Raising the prices of railway tickets during the Spring Festival transport peak is not expected to help avoid the rush, says an article in Beijing News. An excerpt follows:

　　The traditional annual mass movement during Spring Festival has started and, just as in the past, the prices of train tickets have been raised by the railway authorities.

　　The move is said to discourage passenger movement during the concentrated transport peak and ease the enormous pressure on the railway sector during the festival.

　　But it is doubtful whether this approach actually works.

　　It is well known that lower-income groups have long been sensitive to whether prices of tickets are raised or not.

　　Obviously a price hike will only affect the demand among lower-income groups and increase their spending.

　　The problem is that even if prices are raised, plans to return home for family reunions will not change.

　　Most of the lower-income population mainly farmers-turned-workers making money in cities far from home have a strong desire to return home and stay with their family during the festival.

　　For higher-earning groups the move is expected to work much less well. They can choose other transportation means, such as by air.

　　Also, if the price fluctuation is taken as a way to divert population movements during transport peaks, then prices should naturally be lowered in slacker seasons.

　　But in China only one railway station that in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province has discounted ticket prices.

　　For passengers, railway tickets have long been in short supply.

　　The long-standing irregular tickets circulation system is the main factor behind this phenomenon.

　　It is a common practice for ticket peddlers, through personal relations with railway personnel, to hoard tickets and then sell them to passengers on the black market at a much higher price.

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