generally a large station, and the passenger flow is concentrated. Therefore, when the number of tickets is allocated, it is necessary to "prioritize long-distance passenger travel".
Correspondingly, the number of tickets allocated to stops will be reduced.
From the perspective of the operating needs of railway enterprises, railway enterprises are mainly engaged in railway passenger and freight transportation. Although they have undertaken public welfare transportation tasks stipulated by the state, they are also market players. They need to consider economic benefits when selling tickets. If they stop at the station Too many tickets are allocated, which will make it difficult to sell tickets from the stop to the terminal and cause losses to the railway enterprises.
"This ticketing strategy of railway companies has made it difficult for some passengers to purchase tickets for the same train at a stop. If these passengers buy a full ticket and then get off at the stop, part of their excess fare will be converted into the railway company's money. Income, but it is a loss for the passengers." Liu Junhai, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School and director of the Institute of Commercial Law, pointed out.
In Liu Junhai's view, the railway company designed the process with the goal of maximizing economic benefits without taking into account the maximization of consumers' interests. In fact, it violated the right of choice and fair transaction rights of passengers as consumers.
At the same time, because the railway company did not clearly inform the passengers of the reason, it violated the passengers' right to know.
Liu Junhai believes that China Railway Group is a wholly state-owned company that undertakes public welfare transportation tasks prescribed by the state. While improving economic efficiency and ensuring the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets, it should also assume social responsibilities to the public and cannot be driven by the pursuit of maximum benefits. The goal of infringing on the rights of some passengers with unreasonable process design.
Gao Yandong, a researcher at the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Public Policy, believes that such behavior by railway companies is a civil and commercial violation of the Contract Law and Consumer Rights Protection Law.
First, it should be clarified that the railway enterprise is the main body of civil and commercial affairs that provides transportation services; secondly, based on the unequal rights and obligations created by its superior position in the process of contracting, the contract between the two parties is obviously unfair and should be subject to the contract. Law adjustments; again, the behavior of railway enterprises is that they use unfair advantage to go against the wishes of consumers, restricting consumers to only purchase their designated goods, that is, full tickets, rather than making choices based on their own needs.
Therefore, this behavior not only violated the consumer's right to choose, but also violated the consumer's right to fair transaction, and should bear the corresponding civil liability.
It is recommended that iron enterprises adjust the ticketing mechanism
Fulfill full and detailed obligations
If there is infringement, how can the legitimate rights and interests of passengers be protected?
Gao Yandong analyzed that the practice of railway companies opening full tickets and closing some section tickets may be to maximize the interests of the enterprises themselves, to prevent the waste of some section ticket resources caused by consumers buying section tickets in sections, and also to prevent "short buying." The phenomenon of “long ride” is to prevent some passengers from evading fares by buying interval tickets.
However, this practice violated the legitimate rights and interests of ordinary passengers.
"From the perspective of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, consumers are the weak, and special protection for the weak is the country's legislative concept. However, railway enterprises are in a dominant position in the market, and their behavior deprives consumers of their right to choose and fair transactions. The right is an act that should be governed by consumer rights protection laws and regulations.” Gao Yandong said.
Gao Yandong pointed out that in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of my country, “carriers engaged in public transportation shall not refuse the usual and reasonable transportation requirements of passengers and shippers”.
Railway enterprises and passengers are civil and commercial subjects with equal legal status. They must not use their strong positions to abuse their rights in the process of contracting to harm the interests of the counterparty. Railway enterprises ignore the rights of passengers, resulting in unequal rights and obligations, and should be adjusted.
And because the railway enterprise is the carrier of public transportation services in the transportation contract relationship, based on the compulsory contracting obligation of the railway company, it has the obligation to promise the offer sent to it by the passengers, and it shall not refuse the offer unless there are legitimate reasons.
In other words, for the passenger's offer, the railway company must not violate the promise unless there is a legitimate reason.
"If a passenger finds that he cannot buy a section ticket on the online platform but can only purchase a full ticket, he can make a purchase request to the manual platform, and the railway company should not and has no right to refuse the passenger's legitimate and reasonable request to buy the section ticket. If the railway company Because of the fault that caused the loss of passengers, they should bear the responsibility for negligence in signing the contract." Gao Yandong said.
Wu Jingming believes that the solution lies in the fact that railway companies actively publicize ticket sales restriction information to passengers through official channels to make the section restriction policy transparent and rational, answer questions to passengers in a timely manner, and inform passengers of the reason why there is no ticket at the stop. Guide passengers to choose a reasonable travel mode.
Liu Junhai’s suggestion is that railway enterprises should respect consumers’ right to choose, fair transaction, and information in accordance with the law, consider consumers’ reasonable demands, fully open long-distance, medium- and short-distance tickets, and implement the ticket sales policy more fully and in detail. The obligation of information disclosure allows consumers to buy tickets and ride cars clearly.