At this time of year, the tide of the Spring Festival sets off a rush to return home, and this year's Spring Festival kicks off on January 26, allowing travelers eager to go home to buy train tickets for Chinese New Year's Eve.
However, the battle for tickets for this year's Spring Festival was extremely fierce at the beginning, with many popular homecoming routes selling out at the moment of train ticket sales, and Chinese New Year's Eve tickets were also in short supply on most lines.
China's railways said that during this year's Spring Festival, it is expected that the railway will send 4800 million passengers, with an average daily delivery volume of 12 million passengers, an increase of 37% compared with the Spring Festival in 20239%。
This data undoubtedly shows the huge demand for tickets purchased by passengers, and also reflects that the reality of difficulty in grabbing tickets has not been significantly improved.
Phenomenon analysis: the dilemma of ticket grabbing, the mystery of the ticket source of the third-party platform.
If you have money or not, go home for the New Year", this is a well-known tradition of the Chinese people. With the approach of the Spring Festival, large-scale population migration waves have emerged again, while the number of train tickets is limited, so the phenomenon of not grabbing tickets on the official ticketing platform of 12306 Railway is understandable to a certain extent.
However, some attentive netizens found that on third-party platforms such as Ctrip and Fliggy, train tickets still seem to be on sale. This phenomenon has led to doubts, and some people have even begun to question whether there is some behind-the-scenes operation, suspecting that the railway authorities are deliberately reducing the number of tickets released and privately allocating a large number of ticket sources to third-party platforms.
For the sake of the truth, on January 29, the reporter conducted field tests on the two platforms of 12306 and Ctrip. The results show that the K457 train from Zhengzhou to Haikou shows that there is no ticket on 12306, while Ctrip shows that there are still tickets for hard seats and hard sleepers, but it is necessary to note that "you do not need to get off the train during the whole journey, and you can make up the ticket to Haikou after 7 stations".
For this phenomenon, the second and first class seats of the G125 train from Tianjin to Shanghai show no tickets on 12306, but there are tickets on the Ctrip platform. The G3496 train from Zhengzhou to Shenyang, 12306 shows that it is sold out, and Ctrip shows that there is a ticket, and you need to note that the ticket is 10 stops.
Demystifying: the difference between technology and strategy, and the advantages of third-party platforms.
Why does a third-party platform appear to have a ticket? A staff member of the Zhengzhou Railway Bureau explained that 12306 is the only official ticketing platform, and the third-party platform has no priority, and after the 12306 is sold out, the third party will not be able to provide the real ticket source.
He pointed out that the sold-out shown on 12306 represents a full ticket from the start to the end point, and that third-party platforms may sell tickets at some less popular stops in the middle before making up for the passenger's ticket to the destination.
Authoritative sources further revealed that third-party platforms such as Ctrip, like individual ticket buyers, need to grab tickets on 12306. But because these platforms have more powerful servers and technology, they are able to obtain ticket information from the 12306 interface and display and sell it on their own platforms.
Platforms such as Ctrip use the 10-minute payment time rule to lock in a large number of ticket sources, thereby increasing the success rate of ticket grabbing.
Is there really a "shady scene" in 12306?
Although 12306 officially emphasizes the fair treatment of any ticket buyer, in practice, individual users are often technically unable to compete with third-party platforms. It's like in the race, the referee said to everyone that whoever crosses the finish line first will get the ticket, but 12306 is therefore burdened with the black pot of injustice.
However, we need to be clear about a few questions: First, is it necessary to restrict third-party platforms for the sake of fairness? If so, on what grounds? Secondly, what is wrong with Ctrip and other platforms that comply with national laws and regulations, obtain ticket sources through formal channels, optimize technical systems, and improve the success rate of ticket purchases?
Third-party platforms use the 12306 rule to strengthen the ticketing advantage of individual users, which is not against the rules, let alone illegal. We should not lightly question that there is a shady scene, but it may simply be that we do not understand the rules and the operating logic behind them.
There is nothing shady about 12306's ticketing system, but individuals are often at a disadvantage when it comes to competition with third-party platforms.
12306 needs to consider how to make it easier for more people to buy tickets, and for individual users, knowing more about and mastering 12306's ticketing rules will improve the chances of buying tickets, which is more practical and effective than simply complaining.