Why I avoid e-tickets

[Russel]

If you only need data for buying train tickets on the move and therefore don't care about keeping the number then the cheapest option is to take advantage of introductory offers from Lebara (for example) and simply get another SIM when the offer expires. Through the Money Saving Expert site, they tend to cost around £1 to £2 per month. This works best with a dual SIM phone so you can still receive calls on a permanent number.

We're heading into very niche territory here though and again, a lot of effort to go to to save very little to nothing.

 

[yorkie]

I suppose it depends what you describe as long

I've spent whole mornings at both Ramsgate and Margate stations. At times - mostly a while before trains are due - there have been reasonable queues at both ticket offices. Probably the longest I have seen is 10 people. But - from observation - a number weren't buying ToDs. Seemed like queries etc as well

You don't buy TODs from ticket offices. A passenger with a TOD booking would be expected to try to use the machine, and only use a ticket office to collect, if the machine(s) won't issue the ticket.

My partner is partially sighted and will not use e tickets. She prefers having a piece of card she can tuck in her wallet and find easily.

This is very niche, but I would imagine some partially sighted people may prefer to use e-tickets due to the accessibility features built-in to phones these days.

It must be fairly uncommon for someone to want to book online and also to want to hold a paper ticket. Most 'traditionalists' who avoid technology wouldn't be booking online in the first place.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 May 2026 ==

We're heading into very niche territory here though and again, a lot of effort to go to to save very little to nothing.

Agreed, and it makes very little sense in the context of avoiding e-tickets.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 May 2026 ==

My local station often has 5-6 people queuing for the ticket machine at around 7.15am weekday morning. I assume they are buying London travelcards, During ticket checks I think its maybe 60% people seems to be using e-tickets, but the 40% generally seem to be older people.

Yes, it will be Travelcards, tickets to LU destinations ("Zone Ux London"), cross-London transfers, plus a few people who are so used to buying such tickets that even when they buy ordinary Singles/Returns they stick to that habit.

Up in Yorkshire, the proportion of people using e-tickets is much higher, and of those who aren't using e-tickets, the majority are using barcode-enabled paper tickets on till roll style stock. Credit Card Sized Tickets (CCST), which are used for TOD bookings, are becoming quite rare up here now.

Of course I could lose a ticket but I could also have my phone die on me. I am more confident about retaining a physical ticket, as I always have done, than the robustness of a phone over which I have no control. And before you tell me I can print an eticket - I do not have a printer.

On the contrary, most people would surely feel more confident with an e-ticket.

Not only can I choose to print a backup copy, but anyone travelling with me could hold a copy of the ticket.

I've booked tickets for large groups before, up to 30 passengers at a time, and it is far safer to use e-tickets, as multiple group leaders can have backup copies of the tickets.

And that's before you consider the possibiity of bringing a battery backup and/or charging cable.

If you lose a paper ticket, which many people (not including yourself) will do at least once, then that's it. No way to recover it.

When travelling by train in France or Sweden I am able to print an eticket* from a TVM at the station. If the same was possible here that would be a much stronger case for using etickets than the one in the post I quoted.

I agree that this should be made available.

Once all tickets are e-ticket enabled, and if the rail industry can introduce the above policy as implemented in other countries, then those who still want to use TOD tickets should really be footing the very expensive bill for the TOD system/infrastructure, rather than making other passengers and taxpayers pay for it

 

[Kilopylae]

To a point, I understand this, but many data plans are very generous these days and given the popularity of e-tickets, I'd suggest it's only a minor issue.

I don't disagree. It's a complete non-issue at the present equilibrium of e-Tickets as the standard but paper tickets available as an expected backup. I imagine that as the latter is phased out it'll just become more and more a part of basic functioning to keep your phone charged and in data, as it already increasingly is.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't disagree. It's a complete non-issue at the present equilibrium of e-Tickets as the standard but paper tickets available as an expected backup. I imagine that as the latter is phased out it'll just become more and more a part of basic functioning to keep your phone charged and in data, as it already increasingly is.

And equally battery life will improve as battery technologies develop and data connections will get cheaper.

 

[sheff1]

Cutting-edge rail ticket technology to be trialled across the Midlands and North

Passengers can sign up for digital rail ticket trials on East Midlands Rail and Northern trains.

www.gov.uk

Some stats included within:

Presumably when they refer to mobile tickets they actually mean e-tickets, which are something completely different. Doesn't inspire much confidence in their proofreading and/or their knowledge of ticketing.

 

[Russel]

And equally battery life will improve as battery technologies develop and data connections will get cheaper.

