INTIS - Intermediate Ticket Issuing System

[samzeman]

Hi all, I was looking to create the redlink/missing wikipedia article for INTIS, which was the first computerized ticketing system, between 1981 and 1986 seemingly, as a precursor to the better remembered APTIS.

I am looking for almost any info on these, as there seems to be little out there. There is the infamous (to me, now, after trying to find a copy) "INTIS - the British Rail Intermediate Ticket Issuing System" part 1 & 2 - they're difficult to get a hold of. So much so there's not even a pic of their cover anywhere on the internet that I can find. Other ticket-related books exist which I'm ordering for my own interest anyway, though I somehow suspect they'll have fairly little information, but happy to be proven wrong once they arrive.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good resource or provide any anecdotal info which may help me pick some directions to research? Specifically where they were rolled out but also other info that might be relevant...

 

[crablab]

I don't know if the National Archives have a copy of that - I also tried to find it.

I'd suggest starting with AN 200/413-415,433 which do have references to INTIS in there.

 

[steamybrian]

Is this article of any use...

https://www.transport-ticket.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/INTIS-Part-1.pdf

 

[samzeman]

Is this article of any use...

https://www.transport-ticket.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/INTIS-Part-1.pdf

Jackpot, this does seem to be the first part of the book I mentioned in OP. Will dig in, thank you v much.

I don't know if the National Archives have a copy of that - I also tried to find it.

I'd suggest starting with AN 200/413-415,433 which do have references to INTIS in there.

Was going to pay the NA a visit to check at some point just because I've also always wanted to go there for other things as well. But I will certainly be digging into this and thank you for a place to start also.

 

[AY1975]

I do remember INTIS style tickets. I don't think INTIS was as widespread as APTIS, though, as some stations still used Edmondson card tickets until the introduction of APTIS in the mid to late 1980s.

It seems a bit odd that INTIS ticket stock was pre-printed with the destination rather than the issuing station. I would presume that ticket offices that used INTIS held stocks of tickets pre-printed with the most popular destinations from that station, so I wonder what happened if you went to an INTIS equipped ticket office and asked for a ticket to a destination not covered by their ticket stocks?

 

[thedbdiboy]

I was just photographing an INTIS ticket the other day - Watford Junction had the system before becoming one of the very first APTIS stations.

 

[samzeman]

I do remember INTIS style tickets. I don't think INTIS was as widespread as APTIS, though, as some stations still used Edmondson card tickets until the introduction of APTIS in the mid to late 1980s.

It seems a bit odd that INTIS ticket stock was pre-printed with the destination rather than the issuing station. I would presume that ticket offices that used INTIS held stocks of tickets pre-printed with the most popular destinations from that station, so I wonder what happened if you went to an INTIS equipped ticket office and asked for a ticket to a destination not covered by their ticket stocks?

Good point. I imagine that cropped up a few times which is why they altered it for APTIS. Not sure why they'd initially start by printing destination like that, though maybe it is intuitively satisfying. You get a ticket to London, and the ticket very clearly says London.

Thanks all for the info. My mum grew up around Watford so maybe I'll ask, she was well placed but she may not have attached the importance to the system necessary to remember it in any detail

 

[gaillark]

I do remember INTIS style tickets. I don't think INTIS was as widespread as APTIS, though, as some stations still used Edmondson card tickets until the introduction of APTIS in the mid to late 1980s.

It seems a bit odd that INTIS ticket stock was pre-printed with the destination rather than the issuing station. I would presume that ticket offices that used INTIS held stocks of tickets pre-printed with the most popular destinations from that station, so I wonder what happened if you went to an INTIS equipped ticket office and asked for a ticket to a destination not covered by their ticket stocks?

The destination was handwritten. Also you could get both the origin and destination handwritten if it were a remote issue.
(Also tickets that were valid on day of issue only had a diagnal line otherwise they would be open tickets. An ORDINARY RTN was valid three months them days including the outward portion).

 

[thedbdiboy]

The destination was handwritten. Also you could get both the origin and destination handwritten if it were a remote issue.
(Also tickets that were valid on day of issue only had a diagnal line otherwise they would be open tickets. An ORDINARY RTN was valid three months them days including the outward portion).

Each INTIS Ticket Office had a selection of printed destinations for the most common tickets, or required it to be handwritten for others (see my example above which was a Watford Junction issue for St Albans with a printed destination).

 

[Falcon1200]

Each INTIS Ticket Office had a selection of printed destinations for the most common tickets, or required it to be handwritten for others (see my example above which was a Watford Junction issue for St Albans with a printed destination).

I worked at Reading Booking Office until March 1984 and IIRC, Intis was introduced there shortly before I moved on. In fact, IIRC also, I had the 'privilege' of issuing the last NCR 51 ticket there before we fully cut over! I presume that the pre-printed Intis tickets simply continued the practice used for NCR 51.

 

[Bald Rick]

I worked at Reading Booking Office until March 1984 and IIRC, Intis was introduced there shortly before I moved on. In fact, IIRC also, I had the 'privilege' of issuing the last NCR 51 ticket there before we fully cut over! I presume that the pre-printed Intis tickets simply continued the practice used for NCR 51.

I’d never heard of INTIS until this thread, but vividly remember some sort of pre APTIS tickets being dished out at Reading around 1984/5. Perhaps you sold me one!

 

[Alfie1014]

I used INTIS when I worked briefly in the Business Travel section Euston Travel Centre in the mid 1980s and as we served an eclectic bunch of clients (including the BRB) I seem to remember having to hand write lots of destinations as we didn’t have the appropriate stock tickets!

 

[Falcon1200]

I’d never heard of INTIS until this thread, but vividly remember some sort of pre APTIS tickets being dished out at Reading around 1984/5. Perhaps you sold me one!

Might well have done - we sold a lot of tickets at Reading, taking the second largest amount of money on the WR after Paddington.

 

[Bald Rick]

Might well have done - we sold a lot of tickets at Reading, taking the second largest amount of money on the WR after Paddington.

Child return to Cardiff / Bristol / Exeter with a Railriders voucher, that would be me.

 

[AY1975]

I worked at Reading Booking Office until March 1984 and IIRC, Intis was introduced there shortly before I moved on. In fact, IIRC also, I had the 'privilege' of issuing the last NCR 51 ticket there before we fully cut over! I presume that the pre-printed Intis tickets simply continued the practice used for NCR 51.

I've started a separate thread on NCR51 tickets: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/vertical-intercity-tickets-in-the-1980s.283102/

 

[crablab]

I think this is covered above, but in case it's useful here are the pages on INTIS from the 1987/89 Ticket Examiners Handbook