Society

Two detained for scalping real-name train tickets

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-27 16:13

GUANGZHOU: Railway police from south China's Guangdong Province have detained two people for scalping real-name train tickets, the first such arrests since the launch of a scheme to sell tickets based on proven IDs, Yao Mai, director of Guangzhou Railway Police said Wednesday.

The pilot scheme began in south China on January 21 to prevent ticket hoarding by scalpers during the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year travel peak.

Guangzhou railway police have been closely monitoring any scalping activities since the scheme began, and received reports that an illegal ticket agency was reselling tickets at up to 200 yuan profit each, said Yao.

Police arrived at the agency on Sunday in Zhongshan City of Guangdong Province and seized 35 tickets with a total face value of 5,700 yuan(US$834), 47 IDs, and about 10 books of ticket-selling documents.

The illegal ticket-selling agency was closed Sunday by police a week after it started scalping, said Yao.

The real-name system was initially adopted on trains between Guangdong, home to millions of migrants workers seeking to return home for the Spring Festival holiday, and inland provinces of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou and Chongqing Municipality.

The Ministry of Railways estimated it would carry 210 million passengers, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier, in the 40-day festival rush period from January 30. This year's Lunar New Year falls on February 14.

The supply of railway tickets in China often fails to meet demand. Every year during the Spring Festival exodus, many people cannot obtain tickets from authorized outlets and are forced to buy from scalpers.

Police have warned travelers not to give IDs and ask scalpers to buy tickets for them, because there are risks of losing both IDs and money.