Amount of coupons

[Goatboy]

Am I the only one who likes collecting an enormous pile of coupons from the TVM them?

 

[BestWestern]

Am I the only one who likes collecting an enormous pile of coupons from the TVM them?

Err, yep!

 

[snail]

Not at all. You'll find that all operators (in LU) factor in income raised by detecting ticketless travel (etc) into their business plans.

I don't doubt that they do. But your allegation is that they deliberately set out to mislead passengers into travelling without tickets. That's not the same thing.

 

[Eagle]

Am I the only one who likes collecting an enormous pile of coupons from the TVM them?

Nah, I like it too.

 

[34D]

I don't doubt that they do. But your allegation is that they deliberately set out to mislead passengers into travelling without tickets. That's not the same thing.

Now that wasn't what I said. I simply said that TOCs wouldn't be in any hurry to ditch the two separate coupons for one combined ticket.

 

[Welshman]

It used to be one airline style ticket for tickets booked online or over the phone that contained everything. However, ticket barriers and TVMs were introduced and they were only compatible with standard ticket stock.

When we went to Luxembourg recently via Eurostar and TGV, our tickets from North Wales to London Eurostar were posted to us, and when they arrived, I was surprised to find they were airline style "Elgar" tickets.

Of course, they didn't work the barriers at our home station, and neither did they fit neatly into the wallet, but the conductor on the Virgin train to Euston commented that he hadn't seen them for a long time, but preferred them as all the information was on the one ticket.

What a pity all the barriers springing-up everywhere only accept the more normal credit-card sized tickets.

 

[34D]

When we went to Luxembourg recently via Eurostar and TGV, our tickets from North Wales to London Eurostar were posted to us, and when they arrived, I was surprised to find they were airline style "Elgar" tickets.

Of course, they didn't work the barriers at our home station, and neither did they fit neatly into the wallet, but the conductor on the Virgin train to Euston commented that he hadn't seen them for a long time, but preferred them as all the information was on the one ticket.

What a pity all the barriers springing-up everywhere only accept the more normal credit-card sized tickets.

Except the ticket barriers at STP (eurostar check-in).

I remember when the telesales tickets for the intercity TOCs used to arrive on these big tickets and also enclose small credit card size 'gate pass only' tickets.

 

[LexyBoy]

I always use the manual gates when travelling long distance anyway, barriers are impossible with multiple bags, a baby and a cup of tea in tow. Having to get tickets in hand is annoying enough.

Barriers shouldn't accept tickets they can't read, which includes Advances (though recent changes in ticket checks temper my objections to Advance tickets not being checked before boarding)

 

[Welshman]

This has cropped up a few times before (e.g. Leeds to Leicester both ways and with a bike produced 16 coupons).

The rail industry is considering ways to reduce the number of coupons.

If someone can design a coupon that could hold all the relevant information and be able to hold details of several trains, then if that design is posted here, it would be interesting to see...

Forgive me for bouncing this thread back into the present, but Mrs Welshman and I recently booked a short holiday in Oban for the new year.

We have to change trains in Crewe, Preston and Glasgow on the outward trip, and Glasgow and Warrington on the return. Mrs W also wants to take her bike, so with travel tickets, seat and bike reservations, plus receipt, the TVM produced 26 coupons when I collected them yesterday! [And, no, I wasn't using split-ticketting!]

Is this the record?

Although I had deliberately waited for a time when there was no-one around wanting to buy for immediate travel, the queue which had built up behind me by the time my transaction was completed was suitably impressed!

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Ah, at last, the explanation we've been looking for . . .

My personal opinion is that this is a much smaller problem than is generally made out.

. . . .

And this business about tickets are "too complicated", sorry I but don't buy that. Maybe....and I know I'm going to be castigated for saying this, but I'm going to say it anyway....if you're mentally deficient in some way. It's perfectly clear on tickets what is what, if one can be bothered to read it; but some people would rather shove the responsibility onto someone else - a common problem these days.

As a fairly regular long-distance traveller of many years (I should say decades), it is a relief to find that the explanation for the difficulty I experience with 10 or more coupons for a journey is simply my mental deficiency and my wish to 'shove responsibility' onto others.

I had been under the misapprehension that the difficulty was in keeping the 8, 10, 16 or even more coupons in some sort of order when pulling them into and putting them back in my pocket or wallet, the risk of some being pulled out by friction and falling to the ground/seat, the very faint print on some coupons rendering some digits indistinguishable in any light, my need to use reading glasses in poor lighting and with pale print, the lack of space to manipulate spectacles case, spectacles, wallet, a dozen coupons and a hand-grab with only 2 arms while standing on a busy train.

