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Running out of tickets.

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plymothian

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No one picked up on this?
Apparently the rail industry is running out of ticket stock.

http://www.passengertransport.co.uk/2015/07/rail-industry-alarm-at-running-out-of-tickets/

Train operators have been alarmed by a shortfall in supplies of paper magnetic stripe tickets since the end of June which created concern that they could run out of tickets to issue to customers. It is understood that operators’ ticket stocks ran down to one to two weeks’ worth of ticket issues and that it was unclear when they would be replenished.
 
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Paul Duck

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Yep, we been struggling for months up north. Problems with suppliers we've been told. New ticket supplier not the best has the magnetic strips are sticking together on some tickets, leading to mis-feeds and wasted blank tickets. Something which can be ill afforded at this time.
 

pemma

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Maybe operators who offer print@home and mobile tickets need to offer discounts for those types of tickets so that people are incentivised for buying tickets for don't require ticket stock?
 

philjo

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Probably does not help that the magnetic strip often is not encoded so the ticket will not work the barriers - a complete pain if it is a London travelcard as it won't open any of the tube gates.
that has happened twice in the last month (I had bought the ticket online and printed on TOD from a TVM) - so each time I had to get the ticket reprinted at a ticket office.

Someone I know has had to have their monthly season ticket reprinted 5 times in the last fortnight for the same reason. most of the people in the queue at our local ticket office the other night were queuing to get their seasons reprinted as the barriers no longer accepted them. the current printed stock does not seem as robust as before.
 
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Reason077

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Weren't we all supposed to be using ITSO smart cards and mobile ticketing apps by now?
 

najaB

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the trouble with mobile and ITSO ticketing is it's not amenable to people who copy tickets for expenses purposes
Expenses systems need to be updated - copies and paper receipts are so last century. (Said by someone who has to print out electronic invoices for centrally settled expenses (no money ever passes my palm) and send them in as paper copies).
 

Reason077

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the trouble with mobile and ITSO ticketing is it's not amenable to people who copy tickets for expenses purposes

How so? I've never had any problem turning in TfL's Oyster statements with my expense claims.

In fact, I'd argue the opposite is true - you get a nicely formatted PDF showing all your travel, rather than a stack of little paper cards that are easily lost!
 

najaB

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How so? I've never had any problem turning in TfL's Oyster statements with my expense claims.
Some accounts departments are less progressive than others! Until recently I had to submit the actual ticket as well as booking confirmation/receipt even though train tickets are bought on account so no cash actually passes my hands.
 

thedbdiboy

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Maybe operators who offer print@home and mobile tickets need to offer discounts for those types of tickets so that people are incentivised for buying tickets for don't require ticket stock?

...but you then run into problems with the (1995) rules that prevent discounting by channel. Everyone (including the government) knows these need updating, but progress is microscopic due to the abject terror by the authorities that any change whatsoever in the regulations might create a bad news story about DfT not micro-managing the industry enough and letting evil TOCs off the hook.
It's one of (many) issues that bedevil the Smartcard schemes - because these systems, which unlock all sorts of possibilities of doing things differently, have to be engineered to offer exactly the same types of product as paper based systems....
 

Merseysider

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No one picked up on this?
Apparently the rail industry is running out of ticket stock.

http://www.passengertransport.co.uk/2015/07/rail-industry-alarm-at-running-out-of-tickets/
Smaller stations could probably get away with writing out paper tickets (see attachment). That wouldn't be a long term solution but the paper slips cost next to nothing to produce. Larger stations would need the ticket stock as writing a ticket manually takes time, so could receive any rolls of tickets yet to be used from smaller stations.

But what happens if it all runs out? <D
 

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tsr

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I wouldn't trust train suspension and track quality enough to want to have to write every ticket out by hand if onboard a train... the amount of semi-illegible endorsements myself and others have produced tells a tale...
 

thedbdiboy

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I wouldn't trust train suspension and track quality enough to want to have to write every ticket out by hand if onboard a train... the amount of semi-illegible endorsements myself and others have produced tells a tale...
Anyone that remembers BR4407s will recall that they gave doctor's prescriptions a good run for their money in the legibility stakes!
 

talldave

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TOCs could reduce their costs//risks by putting returns on one physical ticket; it seems to work for Travelcards. But I guess this is another of the industry's "we've always done it that way" topics?
 

najaB

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TOCs could reduce their costs//risks by putting returns on one physical ticket; it seems to work for Travelcards. But I guess this is another of the industry's "we've always done it that way" topics?
The main issue with that is barriers - retaining the outward portion of the ticket is a good way to prevent reuse of tickets with multi-day validity.
 

