In Ukraine, on the eve of the Christmas holidays, tickets to popular railway routes are sold out in a matter of seconds due to extremely high demand and the operation of automatic redemption services.. Ukrzaliznytsia stated that they are considering strengthening verification and additional trains after the launch of a new schedule on December 14. People are sure that most tickets are bought by automated bots. One of these stories gained publicity after an emotional message on social networks. The woman said that at 08:00 in the morning, at the time ticket sales opened for December 23, she logged into the system and refreshed the page. She saw 28 empty seats on train No. 007K on the route Kyiv - Ivano-Frankivsk. The user did not enter the data manually, but used the saved passenger profiles, but within seconds she received a message that all tickets had been purchased.
Passengers openly talk about a systemic problem - the massive work of bots that buy tickets by the whole carload, after which travel vouchers appear in travel agencies, and ordinary people are forced to hitch a ride to their relatives or look for alternative routes with transfers. The problem is especially acute in winter tourist destinations towards Western Ukraine, in particular Ivano-Frankivsk, Yaremche, Vorokhta, Rakhiv, leading to the resorts of Bukovel.
In response to passenger outrage, the company officially explained that on the most popular routes, tickets can actually disappear in a matter of seconds due to extremely high demand.. Some passengers actively use the auto-redemption functions and notifications about available seats, which significantly speeds up the purchase process.
About the introduction of verification through Diyu, the company reported that such a possibility is now being studied. At the same time, they noted that implementation requires complex technical and legal improvements, because not all passengers use smartphones or have access to applications.
Separately, Ukrzaliznytsia noted that the system currently does not yet have a complete list of trains. A new timetable comes into force on December 14th, so additional trains and seats will gradually appear on the app and website this week.
Passengers were advised to regularly check the availability of tickets, as new seats may open in waves. The company also thanked you for your patience and assured that they are working to improve the purchasing process..