Digital Railcard Warning

[Clip]

This one is pretty recent

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=151402

This one too
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=150074

probably more if you go further back as I do remember more but lets not let the facts of the matter get in front of peoples sheer unwillingness to accept the new digital railcard eh?

 

[CentralTrainer]

I'm willing to bet we'll have someone posting in the Disputes section within a month because of problems with the Railcard app

Can guarantee it'll be something like "My battery on the phone ran out before I could show the card to the Guard".

 

[Clip]

Can guarantee it'll be something like "My battery on the phone ran out before I could show the card to the Guard".

Then it will be treated exactly the same as if you had forgotten/lost your paper railcard wouldn't it?

 

[jon0844]

Can guarantee it'll be something like "My battery on the phone ran out before I could show the card to the Guard".

Yup, and the replies can be predicted too!

 

[roversfan2001]

No way I'd buy a digital railcard. Can go wrong far too easily; it's a lot easier to remember a credit card sized piece of plastic than to maintain battery on a device all day with moderate usage.

 

[jon0844]

No way I'd buy a digital railcard. Can go wrong far too easily; it's a lot easier to remember a credit card sized piece of plastic than to maintain battery on a device all day with moderate usage.

I can't remember the last time one of my phones (and I have quite a few!) has actually completely died.

I do suffer battery anxiety so always seek to charge when I can, and it means that I rarely get home with under 30% battery. If it gets to 20% I'll perhaps worry a bit, and invoke various power saving features.

Of course if millions of railcards are sold this way, there will be issues when someone loses their phone or drops it (more likely than a straight battery failure) but I am sure people will cope.

 

[roversfan2001]

I can't remember the last time one of my phones (and I have quite a few!) has actually completely died.

I do suffer battery anxiety so always seek to charge when I can, and it means that I rarely get home with under 30% battery. If it gets to 20% I'll perhaps worry a bit, and invoke various power saving features.

Of course if millions of railcards are sold this way, there will be issues when someone loses their phone or drops it (more likely than a straight battery failure) but I am sure people will cope.

With all of my phones (I've recently got my 6th), the battery has rarely lasted the day with moderate/heavy usage. Let's say a 16-25 railcard holder goes on a sightseeing day trip to London from the North West, taking pictures using their phone as an ever increasing amount of people buy phones with high quality cameras. Unless they get access to a plug socket during the day or have a battery pack their phone would more than likely run out of charge.

Obviously for people who's phone battery is in good condition or they don't use their phones a lot, this is a great bit of progress. But personally I'd never entertain the idea.

 

[jon0844]

Hopefully many more people are making sure to buy a phone with a decent sized battery these days, as losing access to my railcard would be the least of my worries if the battery died on me!

My main phone has a 4,000mAh battery and you can get phones with 5,000mAh or more (and they're not significantly thicker than a phone with a lot less).

You can still get phones with 3,000mAh batteries and smaller (Tesco sells one for £30 with 1400mAh!) but I wouldn't carry one of them personally.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Hopefully many more people are making sure to buy a phone with a decent sized battery these days, as losing access to my railcard would be the least of my worries if the battery died on me!

It'd be the most of some people's worries in that instant if they were travelling...

 

[roversfan2001]

Without splashing out on an expensive flagship 3000mAh is pretty much the limit. Mine is 2800mAh and is a very good phone in other departments.

 

[mrmartin]

If the battery dies then you can recharge it. There's plugs on a lot of trains.

You could also offer another passenger a couple of quid to borrow their phone (or ask the guard politely?), download the app and retrieve the railcard. This is 100% impossible with paper if you forget it or lose it.

 

[yorksrob]

If the battery dies then you can recharge it. There's plugs on a lot of trains.

You could also offer another passenger a couple of quid to borrow their phone (or ask the guard politely?), download the app and retrieve the railcard. This is 100% impossible with paper if you forget it or lose it.

Not on nearly enough trains have sockets in my experience. And even that's not much use if you forget your phone.

 

[AlterEgo]

Not on nearly enough trains have sockets in my experience. And even that's not much use if you forget your phone.

Almost nobody digitally connected enough to want a digital railcard over a paper one is going to forget their phone. Most people like that would realise they'd forgotten their phone within a few minutes of leaving their house.

I cannot remember the last time my phone ran out of battery; I'm not sure my current iPhone, which I got in November, has ever been allowed to run flat.

