Gateline m-Ticket scanners at King's Cross/Cambridge

[Kazington]

So with the (somewhat) recent introduction of FCC's m-Ticket, I jumped right on board as I saw it as a really nifty time saver when travelling CBG - KGX as it means I don't have to faff about with queues (which can be absurdly long) and I can just make my way to the station and buy my ticket and have it ready for when I arrive.

Or so I thought.
The two times I had used the system (both S-OPeak DRets), I hadn't been able to get it to recognise the Aztec code supplied - I'd have to approach someone on the gateline to let me through.
I'm wondering if it's because I'm using it wrongly? As far as I'm aware you just hold your phone just above the scanner, it reads it and opens the gate. Is there something wrong with my method? Is the few mm between my phone and the scanners' surface too far for it to pick up? I don't particularly want to have the screen touching against the glass for fear of scratches.

Just to rule out any other factors, my phone is a flagship android with a 1080p screen and a stupidly high pixel density, the tickets are activated (i.e. orange band not grey) and it is on the Aztec code screen.

Thoughts?

 

[maniacmartin]

I thought those scanners on the gates at KGX are for Print@Home tickets

 

[talldave]

I don't know if the FCC system is the same as Southern's for the Gatwick Express but I found it useful to turn off auto screen rotation so your phone isn't constantly redrawing the screen as you wave it over the scanner. FWIW I also grabbed a screen shot of the ticket and actually showed that, after some tense "no network connection" moments at the barrier.

I use the past tense simply because I no longer feel inclined to pay more to travel on a clapped out train that's likely to break down or catch fire (and yes I do speak from first hand bad experience! )

 

[91103eastcoast]

I use the past tense simply because I no longer feel inclined to pay more to travel on a clapped out train that's likely to break down or catch fire (and yes I do speak from first hand bad experience! )

You mean you don't like the Gatwick Express bacon?

 

[jon0844]

I have great difficulty having barcodes and the like successfully scanned on most of my phone displays (LCD and AMOLED). Best print out the code to speed up your travel in the future if you can.

We should be moving a step closer to loading a ticket on to a NFC enabled phone and just touch in and out like with an Oyster card.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[Kazington]

I thought those scanners on the gates at KGX are for Print@Home tickets

They also work for the mtickets according to this.

I don't know if the FCC system is the same as Southern's for the Gatwick Express but I found it useful to turn off auto screen rotation so your phone isn't constantly redrawing the screen as you wave it over the scanner.

I hadn't considered that, shall definitely give it a go next time.

I have great difficulty having barcodes and the like successfully scanned on most of my phone displays (LCD and AMOLED). Best print out the code to speed up your travel in the future if you can.

We should be moving a step closer to loading a ticket on to a NFC enabled phone and just touch in and out like with an Oyster card.

That just negates the whole idea of the mticket system though, and if I'm buying my ticket *on the way to the station*, I'm not going to have a printer on me.
Could argue about doing it before setting off but I don't know what the legality is behind that and whether gateline/ticket staff will accept it as valid.

 

[jon0844]

m-tickets are flawed for a range of reasons, and most modern smartphones have exceptionally bright and clear HD displays - which scanners really struggle with. I haven't experimented to see if turning down the brightness helps.

If I show my Subway card (on the phone) it can take 10-20 attempts to get it to scan. I've never had it work with the scanner at my local Amazon locker (but I have a short code I can enter instead, so it's no real problem).

I really think that we should be trying to move towards having tickets loaded on an NFC-equipped phone (or of course a humble smartcard) and try and ditch what is really just a short term solution, and one that has had problems ever since the beginning (and I was a very early adopter of barcode style ticketing, through my job as a technology journalist).

Imagine queuing up for a gig sponsored by Vodafone, who had opted to make it exclusively accessed via barcodes/QR codes. Naturally, the scanners had so many problems they just ended up letting people in who showed a barcode! I am sure that's what probably happens on the railway too if it's busy - thus you have a pretty good way to fare evade if you're confident enough.

The handheld scanners used at events now might be a bit better, but I am sure they still have problems when people show a code on their phone display as against on paper.

 

[radamfi]

You don't necessarily need to have barcodes for m-tickets. Metrobus (and probably other companies that use m-tickets) display a secret word that drivers check. I've had no problems using easyJet mobile boarding passes. Belgian Railways don't even require a smartphone as they simply use SMS.

 

[button_boxer]

I've just come back from a trip to Luxembourg on luxair using a boarding pass that was a 2d barcode on my phone screen. The scanners had no problem with it, though the way they do it you hand your phone to the staff and they hold it up to the scanner. The staff did seem to be holding phones quite a bit further back from the scanner compared to printed barcodes - at least 4 or 5 inches back - and that may be worth trying with railway gate lines too.

