Northern ticketing

[mrbluelips]

Season tickets

Are there any plans to introduce an e-ticket, or at least something on the iPhone?

My ticket is the GM traincard, so not strictly limited to Northern services.

Commuting would be so much simpler if we move away from Victorian paper tickets.

 

[LexyBoy]

I didn't realise the Victorians had thermal printers and magnetic strip technology.

Electronic tickets are all well and good until your phone battery dies, or your contactless card fails to read, or you don't have the right ID with you, or you need to use one of the rights that you give up with these tickets...

To answer your question, I don't know the situation with NR - there are various smartcard schemes in the PTE areas they cover which I assume they accept - but it is a condition of new franchises that they cobble something together so it will happen sooner or later.

 

[mrbluelips]

I didn't realise the Victorians had thermal printers and magnetic strip technology.

Electronic tickets are all well and good until your phone battery dies, or your contactless card fails to read, or you don't have the right ID with you, or you need to use one of the rights that you give up with these tickets...

To answer your question, I don't know the situation with NR - there are various smartcard schemes in the PTE areas they cover which I assume they accept - but it is a condition of new franchises that they cobble something together so it will happen sooner or later.

So the short answer is that you don't know.

I've never understood why people say "what if your phone battery dies" or "what if your phone gets stolen".

Well, what happens if I lose my wallet with my ticket in, or the ticket becomes soiled and can't be read by the ticket gate...

The fact is, I (and many people like me) would prefer to do away with a wallet and just have a smart phone. My paper rail ticket is now the only thing that prevents me from doing this.

 

[185]

Season tickets

Commuting would be so much simpler if we move away from Victorian paper tickets.

Not really.

A) Mr Marple of Marple arrives at the station with his paper annual season ticket. Mr Marple of Marple sees a rather attractive lady. Mr Marple of Marple completes his journey at Piccadilly and heads to work.

B) Mr Marple of Marple arrives at the station with his plastic annual smart ticket. Mr Marple of Marple sees a rather attractive lady. Mr Marple of Marple completes his journey at Piccadilly and gets...

...dragged off by STM for failing to tap/touch on coz ee seen a pair of legs, and Mr Marple becomes Mr HMP Manchester for a RORA offence or similar.

 

[ainsworth74]

To answer your question, I don't know the situation with NR - there are various smartcard schemes in the PTE areas they cover which I assume they accept - but it is a condition of new franchises that they cobble something together so it will happen sooner or later.

As far as I'm aware as long as the product in question would be valid in paper ticket format then the NRCoC mean that Northern don't have a choice and have to accept it:

9. Electronic Tickets

In some cases a Train Company, transport authority, travel agent or other authorised person may issue you with a ticket where the details of the trains you are entitled to use, together with any rights to goods or services supplied by another person, are stored only in electronic form. Such a ticket is referred to in these Conditions as an Electronic Ticket. Any reference in these Conditions to the term “ticket” includes an Electronic Ticket unless specifically stated otherwise.

2. Requirement to hold a ticket

Before you travel you must have a ticket or other authority to travel which is valid for the train(s) you intend to use and for the journey you intend to make, unless the circumstances set out in (b) (i) or (ii) below apply.

Emphasis mine

So as there is no specific mention of an exception for electronic tickets then, as long as you have a valid product on it, a smartcard should be accepted.

I seem to recall that some EMT Guards were not happy with people using travelcard season tickets on Oyster as part of Condition 19 (c) splits but the combination of smartcard and paper ticket was valid (even though EMT Guards had no means of reading the Oyster card) and I believe EMT accepted as much as it is not the passengers fault that EMT did not equip their guards with Oyster readers.