Regarding battery life, I don't buy into the idea that it's an issue now and hasn't been for a long time, public charging sockets / USB ports are common place in most built up areas and for where they aren't so common, you can pick up a basic power bank for less than a tenner on Amazon.

 

[Sonic1234]

About 90% of our customers (all online) choose e-tickets

Do the 10% choose paper, or have paper forced on them because of the journey they are doing?

Outside the railway, it's rare to see people using physical loyalty cards and physical bank cards are becoming uncommon in some areas. Some banks I believe are moving towards having to request a card if you don't want to use a mobile wallet. Showing a QR code on a phone is routine now for any kind of offer. What is uncommon now is people having functioning printers at home, not sure how successful Royal Mail's "smart post boxes" will be because of this.

If I'm buying a walk up ticket, I do find it quicker personally to use a TVM than buy online via a phone but a lot would disagree there.

 

[Kilopylae]

Outside the railway, it's rare to see people using physical loyalty cards

A Tesco Clubcard, not unlike an e-Ticket, is in fact a unique barcode. So someone using a physical Clubcard on their keychain could take a photo of the keychain and scan the photo instead.

 

[sheff1]

Regarding battery life, I don't buy into the idea that it's an issue now and hasn't been for a long time, public charging sockets / USB ports are common place in most built up areas and for where they aren't so common, you can pick up a basic power bank for less than a tenner on Amazon.

Many trains still don't have charging facilities, which I would have thought were essential if the desire was for everyone to use etickets.

If I'm buying a walk up ticket, I do find it quicker personally to use a TVM than buy online via a phone ....

Same for me.

 

[walkingsophie]

When travelling by train in France or Sweden I am able to print an eticket* from a TVM at the station. If the same was possible here that would be a much stronger case for using etickets than the one in the post I quoted.

If this becomes an option, I will be much more willing to go with e-tickets over ToD when buying online, given the only advantage of the CCST would be the sturdiness of the paper and less tracking, both of which are usually less relevant to me.
Of course with walk up tickets, which are a majority of the tickets I buy, I will continue buying from TVMs given their speed and convenience.

 

[johncrossley]

If I'm buying a walk up ticket, I do find it quicker personally to use a TVM than buy online via a phone but a lot would disagree there.

The problem is you have to allow time to queue for the machine. Not many people use them these days so queues aren't like they used to be, but there's always a risk of a freak queue.

Also you pay more because you cannot avail of discounts offered by phone apps such as Uber.

 

[styles]

I think you mean a Ticket Vending Machines. ToD is the collection of tickets bought online, just one of the functions of a TVM.

Yeah, fair point.

 

[Haywain]

If I'm buying a walk up ticket, I do find it quicker personally to use a TVM than buy online via a phone but a lot would disagree there.

It might be quicker but it might also be less convenient. The TVM isn't available on the bus to the station, for example, and given a choice between standing at a TVM or buying a bacon roll and a coffee the TVM loses every time.

 

[Russel]

Many trains still don't have charging facilities, which I would have thought were essential if the desire was for everyone to use etickets

I'd suggest that other than some of the London commuter service, most trains have or are in the process of being fitted with sockets.

 

[styles]

Ticket machine collection seems to be less popular in other countries compared to here, and some countries don't even offer it, particularly small countries where most travellers don't have reservations. For example, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Tbf part of the reason I want TVM or ticket office tickets abroad is for souvenirs.

Scrap books aren't the same when everything's just a QR code on a printed bit of A4.

I had to do split tickets on SBB/OBB last week (owing to it saving nearly 75% compared to a through ticket!) and it was a bit of a nightmare even with e-tickets. ToD would've seen me standing waiting for a dozen or more tickets with separate printing codes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A Tesco Clubcard, not unlike an e-Ticket, is in fact a unique barcode. So someone using a physical Clubcard on their keychain could take a photo of the keychain and scan the photo instead.

Indeed there's software that specifically exists to scan a barcode on a physical card and make an Apple Wallet pass. Google Wallet I believe includes that natively, and Apple Wallet is about to add it in the near future. I have done it with my National Trust card (which to be fair doesn't always scan properly at parking machines) and I have two versions of the Co-op card, one traditional barcode and one QR code, this was originally for using it at one of the other co-op brands but this doesn't work any more, but the former does still scan at any point while using a self checkout while to scan the QR one you have to tap Finish and tap Membership Card before it will, so having the other one saves a bit of time and makes the checkout process less clunky.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 May 2026 ==

If I'm buying a walk up ticket, I do find it quicker personally to use a TVM than buy online via a phone but a lot would disagree there.

If I'm standing at a station this is probably true. However, most of my walk up tickets are, aptly, purchased while walking to the station, not while standing at it.

