BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Many Chinese believe buying a train ticket for the upcoming Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is easier than last year, according to a survey released by China Youth Daily on Thursday.
Each year, the Spring Festival travel period, known as the Chunyun,represents the world's largest migration, as Chinese families gather for the country's most important holiday.
Of the 1,986 interviewees, 71.6 percent bought train tickets via the official train ticket booking website 12306.cn or its mobile app, and 53.4 percent said it was easier to buy a ticket than last year.
"Changes have been made to website and mobile app to streamline the process of buying a ticket. The verification process was easier and buyers can choose their seat online," interviewee Zhang Miao said.
As well as online seat selection, the website also now offer exchanging credits for tickets.
"But for some people, it is still difficult to get a ticket," Zhang said.
Nearly 60 percent of the people surveyed noted that scalpers are still rampant. Some 46.2 percent said the fee for canceling a ticket is expensive, and 24.6 percent said buying a ticket by phone is troublesome and time-consuming.
The Spring Festival falls on Feb. 16 this year. About 2.98 billion trips are expected to be made between Feb. 1 and Mar. 12, the National Development and Reform Commission said.
The number of road trips is projected to reach 2.48 billion, a 1.6-percent decrease from last year, while train trips are likely to top 389 million during the period, up 8.8 percent year on year, the commission said.
