Ticketing and Reservation System

 Ticketing and Reservation System TRS, is software used for rail ticketing in China Railways. It was developed by the China Academy of Railway Sciences. The first release was in 1996. As of December 2009, the version in use was version 5.2. It was named SMART before excluding version 4.0. It runs on Microsoft Windows.

The TRS client is designed to be operated entirely using the keyboard for maximum efficiency.

Features

The TRS client can perform many operations related to the sale of China Railway tickets, including but not limited to:

Selling tickets by cash, by electronic payment methods such as Weixin Pay, Alipay and debit cards, or by points collected in the China Railway Loyalty Programme. After selecting the desired tickets, the cashier can enter the amount of cash given into the text box at the bottom of the screen or press Ctrl+4 to bring up the electronic payment screen to complete payment.

Changing tickets Chinese: ; pinyin: gǎi qiān.

Searching for available tickets and connecting trips.

Printing a Trip Information Reminders Chinese:  pinyin: Xíngchéng xìnxī tíshì slip for a trip.

Printing tickets/reimbursement slips for tickets purchased online. An order number may need to be provided, which is 10 characters long and starts with the letter E. Reimbursement slips cannot be printed for tickets bought using points. This function is referred to as contract ticket Chinese: ; pinyin: Hétóng zhì piào in the TRS client.

Printing reimbursement slips for change or cancel fees.

Tour operator

 A tour operator is a business that typically combines and organizes accommodations, meals, sightseeing and transportation components,[1] in order to create a package tour. They advertise and produce brochures to promote their products, holidays and itineraries. Tour operators can sell directly to the public or sell through travel agents or a combination of both.

The most common example of a tour operator's product would be a flight on a charter airline, plus a transfer from the airport to a hotel and the services of a local representative, all for one price. Each tour operator may specialise in certain destinations, e.g. Italy, activities and experiences, e.g. skiing, or a combination thereof.

Operations

The original raison d'être of tour operating was the difficulty for ordinary folk of making arrangements in far-flung places, with problems of language, currency and communication. The advent of the Internet has led to a rapid increase in self-packaging of holidays. However, tour operators still have their competence in arranging tours for those who do not have time to do DIY holidays, and specialize in large group events and meetings such as conferences or seminars. Also, tour operators still exercise contracting power with suppliers airlines, hotels, other land arrangements, cruise companies and so on and influence over other entities (tourism boards and other government authorities in order to create packages and special group departures for destinations that might otherwise be difficult and expensive to visit.

Trade associations

The three major tour operator associations in the U.S. are the National Tour Association NTA, the United States Tour Operators Association USTOA, and the American Bus Association ABA. In Europe, there are the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA), and in the UK, the ABTA – The Travel Association and the Association of Independent Tour Operators AITO. The primary association for receptive North American inbound tour operators is the International Inbound Travel Association.

Car rental

 A car rental, hire car or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time to the public, generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It is often organized with numerous local branches which allow a user to return a vehicle to a different location, and primarily located near airports or busy city areas and often complemented by a website allowing online reservations.

Car rental agencies primarily serve people who require a temporary vehicle, for example, those who do not own their own car, travelers who are out of town, or owners of damaged or destroyed vehicles who are awaiting repair or insurance compensation. Car rental agencies may also serve the self-moving industry needs, by renting vans or trucks, and in certain markets, other types of vehicles such as motorcycles or scooters may also be offered.

Alongside the basic rental of a vehicle, car rental agencies typically also offer extra products such as insurance, global positioning system GPS navigation systems, entertainment systems, mobile phones, portable WiFi and child safety seats.

History

The earliest known example of cars being offered for rent dates back to 1906. The German company Sixt was established in 1912 under the name Sixt Autofahrten und Selbstfahrer Sixt Car Cruises and Self Drivers.

Joe Saunders of Omaha, Nebraska first started with only one borrowed Model T Ford in 1916, but by 1917, his Ford Livery Company was renting out 18 Model Ts at 10 cents per mile. The company name became Saunders Drive-It-Yourself System and then Saunders System. By 1926, Saunders had expanded to 56 cities. Saunders' company was bought by Avis in 1955.

An early competitor to Saunders was Walter L. Jacobs, whose Chicago-based Rent-a-Car opened in 1918 with twelve Ford Model T's. The company was bought in 1923 by John Hertz.

In Britain, car rental started with Godfrey Davis, established in 1920, and bought by Europcar in 1981.

The sector expanded rapidly in the US; in 1926, the American Driveurself Association assembled over 1200 delegates in Chicago.

The growth in travel after World War II led to the establishment of several well known international companies, including National Car Rental 1947, Europcar 1949, Enterprise Rent-A-Car 1957, Thrifty Rent A Car 1958, and Budget Rent a Car 1958.

Indian Railways

 Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a deparmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system.[a] As of 2024, it manages the fourth largest national railway system by size with a track length of 135,207 km (84,014 mi), running track length of 109,748 km 68,194 mi and route length of 69,181 km 42,987 mi. As of August 2024, 96.59% of the broad-gauge network is electrified. With more than 1.2 million employees, it is the world's ninth-largest employer and India's second largest employer.

In 1951, the Indian Railways was established by the amalgamation of 42 different railway companies operating in the country, spanning a total of 55,000 km 34,000 mi. The railway network across the country was reorganized into six regional zones in 1951–52 for administrative purposes, which was gradually expanded to 18 zones over the years.

The first steam operated railway operated in 1837 in Madras with the first passenger operating in 1853 between Bombay and Thane. In 1925, the first electric train ran in Bombay on DC traction. The first locomotive manufacturing unit was commissioned in 1950 at Chittaranjan with the first coach manufacturing unit set-up at Madras in 1955.

