Why I avoid e-tickets

[81A]

Or it has been corrupted, or the gate is faulty. Both of which happen with alarming frequency.

Indeed, using magstripe tickets (especially on TFL, but increasingly on the main line too) seems to be a bit of a gate acceptance lottery. All 3 times I have used them recently, I have gotten a random “seek assistance“ message. The codes have included 90 (which various sources online say means “monitored ticket rejected”-no one checked my railcard) and 09 (which seems to mean “unreadable ticket”-the ticket worked a different gate later, so wasn’t demagnetised).

 

[35B]

Cash transactions in supermarkets typically account for around 15% of transactions, and that's in decline.

Noting the comments below this, I believe 15% of transactions, but I suspect significantly less by value.

 

[AlterEgo]

That high? Supermarkets and petrol stations were places where I thought cash was a rarity even before Covid.

In supermarkets I see very few physical loyalty cards (which are in many ways similar to e-tickets), even if a card is used to pay.

I will occasionally pay in cash at a self service checkout, especially if it offers part payment. I put in all my shrapnel to get it out of my wallet I'd then pay the balance on card.

 

[DaveB10780]

I have in the past but prefer a power bank if necessary. But being provided with USB sockets is much better.

Not Northern USB, they are very old power output and not really fit for purpose my Samsung S24 just about breaks even.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 May 2026 ==

Three pin sockets are really not a suitable solution - who wants to carry a three pin plug around with them?

I agree especially when hard to reach under the seat. I do happen to have a three pin plug plus USB cable but it is very rare I see anyone else using a charger.

 

[BazingaTribe]

Not Northern USB, they are very old power output and not really fit for purpose my Samsung S24 just about breaks even.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 May 2026 ==


I agree especially when hard to reach under the seat. I do happen to have a three pin plug plus USB cable but it is very rare I see anyone else using a charger.

Yeah, I carry around the works. It's a lottery whether the sockets on GWR trains between Basingstoke and Reading work, but the long distance ones are usually fairly good. The location is difficult on the fast GWR trains between Reading and Cardiff, but the connection was good. To be honest these days if I'm travelling by train, chances are I'm staying overnight, and I need the three pronged adaptor for the hotel or my parents' spare bedroom.

Then again my phone is so much in use these days that I might as well have the functionality wired into the palm of my hand. I did lose it when I was in Sweden in the winter, but getting a new one was a matter of hours, and downloading return tickets was the least of my problems. (About the only thing I actually lost was a hotel booking -- I couldn't remember where I was staying on the night I got back late, and my Microsoft email account wouldn't let me back in without a lot of 2FA gubbins. I just got a taxi from Heathrow to my sister's house not far off after landing and let her know ahead of time. Pro tip - having my mother's number in the back of my passport was also a lifesaver!)

I now have a lanyard for the phone, and wear it round my next if I'm out, and I bought a watch so I didn't have to keep taking the phone out of my bag or pocket It's definitely a big deal, but not completely irrecoverable.

I think the horses for courses statement above is pretty appropriate. eTickets came in over the ten years or so I commuted to and from work by train and honestly they save so much time and energy it's untrue. The beauty is though you don't have to use them if you don't want to, and even if the CCST itself goes away, I doubt there's going to be a complete cessation of some kind of paper token available. For the majority of people though they are here to stay because they cut out so much of the hassle of travelling by train it's unreal.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Two points:

Berating people for "not using their smartphone properly" is a bit silly. Anyone can use their phone in whichever manner they choose.

They can, but the railway does not have to accommodate it other than providing paper tickets (though these will move towards barcodes over time).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 May 2026 ==

No it's a thing of the past, ring any bells?

You can still get Coke in glass and somehow it tastes better. But it's a minority choice.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

That is a good idea, I might do it next time I get a long-distance e-ticket (not re-creating the whole format, but just have the code printed off in my wallet like I can do with a bog roll ticket, but without the downside of being unable to access anything else in my wallet without taking it out).
Not sure how usable it will be but it's worth a shot!