IanXC

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I wonder if the accelerating rate of introduction of the new ticket formats is a coincidence or a consequence of this shortage?!
 

najaB

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I wonder if the accelerating rate of introduction of the new ticket formats is a coincidence or a consequence of this shortage?!
Or even the cause. Possible scenario: ATOC expects to be issuing significantly fewer coupons, so they reduce their future orders. Cue cashflow problems for the supplier.
 

CyrusWuff

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Or even the cause. Possible scenario: ATOC expects to be issuing significantly fewer coupons, so they reduce their future orders. Cue cashflow problems for the supplier.

ATOC are only responsible for the master contract. Individual TOCs are responsible for placing (and paying for) orders.

I believe Magndata had a quality control issue earlier in the year, which saw a number of TOCs order stock from BemroseBooth (who previously held the contract) instead, which obviously had financial implications for Magndata.
 

trentside

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I have noticed some old 'Rail Settlement Plan' stock reappearing in our area lately. Some boxes obviously got pushed to the back of the cupboard at the smaller stations when the new deliveries came in. I believe recent deliveries have been from BemroseBooth at our TOC too.

As an aside, I never realised Magnadata was based in Boston. That would explain why our ticket stock was always delivered by a haulage and courier firm based in the area. Pleased that the company has been saved for the sake of local jobs!
 
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pemma

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I have noticed some old 'Rail Settlement Plan' stock reappearing in our area lately. Some boxes obviously got pushed to the back of the cupboard at the smaller stations when the new deliveries came in. I believe recent deliveries have been from BemroseBooth at our TOC too.

Last year a load of tickets which had an advert for getting your rail tickets for the London 2012 games on the rear were put in to a number of Northern Rail TVMs, so it does seem they can get used out-of-order.
 

Clip

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Or even the cause. Possible scenario: ATOC expects to be issuing significantly fewer coupons, so they reduce their future orders. Cue cashflow problems for the supplier.

We order our own tickets - got nothing to do with ATOC.

With the state of some of my staffs handwriting I hope we dont have to go over to written tickets - though I must say I always over order anyway so im probably the problem :lol:
 

Shempz

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Weren't we all supposed to be using ITSO smart cards and mobile ticketing apps by now?


lol. The smartcards that a couple I know use was so useless and workded so rarely (that would be Southern's The Key!), they have now returned to getting a paper ticket.
 

superalbs

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I guess buying those 41 split tickets can't help this. (I saved £10 though! :D)
 

Parallel

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I think there needs to be a major improvement in battery life before mobile ticketing is properly pushed. It would be fine for my morning trip to work, but my phone battery is poor and it might cause a few issues when returning home, after work.

As for print at home tickets, it'd be a pain to print those off whenever I wanted to travel anywhere. E.g. Especially as I can use my railcard in July and August, making a bigger saving than a season ticket.
 

Lou92

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I doubt Irish Rail has the same problem (this IE coupon contains both the outbound and return journey, seat reservations for all legs, and even cycle reservations). The National Rail coupons are for the equivalent journeys between Carlisle and Holyhead (I forgot to include the collection coupon, so add one extra for National Rail; IE does not issue collection coupons, only receipt coupons if you pay at the TVM).
 

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ooo

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Id like to see a return to the big airline style tickets some systems were issuing in the early 2000s with everything on 1 ticket in a clear way but with a barcode for use with barriers
Those are much too big. The Credit Cqrd Size of tickets are very easy to carry. If they were going to be changed (which would probably require lots of changes to ticket issuing systems) it would be better if they were the size like German ones. More information can be out on the ticket but they are easier to carry around
Id like to see a return to the big airline style tickets some systems were issuing in the early 2000s with everything on 1 ticket in a clear way but with a barcode for use with barriers
Those are much too big. The Credit Cqrd Size of tickets are very easy to carry. Perh
 

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