Indian Railways runs various classes of express, passengers and suburban trains. In 2023–4, it operated 13,198 trains on average daily covering 7,325 stations and carried 6.905 billion passengers. Indian Railways also operates different classes of rail freight transport. In 2023–4, it operated 11,724 freight trains on average daily and transported 1588.06 million tonnes of freight. Indian Railways operates multiple classes of rolling stock, manufactured by self-owned coach-production facilities. As of 31 March 2024, Indian Railways' rolling stock consisted of 327,991 freight wagons, 91,948 passenger coaches including multiple unit coaches and 10,675 electric, 4,397 diesel and 38 steam locomotives.

History

Main article: Rail transport in India & History

1832–1899

In 1832 the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made. In 1835, a railway track was constructed between Red Hills and Chintadripet in Madras and became operational in 1837. It was hauled by a rotary steam engine imported from England and was used for ferrying granite.

Cruise ship

 Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on tours known as shore excursions.

Modern cruise ships tend to have less hull strength, speed, and agility compared to ocean liners. However, they have added amenities to cater to water tourists, with recent vessels being described as balcony-laden floating condominiums.

As of November 2022 there were 302 cruise ships operating worldwide, with a combined capacity of 664,602 passengers. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with an estimated market of 29.4 billion per year, and over 19 million passengers carried worldwide annually as of 2011. The industry's rapid growth saw nine or more newly built ships catering to a North American clientele added every year since 2001, as well as others servicing European clientele until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 saw the entire industry all but shut down. The average age of a cruise ship in 2024 is 17.5 years. The construction market for cruise ships is dominated by three European companies and one Asian company.

Operators of cruise ships are known as cruise lines. Cruise ships are organized much like floating hotels, with a complete hospitality staff in addition to the usual ship's crew. Traditionally, the ships' restaurants organize two dinner services per day, early dining and late dining, and passengers are allocated a set dining time for the entire cruise; a recent trend is to allow diners to dine whenever they want. Besides the dining room, modern cruise ships often contain one or more casual buffet-style eateries. Most cruise ships sail the Caribbean or the Mediterranean. Others operate elsewhere in places like Alaska, the South Pacific, and the Baltic Sea.

A 2019 study found that the levels of emitted particulate matter recorded on board pose a potential health danger to passengers. Large cruise ships have been identified as one of the major causes of overtourism.

Public transport bus service

 While there are indications of experiments with public transport in Paris as early as 1662, there is evidence of a scheduled bus route from Market Street in Manchester to Pendleton in Salford UK, started by John Greenwood in 1824.

Another claim for the first public transport system for general use originated in Nantes, France, in 1826. Stanislas Baudry  a retired army officer who had built public baths using the surplus heat from his flour mill on the city's edge, set up a short route between the center of town and his baths. The service started on the Place du Commerce, outside the hat shop of a M. Omnès, who displayed the motto Omnès Omnibus Latin for everything for everybody or all for all on his shopfront. When Baudry discovered that passengers were just as interested in getting off at intermediate points as in patronizing his baths, he changed the route's focus. His new voiture omnibus carriage for all combined the functions of the hired hackney carriage with a stagecoach that travelled a predetermined route from inn to inn, carrying passengers and mail. His omnibus had wooden benches that ran down the sides of the vehicle passengers entered from the rear.

In 1828, Baudry went to Paris, where he founded a company under the name Entreprise générale des omnibus de Paris, while his son Edmond Baudry founded two similar companies in Bordeaux and in Lyon.

A London newspaper reported on July 4, 1829, that "the new vehicle, called the omnibus, commenced running this morning from Paddington to the City", operated by George Shillibeer.

The first omnibus service in New York began in 1829, when Abraham Brower, an entrepreneur who had organized volunteer fire companies, established a route along Broadway starting at Bowling Green. Other American cities soon followed suit: Philadelphia in 1831, Boston in 1835 and Baltimore in 1844. In most cases, the city governments granted a private company—generally a small stableman already in the livery or freight-hauling business—an exclusive franchise to operate public coaches along a specified route. In return, the company agreed to maintain certain minimum levels of service.

Airline ticket

 An airline ticket is a document or electronic record, issued by an airline or a travel agency, that confirms that an individual is entitled to a seat on a flight on an aircraft. The airline ticket may be one of two types a paper ticket, which comprises coupons or vouchers; and an electronic ticket commonly referred to as an e-ticket.

The ticket, in either form, is required to obtain a boarding pass during check-in at the airport. Then with the boarding pass and the attached ticket, the passenger is allowed to board the aircraft.

Details

Regardless of the type, tickets contain the following information

The passenger's name

The issuing airline

A ticket number, including the airline's three-digit code at the start of the number

The cities between which the ticket is valid for travel

Flight for which the ticket is valid unless the ticket is open

Baggage allowance. Not always visible on a printout but recorded electronically for the airline

Fare. Not always visible on a printout but recorded electronically for the airline

Taxes. Not always visible on a printout but recorded electronically for the airline

The Fare Basis, an alphabetic or alphanumeric code that identifies the fare

Restrictions on changes and refunds not always shown in detail, but referred to

Dates for which the ticket is valid

Form of payment, i.e. details of how the ticket was paid for, which will in turn affect how it would be refunded.

The exchange rate used to calculate any international parts of the fare and tax

A Fare Construction or Linear showing the breakdown of the total fare

Times on airline tickets are generally for the local time zone where the flight will be at that moment.