Answer: It's a good idea and works well!
Will absolutely be doing it going forwards for journeys other than commuting (I'd run out of paper and ink if I did that)

 

[Hadders]

I now have a lanyard for the phone, and wear it round my next if I'm out

These sort of lanyards worry me. I see lots of (mainly female) people using them wround London. Expensive phone on show and dangling as they walk down the street. Several issues:

1. It's on display for anyone to see. Best not have a phone on display in public when it's not being used
2. If the lanyard is tugged will it release? If so, then it's easy for someone to steal the phone
3. If the lanyard doesn't release when tugged then the user faces being strangled if someone tries to steal their phone

Anyway, I digress....

 

[BazingaTribe]

These sort of lanyards worry me. I see lots of (mainly female) people using them wround London. Expensive phone on show and dangling as they walk down the street. Several issues:

1. It's on display for anyone to see. Best not have a phone on display in public when it's not being used
2. If the lanyard is tugged will it release? If so, then it's easy for someone to steal the phone
3. If the lanyard doesn't release when tugged then the user faces being strangled if someone tries to steal their phone

Anyway, I digress....

Yeah, I keep the actual phone in my handbag. The lanyard is long enough that it lets me know where it is and has a fallback if I have to let go. I'm not so foolish as to flaunt if in other ways or to think it's foolproof.

 

[Hadders]

Yeah, I keep the actual phone in my handbag. The lanyard is long enough that it lets me know where it is

What happens if someone grabs the lanyard and pulls it? Seems they'd easily be able to pull your phone out of your handbag. The lanyard itself advertises that you've got a mobile phone.... Personally, I'd say you should be a bit more discrete.

 

[BazingaTribe]

What happens if someone grabs the lanyard and pulls it? Seems they'd easily be able to pull your phone out of your handbag. The lanyard itself advertises that you've got a mobile phone.... Personally, I'd say you should be a bit more discrete.

I'm as discrete as I can be while still making the best judgement I can given what happened to me back in February.

 

[yorkie]

Then you get the family of four with all of their e-tickets on the same phone, who have to perform a game of pass the parcel in order to negotiate the barriers.

No such faff with four paper tickets.

The reverse is true; using e-tickets for a group is far easier than paper tickets.

I should know as I have taken groups on multiple occasions, up to 30 people in size.

One person simply and easily scrolls through, and then goes through themselves at the end. More commonly, gateline staff can be shown a summary and wave the group through.

I wouldn't want to risk losing tickets for a large group and wouldn't want to give the only copy of a ticket to each group member, especially if the group includes kids.

Also, for groups, multiple group members/leaders could hold a copy of the tickets; with paper tickets one person could lose them all, with no backup!

This has all been debated before, and the anti-e-ticket arguments comprehensively debunked on multiple occasions.

 

[35B]

The reverse is true; using e-tickets for a group is far easier than paper tickets.

I should know as I have taken groups on multiple occasions, up to 30 people in size.

One person simply and easily scrolls through, and then goes through themselves at the end. More commonly, gateline staff can be shown a summary and wave the group through.

I wouldn't want to risk losing tickets for a large group and wouldn't want to give the only copy of a ticket to each group member, especially if the group includes kids.

Also, for groups, multiple group members/leaders could hold a copy of the tickets; with paper tickets one person could lose them all, with no backup!

This has all been debated before, and the anti-e-ticket arguments comprehensively debunked on multiple occasions.

I've also been involved with groups; what you describe requires a reasonably in-depth knowledge of how to use them and is frankly "best case".

Just as with the (equally self-referential) arguments from opponents, the argument for a general case based on personal usage is weak and assumes that the audience is the same as the speaker.

 

[johncrossley]

That high? Supermarkets and petrol stations were places where I thought cash was a rarity even before Covid.

