EMR issues warning regarding e-tickets and dead phone batteries

[Wallsendmag]

How many times do we have to keep repeating the move away from CCST doesn't mean you have to have your ticket on a phone ? Can a moderator add it to the forum name so everyone see it ?

 

[Hadders]

Only on this forum does etickets on phones produce such a debate.

No-one is required to use a mobile phone to travel by train but many people do find this a convenient way of storing their tickets
Paper tickets remain available, either printed yourself or at a station
Tickets printed at a station in future will move to paper till roll and have barcodes on them, not credit card sized tickets with magstripes

I really don't see what the problem is. Many go gooey-eyed for CCST, they are a very convenient size and I personally think it will be a shame when they go but life moves on...

Incidentally, I made a journey from London to La Rochelle last December. Printed my Eurostar and TVG tickets as it seemed easier to do as we were travelling in a group. I had all the tickets for the trip in my wallet. My wallet got stolen on the Paris Metro - thank god I'd taken the precaution of downloading the tickets on to my phone as well before leaving the UK otherwise it would've been a very expensive experience.

 

[43066]

Actually, I didn't exist in any of the 19th century - or much of the 20th either!

Yep that’s sort of what I was getting at. You needed to be able to show your ticket on demand in 1860 or so, so nobody has any excuse for not doing so today !

I have had this levelled at me by many who want to use their mobile for everything in their lives - and expect everybody else to do the same! It's an irony that they are back here complaining that nobody is removing all the possible risks of such a strategy for them, when (so far), other solutions are still freely available. After all, paper/card is the oldest form of information technology, (it's been around for at least 2000 years and will probably be around for at least the lifetime of every RUK member).

Agreed.

There does eventually come a tipping point where technologies become so old hat that continuing to accommodate them for a tiny minority starts to cost the rest of us - hence the recent discussion on another thread about cheques for example - but we are a long way off that with paper ticketing.

 

[Haywain]

Fortunately all my tickets were on paper. With such sudden discharges, software bugs, damage by dropping, theft, loss etc, I'd never entrust any travel documents to this media.

Have you never lost a paper ticket? I have, and it's an even bigger problem - a phone with a flat battery can be revived.

After all, paper/card is the oldest form of information technology,

So print the eTicket out!

 

[northwichcat]

Again, anyone who has used a train since the mid nineteenth century will know their ticket might be checked more than once, anyone who has travelled through london terminals in the last decade or two will know they’re likely to encounter ticker barriers.

If you haven't noticed we had a COVID pandemic which changed a lot of things. People who never used trains are now finding themselves working in remote roles where they need to make occasional train journeys to a big city, like London. There's someone in her 40s based in Yorkshire in my team and when she was told she had to attend a meeting in London, she tried to find an option of getting into Cannon Street by heavy rail. Thinking the Yorkshire trains go in to Kings Cross and then a connection can be made on the Northern Line, isn't common sense if you never use trains and aren't familiar with London. So why would ticket barriers be?

 

[Haywain]

If you haven't noticed we had a COVID pandemic which changed a lot of things. People who never used trains are now finding themselves working in remote roles where they need to make occasional train journeys to a big city, like London. There's someone in her 40s based in Yorkshire in my team and when she was told she had to attend a meeting in London, she tried to find an option of getting into Cannon Street by heavy rail. Thinking the Yorkshire trains go in to Kings Cross and then a connection can be made on the Northern Line, isn't common sense if you never use trains and aren't familiar with London.

If you don't know about using trains, don't you ask?

So why would ticket barriers be?

Why would ticket barriers be what?

 

[Willie Bee]

In January I travelled to Seaham on NorthernRail and was filming using my phone. More than an hour before my return train, my phone automatically shut down.

Panic strikes .. my first time with an e-ticket and it was a big fail

I walked to the station .. firstly to ask whether I could take the train one hour earlier than my advance ticket had been bought for .. the conductor said that was OK. Great, but then I had to explain my phone dying. He accepted this, as it was genuine. I knew there were USB ports on the train, so I quickly gave the phone some charge. I told the conductor who said it didn't matter.. but I was able to show him the ticket anyway.

From that day I have always printed off any e-ticket as a backup. I also bought a power bank which I take with me now.

 

[43066]

If you haven't noticed we had a COVID pandemic which changed a lot of things. People who never used trains are now finding themselves working in remote roles where they need to make occasional train journeys to a big city, like London. There's someone in her 40s based in Yorkshire in my team and when she was told she had to attend a meeting in London, she tried to find an option of getting into Cannon Street by heavy rail. Thinking the Yorkshire trains go in to Kings Cross and then a connection can be made on the Northern Line, isn't common sense if you never use trains and aren't familiar with London. So why would ticket barriers be?

That’s sensible enough, actually, Cannon St is a short walk from Blackfriars.

So your hypothetical example is basically someone who has absolutely no concept of train travel and doesn’t know what a train ticket is. Well, if they’re completely new to it, they have no excuse for not studying up online!

What was that I was saying about pointless and obscure objections?!

 

[northwichcat]

So your hypothetical example is basically someone who has absolutely no concept of train travel and doesn’t know what a train ticket is. Well, if they’re completely new to it, they have no excuse for not studying up online!

You misread my post. I'm talking about a real person making a real train journey. It's not a hypothetical example. Barriers and tickets are two separate things. If you search for train times online it gives you the option to buy a ticket online. If you select the option to do that it then tells you about e-tickets and ticket on departure.

Old buses had bins near the door saying 'Used tickets' so there's nothing strange about thinking you can dispose of your ticket as you alight a public transport vehicle, unless you're given a different instruction. Automated messages do mention about retaining tickets for inspection after alighting, so train operators obviously think it's necessary to tell passengers that. It wasn't that long ago that some people purposely left both their outward and return orange tickets on the train as they alighted.