User-friendly rail site needed

Tickets for many trains during the Spring Festival travel peak sold out within two minutes, frustrating those who failed to grab a ticket home. But the online booking system is improving, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

12306.cn, the online train booking website, has always come in for criticism. Users have long voiced their discontent at the long loading time, the glitches, the plug-ins that help users jump the online queue by take advantage of website bugs, and, most recently, the verification code.

But in fact the booking system is indeed making progress. Facing the threat of "ticket snatching" plug-ins, it changed the static verification code to a dynamic one to combat the plug-ins. However, this increased the difficulty of distinguishing the code. After listening to netizens' suggestions, this problem was solved. The changes to the verification code, which might seem merely a technical upgrade, in fact reflect a big change in attitude toward problem solving and responding to public concerns.

The railway department has undergone reform in the past year. For example, the reform in railway freight services means they now place more emphasis on meeting passengers' needs.

It is by responding to the concerns of users in this way that the site will gain their trust. And a little detail to enhance the experience of visitors to the website advance also improves social governance. Apart from the decision to increase investment on railway system during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) by 3.3 trillion yuan ($540 billion) from the previous 2.8 trillion, the Central Urbanization Work Conference held last month set speeding up the urbanization of the rural population as a strategic goal, which has put ticket purchasing and the Spring Festival travel peak during the Spring Festival in wider context.