I might have scanned some of the barely legible coupons where an '8' is indistingushable from a '0' to illustrate my difficulty but there will be no benefit from doing so, now that I know it is really my own mental deficiency and lack of responsibility.

 

[Bungle73]

Ah, at last, the explanation we've been looking for . . . As a fairly regular long-distance traveller of many years (I should say decades), it is a relief to find that the explanation for the difficulty I experience with 10 or more coupons for a journey is simply my mental deficiency and my wish to 'shove responsibility' onto others.

I had been under the misapprehension that the difficulty was in keeping the 8, 10, 16 or even more coupons in some sort of order when pulling them into and putting them back in my pocket or wallet, the risk of some being pulled out by friction and falling to the ground/seat, the very faint print on some coupons rendering some digits indistinguishable in any light, my need to use reading glasses in poor lighting and with pale print, the lack of space to manipulate spectacles case, spectacles, wallet, a dozen coupons and a hand-grab with only 2 arms while standing on a busy train.

I might have scanned some of the barely legible coupons where an '8' is indistingushable from a '0' to illustrate my difficulty but there will be no benefit from doing so, now that I know it is really my own mental deficiency and lack of responsibility.

If you're ending up with 16 different coupons for one journey then no doubt you're using some kind of complicated split ticket scenario. That's the price you have to pay I'm afraid.

And I'm not sure how printing problems are the "system's" fault?

My point remains the same: it's perfectly clear what each coupon is for.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

If you're ending up with 16 different coupons for one journey then no doubt you're using some kind of complicated split ticket scenario.

Not so. Simple journeys from one city to another and back again.

. . . Mrs Welshman and I recently booked a short holiday in Oban for the new year.
. . . .
so with travel tickets, seat and bike reservations, plus receipt, the TVM produced 26 coupons when I collected them yesterday! [And, no, I wasn't using split-ticketting!]

e.g. Leeds to Leicester both ways and with a bike produced 16 coupons

Try Newcastle to Bristol and back (via London) using with a bike.
Try Newcastle to Brighton and back for two on Advance tickets where one passenger has a Railcard.

I'm not sure how printing problems are the "system's" fault?

But they do go some considerable way towards illustrating the practical difficulties faced by passengers (differentiating which of the many vouchers may be appropriate at any one instant if any are almost unreadable)

My point remains the same: it's perfectly clear what each coupon is for.

Maybe, but with a dozen or more, its unnecesarily complex. With negligible ink in a printer, "perfectly clear" is precisely the qualtity that is absent.

 

[transmanche]

What a pity all the barriers springing-up everywhere only accept the more normal credit-card sized tickets.

Lots of them have barcode scanners though - so if the will was there, they could print barcodes on the large size tickets.

And I'm not sure how printing problems are the "system's" fault?

If the system didn't need to print so many coupons, maybe the ink would last a bit longer...?

 

[transportphoto]

If the system didn't need to print so many coupons, maybe the ink would last a bit longer...?

Maybe they don't use ink? All tickets are thermally printed

 

[transmanche]

All tickets are thermally printed

All of them?

OK, for all the pedants out there: if the system didn't need to print so many coupons, maybe the thermal printer would last a bit longer before the print quality deteriorates...?

 

[Butts]

I went to pick up tickets for three return journeys I had booked from FKG to various destinations via EC website.

Using the TVM at FKG the annoying thing is you have to put your card in three times with the relevant code to obtain each set of tickets.

I would have thought on insertion of your card the first time it would display all the booked journeys you have and give you the option of selecting which one you wish to print out by using the relevant code. At the end of the selected journey printing out you would think it would give you the option of moving onto the next one or exiting.

But unfortunately you have to repeat the process three times (much to the annoyance of anyone waiting behind you):roll:

 

[Bungle73]

I went to pick up tickets for three return journeys I had booked from FKG to various destinations via EC website.

Using the TVM at FKG the annoying thing is you have to put your card in three times with the relevant code to obtain each set of tickets.

I would have thought on insertion of your card the first time it would display all the booked journeys you have and give you the option of selecting which one you wish to print out by using the relevant code. At the end of the selected journey printing out you would think it would give you the option of moving onto the next one or exiting.

But unfortunately you have to repeat the process three times (much to the annoyance of anyone waiting behind you):roll:

That wouldn't happen if you booked all the journeys in one transaction.

 

[button_boxer]

That wouldn't happen if you booked on the journeys in one transaction.

... and on a WebTIS site. I've found trainline-powered sites give me a separate code per journey even if they're all paid for in one transaction.

 

[Bungle73]

... and on a WebTIS site. I've found trainline-powered sites give me a separate code per journey even if they're all paid for in one transaction.

EC uses WebTIS.