A new feature has been launched in the Ukrzaliznytsia mobile app, changing the familiar process of selecting a seat in a carriage. Now, on the carriage layout, a small icon in the shape of a "paw print" (also referred to as a "quotation mark" in some publications) appears next to the seat of a passenger who has booked a trip with a pet. This marker is displayed directly on the carriage layout at the seat selection stage, i.e., before the actual purchase of the ticket. This was reported by Wave RBC.UA, citing an official statement from Ukrzaliznytsia on Threads.
How the new marker works in the app
The mechanics of the function are linked to the document for pet transport. When a passenger adds the corresponding document confirming the transport of an animal while purchasing a ticket, the system records that a person with an animal will be traveling in the selected seat and automatically displays an icon next to it. Thus, future neighbors in the carriage receive this information in advance, at the trip planning stage, rather than already sitting in the carriage. Ukrzaliznytsia explained the launch of the innovation extremely simply: "Everyone asked us, so we did it".
Why this is needed for passengers
The new function addresses two needs at once. On the one hand, pet owners can purposefully look for neighbors with pets to make the trip more comfortable for both the person and the pet. On the other hand, the marker is useful for people with allergies to fur or those who, for other reasons, do not want to be next to an animal: they can consciously choose a seat further away. Essentially, the carrier transfers part of the decision regarding comfort into the hands of the passenger themselves, providing transparent information before ticket payment.
Contradictory data
It is important to note a discrepancy here between the announced launch and the actual operation of the function. Officially, Ukrzaliznytsia announces the innovation as already working, however, passengers report that the marker is not yet displayed for all directions. At the same time, the carrier has not published a separate list of trains or routes where the function is already active. That is, there is a discrepancy between the general statement about the launch and the actual, currently incomplete coverage: some users see "paws", others do not, and there is currently no public list of "where it works".
Context and significance for the industry
For the Ukrainian railway transport, which has been actively digitizing services in recent years, such small details become a marker of product maturity: the carrier responds to specific passenger requests and implements them in the user interface. The function does not require additional actions from the user — it works "out of the box" based on the already uploaded pet transport document. The question of scale remains open: when and on which specific routes the marker will become universally available, Ukrzaliznytsia has not yet specified.
