Desperate travelers turn to shady tech to get Lunar New Year train tickets
From software plug-ins to a mechanical finger, why Chinese travelers turn to hacks to book tickets
If you think the Christmas travel rush is annoying, well, traveling during the Lunar New Year in China is basically the apocalypse. People rush into trains in a mess of limbs and suitcases. Scalpers jump on the opportunity to rip off passengers. Train ticket lines extend to epic proportions, both offline and online.
One popular method is ticket-grabbing software. The third-party software, in the form of apps and plug-ins, allow users to constantly refresh the official website of China Railways, shortening the painful process of buying tickets – for a fee of course.
But China Railway is now clamping down on the practice. The state railway operator announced on Sunday that their system is implementing restrictions for the software – just in time for the Lunar New Year rush. Unsurprisingly, Chinese online commentators greeted the news with expletives.