 

[yorksrob]

Almost nobody digitally connected enough to want a digital railcard over a paper one is going to forget their phone. Most people like that would realise they'd forgotten their phone within a few minutes of leaving their house.

I cannot remember the last time my phone ran out of battery; I'm not sure my current iPhone, which I got in November, has ever been allowed to run flat.

I can't remember the last time my phone battery lasted to the end of the day, frankly.

I suspect few people leave the house without their wallet. Why not keep your railcard in there

 

[CentralTrainer]

If the battery dies then you can recharge it. There's plugs on a lot of trains.

You obviously haven't travelled on London Midland, half of ATW services, and a good slab of non-HSTs Class 165/166s that FGW run down to London from Hereford and the West.

Plug sockets on a Pacer on Northern?

Heck on most of those even a large table is a luxury!

 

[Clip]

No way I'd buy a digital railcard. Can go wrong far too easily; it's a lot easier to remember a credit card sized piece of plastic than to maintain battery on a device all day with moderate usage.

And yet as I have outlined a few times already in this thread - people still do forget and lose their papercard so what exactly is the difference?

 

[ooo]

If battery is really a problem for you then you could just leave a portable charger in your bag. It's hardly a great expense seeing as they are sold in places like Poundland

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[krus_aragon]

If battery is really a problem for you then you could just leave a portable charger in your bag. It's hardly a great expense seeing as they are sold in places like Poundland

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

In jest, I refer you to this xkcd comic:

(I get stressed out when my phone battery is low, so I carry this backup battery. But then I worry about the backup running low, so I carry this second backup. Then I worry—
... My bag is 90% backup batteries)

 

[sheff1]

Form filling, travelling from a station without a ticket office open, long queues..

Or download an app and get up and running within minutes?

Or fill in an online form in minutes and receive a railcard in the post the next day.

 

[AlterEgo]

Or fill in an online form in minutes and receive a railcard in the post the next day.

The next day? More like a few days in most cases.

Instant fulfilment is a significant incentive even if there's not a great deal of logic behind it (there often isn't when it comes to purchasing decisions).

There will be tons of digital railcards sold.

 

[sheff1]

The next day? More like a few days in most cases.

In our household railcards have always arrived the next day. Of course, our experience many not the norm.

 

[jon0844]

I don't know how many people plan ahead, as I'd imagine a fair few railcards sold are on the day someone wishes to travel and either discovers, or is told, a railcard will save them enough to pay for the railcard the first time (or near enough).

I assume the app is designed to make renewals as easy as possible too, and obviously there's no chance of showing an out of date one and hoping it isn't spotted.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Can guarantee it'll be something like "My battery on the phone ran out before I could show the card to the Guard".

the perfect answer



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[jon0844]

the perfect answer

I didn't know Virgin had battery powered trains!

 

[krus_aragon]

I didn't know Virgin had battery powered trains!

Isn't that a battery-powering train?

 

[jon0844]

Isn't that a battery-powering train?

Fair point.

I'd say it must be quite dangerous when it comes to recharging it though. 25kV AC? No thanks!

 

[tsr]

I have found a few passengers using digital railcards in the last few days. I'm pleased to say the apps worked as planned.

Depending on the pass/fail of the attitude test, and if there is enough time between stops, I'd be more than happy to lend a passenger my portable charger to give their phone a boost. If they are on (say) an hour and a half's journey and they are polite and apologetic, then being flexible is no bad thing.

On the other hand, you can usually easily sense when someone is "trying it on" with railcard fraud, and then it will be dealt with rather more severely.

I recognise that not everyone thinks this way, though, and it's never good to push your luck. If you rely on your phone that much, I'd certainly recommend your own battery pack / portable charger / name of the week.

 

[yorksrob]

If battery is really a problem for you then you could just leave a portable charger in your bag. It's hardly a great expense seeing as they are sold in places like Poundland

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

A paper railcard is a lot lighter to carry.

 

[roversfan2001]

And yet as I have outlined a few times already in this thread - people still do forget and lose their papercard so what exactly is the difference?

If you have your railcard at the start of the journey you are highly likely to also have it at the end. Not so much with phone battery percentage.

 

[Joe Paxton]

...
On the other hand, you can usually easily sense when someone is "trying it on" with railcard fraud, and then it will be dealt with rather more severely.
...

Out of curiosity, what are the tell tale signs? Fingers over the expiry date, or an attempt to obscure the photo (e.g. for YP cards)?