 

[Kazington]

m-tickets are flawed for a range of reasons, and most modern smartphones have exceptionally bright and clear HD displays - which scanners really struggle with. I haven't experimented to see if turning down the brightness helps.

Naturally, the scanners had so many problems they just ended up letting people in who showed a barcode! I am sure that's what probably happens on the railway too if it's busy - thus you have a pretty good way to fare evade if you're confident enough.

That seems counter productive, surly a brighter screen means its easier to discern? Technology yo.
Re: Fare evade, you could do that quite easily between CBG and KGX if you time it right. That's all I'm saying on the matter.

You don't necessarily need to have barcodes for m-tickets. Metrobus (and probably other companies that use m-tickets) display a secret word that drivers check. I've had no problems using easyJet mobile boarding passes. Belgian Railways don't even require a smartphone as they simply use SMS.

For these tickets you do.
I feel some folk in this thread think the m-tickets are a more general thing - I'm referring to the ones used by FCC and other operators.

I've just come back from a trip to Luxembourg on luxair using a boarding pass that was a 2d barcode on my phone screen. The scanners had no problem with it, though the way they do it you hand your phone to the staff and they hold it up to the scanner. The staff did seem to be holding phones quite a bit further back from the scanner compared to printed barcodes - at least 4 or 5 inches back - and that may be worth trying with railway gate lines too.

Worth a shot I guess. I don't wanna feel like a tourist not knowing how to ticket gate.

 

[TicketMann]

Unlike the Gatwick Express tickets the apps do not allow screen rotation so this is not a problem.

There are issues on the wide aysle gates (WAG) when they are set in dual mode (i.e. both entry and exit) they are fine if set on either entry or exit. Day return offpeaks also present an issue due to gate logic.

NFC Ticketing standard would not be allowed because a broad enough crosssection of the public cannot be catered for (i.e. too few NFC handsets in use).

I wonder what will happen to mTicketing on FCC once TSGN takes over.

 

[Kazington]

Day return offpeaks also present an issue due to gate logic.

I wonder what will happen to mTicketing on FCC once TSGN takes over.

Care to elaborate? I often buy Super Offpeaks DR's but might be affected similarly.

I hope mTicketing gets overhauled to overcome this rather persistent issues.

 

[Jeni]

m-tickets are flawed for a range of reasons, and most modern smartphones have exceptionally bright and clear HD displays - which scanners really struggle with. I haven't experimented to see if turning down the brightness helps.

If I show my Subway card (on the phone) it can take 10-20 attempts to get it to scan. I've never had it work with the scanner at my local Amazon locker (but I have a short code I can enter instead, so it's no real problem).

I find the exact opposite usually when scanning barcodes, I have to turn the brightness up to it's maximum, particularly in Subway!

 

[stut]

At the same time, I've never once had a problem getting any of Starbucks, BA and SAS apps to scan first time.

Idle curiosity (and I may try this out this evening if there's no queue) - would an Aztec code on a 'normal' ticket open the barriers somewhere like King's Cross. It would be of moderate benefit to me

 

[jon0844]

Here's a post on another forum about why scanners can struggle;

http://forums.wpcentral.com/nokia-l...cant-scanned-barcode-readers.html#post1863879

Traditional (including 3D) scanners with lasers work by bouncing the laser off the barcode, and reading what is returned. It's pure 1s and 0s. Light on, light off. Black bounces back less light. Someone will ask why this won't work scanning a screen, that still has black and white? Quite simple. The scanner is attuned to the specific wavelength of the laser. It cannot read the screen because it isn't the same red wavelength. The laser will bounce back equally across the entire display, because the glass will look like a mirror to it. There is no differentiation of light, so no light on light off effect. No 1s and 0s.

More recently, barcode scanners have been implementing optical cameras, that work much the same way as a QR reader on your phone would. It takes a look at the image, and is smart enough to figure out the orientation and then read the information from it. Some of these will even look so much like the traditional scanner that they will have lasers they use, but it is for the operator to know they have aligned the barcode in the right spot for the camera to see the code.

So... Long story short, any store that uses a traditional laser barcode scanner will not be able to read anything off your phone. Any store with an optical scanner, even if it shoots laserbeams from its forehead, will have no problem reading the code from your phone.

To add to this, many screens now are polarised in some way to try and reduce glare. This, I'd imagine, also causes problems. For one thing, what you see from the angle you're holding the display isn't necessarily what the scanner sees.

Sometimes Subway can scan my code instantly, other times it's a real battle. It's a bit easier to play around and try different angles and distances in a shop than at a gateline or airport gate!