 

[sheff1]

I'd suggest that other than some of the London commuter service, most trains have or are in the process of being fitted with sockets.

Try travelling between Sheffield and Manchester. Regularly see people trying, without success, to find a charging point.
Haven't heard anything about retrofitting, which doesn't mean it inn't planned of course.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Try travelling between Sheffield and Manchester. Regularly see people trying, without success, to find a charging point.
Haven't heard anything about retrofitting, which doesn't mean it inn't planned of course.

If I am carrying any sort of bag it has a power bank in it. Only time I wouldn't have one is if not carrying a bag at all, though sometimes I'd still have one in a pocket even then. And the only time I would be going anywhere by train without a bag would be if going to a concert or similar where they are not permitted.

 

[Kilopylae]

Try travelling between Sheffield and Manchester. Regularly see people trying, without success, to find a charging point.
Haven't heard anything about retrofitting, which doesn't mean it inn't planned of course.

I think the Exeter to Waterloo line still doesn't have plug sockets either, nor Oxford to Marylebone.

 

[blimmo]

Indeed there's software that specifically exists to scan a barcode on a physical card and make an Apple Wallet pass. Google Wallet I believe includes that natively, and Apple Wallet is about to add it in the near future. I have done it with my National Trust card (which to be fair doesn't always scan properly at parking machines) and I have two versions of the Co-op card, one traditional barcode and one QR code, this was originally for using it at one of the other co-op brands but this doesn't work any more, but the former does still scan at any point while using a self checkout while to scan the QR one you have to tap Finish and tap Membership Card before it will, so having the other one saves a bit of time and makes the checkout process less clunky.

The clubcard barcode is just the clubcard number in one of the barcode formats. This is how I regularly scan my clubcard from my phone despite never receiving a physical clubcard or using the app.

 

[davews]

Are there statistics to show the percentage of paper tickets is a lot higher in the south east around London? Here most of my journeys involve some underground travel and a travel card is by far the cheapest way of doing this so it has to be a paper ticket. It happens that I have a station that almost never has a queue at either the ticket office or the TVM so it is no hassle to buy a ticket when I get to the station. Those further away who never get to the capital will not have this paper ticket restriction.

 

[Haywain]

I'd suggest that other than some of the London commuter service, most trains have or are in the process of being fitted with sockets.

I'd suggest that it isn't as widespread as you think.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 May 2026 ==

a travel card is by far the cheapest way of doing this so it has to be a paper ticket.

It doesn't have to be a paper ticket, it can be held on a smartcard in most cases.

 

[johncrossley]

a travel card is by far the cheapest way of doing this so it has to be a paper ticket.

Many Day Travelcards can be added to ITSO smartcard using the NFC feature of smartphones.

 

[Adam Williams]

I'd suggest that it isn't as widespread as you think.

Indeed, it's rather frustrating when a 165 turns up for your long distance trip to/from London for exactly this reason. Disappointing they're not getting power sockets as part of the "refresh" either.

 

[Edvid]

Many Day Travelcards can be added to ITSO smartcard using the NFC feature of smartphones.

Yes, provided the retailer matches the card issuer and that GTR is neither of them. And that (with the odd exception) you're not buying a Super Off-Peak Day Travelcard.

 

[Haywain]

provided the retailer matches the card issuer

That applies online but not at stations.

 

[Edvid]

That applies online but not at stations.

In which case one's smartphone wouldn't be involved in the loading of an ITSO Day Travelcard.

 

[Russel]

Try travelling between Sheffield and Manchester. Regularly see people trying, without success, to find a charging point.
Haven't heard anything about retrofitting, which doesn't mean it inn't planned of course.

TPE 185s, Northern 195s and I'm sure EMR 158s all have sockets, so what stock am I missing that causes these issues?

I'd suggest that it isn't as widespread as you think.

Really? As I said, other than London commuter stock, Chiltern 165s and SWR 159s, what else doesn't have sockets?

Even Northern 150s have USB sockets if I remember correctly.

 

[Haywain]

Really? As I said, other than London commuter stock, Chiltern 165s and SWR 159s, what else doesn't have sockets?

EMR 222s and 360s, and I don't believe GWR and possibly LNER 800 series trains are well provide for charging in standard class. But when you live in the London commuter area the absence is very stark.

 

[Russel]

EMR 222s and 360s. But when you live in the London commuter area the absence is very stark.

EMR 222s Do have sockets, in the same place as Voyagers and the 360s are having them fitted as part of the refurb aren't they?

So again, we're back to mostly London commuter stock which really you're not on for that long anyway with the exception of 700s if you're traveling to some of the extremities.