In supermarkets I see very few physical loyalty cards (which are in many ways similar to e-tickets), even if a card is used to pay.

For years spending cash has been more expensive than using a card because you don't get cashback or rewards for using cash. But now bank cards are more expensive than paying using a gift card, because supermarket gift cards can be bought from places like EverUp and Cheddar, or using an employer's rewards scheme, with 3-5% cashback. Gift cards are most conveniently stored in Google or Apple Wallet. Given that gift cards, loyalty cards and train e-tickets can all be stored conveniently in Google/Apple Wallets, that means that train e-tickets are an even more natural choice.

Using cash as a budgeting method now has a cost to it. People using cash are missing out on supermarket cashback and can't take advantage of offers such as buying tickets on the Uber app. Learning how to use technology effectively would be a better idea.

 

[yorkie]

I've also been involved with groups; what you describe requires a reasonably in-depth knowledge of how to use them and is frankly "best case".

Just as with the (equally self-referential) arguments from opponents, the argument for a general case based on personal usage is weak and assumes that the audience is the same as the speaker.

Are you seriously saying that for a large group, you would prefer traditional paper tickets?

Would you, as group leader, put each ticket through a barrier or would you give each passenger (even if they are kids?) their own ticket and hope they don't lose them?

 

[35B]

Are you seriously saying that for a large group, you would prefer traditional paper tickets?

Would you, as group leader, put each ticket through a barrier or would you give each passenger (even if they are kids?) their own ticket and hope they don't lose them?

I am saying that there are no good options with large groups, and that all options come with drawbacks. I am also observing that the knowledge of ticketing required to achieve this is not universal and, for the groups I am associated with, not something that I would recommend to fellow leaders when I'm not present.

As someone who has adapted easily and naturally to e-tickets, and has limited patience for the "but I do things this way" arguments where presented as general arguments, I am equally alive to the problems of such assertions in the opposite direction.

For what it's worth, with the mixed (7-19) age groups I've experience with, I tend to prefer either going to the side gate and asking to be let through en masse, or each person having their own ticket so that they can scan themselves through. In fairness, that is influenced by often needing to make use of railcards (Family, 16-17, 16-25) within the group so attribution also matters. That's not necessarily an argument for CCST though - self-printing, with names written on the tickets, also works. We go off topic here, but experience of group bookings is that, increasingly, coach or minibus hire is generally significantly easier and cheaper.

 

[BazingaTribe]

The only times I've recently been on trips with e.g. Groupsave tickets we've been going to London, so we've had to have CCSTs. I bought them in one go, and everyone kept their own, but to be fair the youngest -- me -- was 45 at the time.

 

[bcarmicle]

Would you, as group leader, put each ticket through a barrier or would you give each passenger (even if they are kids?) their own ticket and hope they don't lose them?

Where I've had to do this with CCST, I've distributed tickets to group members just before the gateline, and then immediately recollected them after the gateline.

 

[yorkie]

I am saying that there are no good options with large groups, ...

If you don't value that ability got each group leader to hold a backup copy of each ticket, and avoiding individual members of the group from losing their own ticket, then that's your preference, but it seems an odd one to me, as someone with experience in this area.

Going to a side gate and asking for the group to be let through is surely no easier with paper tickets than with e-tickets, especially so if the gateline operator insists that the tickets are properly checked.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 May 2026 ==

Where I've had to do this with CCST, I've distributed tickets to group members just before the gateline, and then immediately recollected them after the gateline.

It's much easier and quicker not to have to do this, and simply scan people through with e tickets though.

 

[xotGD]

While several posters have described how e-tickets can be efficiently used for group travel, what a lot of couples and families actually do is play pass the parcel with the phone.

A mentality of "I have to scan my ticket" I guess.

 

[yorkie]

While several posters have described how e-tickets can be efficiently used for group travel, what a lot of couples and families actually do is play pass the parcel with the phone.

A mentality of "I have to scan my ticket" I guess.

That's only if people don't know what they are doing and aren't thinking.

They would presumably pass paper tickets round instead. The problem with that is there is no backup!

 

[35B]

If you don't value that ability got each group leader to hold a backup copy of each ticket, and avoiding individual members of the group from losing their own ticket, then that's your preference, but it seems an odd one to me, as someone with experience in this area.

If you noticed, my observation was on a means of getting through barriers, and that individuals holding their own ticket in whatever format has advantages.

 

[sheff1]

That's only if people don't know what they are doing and aren't thinking.

If they have watched that TV programme with the SWR RPIs who make up rules they are probably thinking if they scan someone else through they will be pounced upon and accused of fraud.

 

[bcarmicle]

It's much easier and quicker not to have to do this, and simply scan people through with e tickets though.

I don't disagree (indeed we use eTickets where they're enabled) but just pointing out there are other alternatives if you do have CCST

 

[xotGD]

They would presumably pass paper tickets round instead.

Yes, before they reach the gateline, so that they can all go through the barriers in parallel. Thereby speeding up the process for the couple/ family.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

In supermarkets I see very few physical loyalty cards (which are in many ways similar to e-tickets), even if a card is used to pay.

Supermarket loyalty cards on phones are a pet hate. Several times, the card has refused to load, sometimes even demanding that the app be updated. That's the last thing you want in a supermarket queue. I've had to skip the freebies or whatever in facour of sorting the thing out at home with access to a laptop as well in case it started to demand 2FA for the update.

If you have several local supermarkets and rotate between them, you might only be using the loyalty card infrequently.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Supermarket loyalty cards on phones are a pet hate. Several times, the card has refused to load, sometimes even demanding that the app be updated. That's the last thing you want in a supermarket queue. I've had to skip the freebies or whatever in facour of sorting the thing out at home with access to a laptop as well in case it started to demand 2FA for the update.

If you have several local supermarkets and rotate between them, you might only be using the loyalty card infrequently.

Put it in your Google or Apple Wallet. The app is indeed an inconvenient way to use these cards, but fortunately all smartphones, however basic, have wallet functionality.

Do the same with e-tickets (and if you think you might double-use one by accident, simply delete them from there after use).

This just goes back to people not using smartphones as they are designed to be used and then moaning about them being a faff to use in the incorrect manner. Spend a few minutes learning to use one as it is intended and you will find it to be a smooth and convenient experience.

Also why would you need a laptop for 2 Factor Authentication? It is usually a text message to your phone. What sort of 2FA are you using that runs on a laptop?

 

[SargeNpton]

Put it in your Google or Apple Wallet. The app is indeed an inconvenient way to use these cards, but fortunately all smartphones, however basic, have wallet functionality.

Do the same with e-tickets.

This just goes back to people not using smartphones as they are designed to be used and then moaning about them being a faff to use in the incorrect manner.

Also why would you need a laptop for 2 Factor Authentication? It is usually a text message to your phone. What sort of 2FA are you using that runs on a laptop?

May be the answer to that is for the smartphone manufacturer to provide a user manual that explicitly tells the user what can and can't be done with it - rather than the customer having to work it all out for themselves.

 

[Bletchleyite]

May be the answer to that is for the smartphone manufacturer to provide a user manual that explicitly tells the user what can and can't be done with it - rather than the customer having to work it all out for themselves.

Type "how to use Android" in your browser and you will find a wealth of instructional videos on how smartphones work best. You don't need a paper manual, which would be intimidating for most non technical people anyway.

 

[AlterEgo]

May be the answer to that is for the smartphone manufacturer to provide a user manual that explicitly tells the user what can and can't be done with it - rather than the customer having to work it all out for themselves.

A user manual is a bit 2007. Now you just look up the thing you want to do online. I have not consulted a manual for a mobile phone for maybe ten years at least.