• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Tickets and sanitiser

Status
Not open for further replies.

Wolfie

Established Member
Joined
17 Aug 2010
Messages
6,050
My brand new replacement annual season ticket - the magnetic strip had once again failed - has two black blobs on it where my freshly sanitised fingers touched it to use a ticket gate. Anyone else experienced this or have a clue why?
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Wolfie

Established Member
Joined
17 Aug 2010
Messages
6,050
But that would impact the text on the ticket rather than the magnetic strip.
To be clear l got a new ticket because the mag strip had failed on the old one. The black blobs are on the text side of the new one.
 

island

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Dec 2010
Messages
15,982
Location
0036
Certain flows such as cross-London flows can’t be issued on smartcards
Getting excesses on smartcards can be difficult
Holding more than 5 tickets at once isn’t possible
Two Together and Family & Friends Railcard tickets can’t be issued on smartcards
 

Haywain

Veteran Member
Joined
3 Feb 2013
Messages
14,875
Certain flows such as cross-London flows can’t be issued on smartcards
Getting excesses on smartcards can be difficult
Holding more than 5 tickets at once isn’t possible
Two Together and Family & Friends Railcard tickets can’t be issued on smartcards
None of which apply to season tickets, which is what are what @Wolfie was getting.
 

sheff1

Established Member
Joined
24 Dec 2009
Messages
5,459
Location
Sheffield
Why are people still buying mag stripe tickets, Smartcards are so much more resiliant
"You can't use that on here, we can't read it" - various threads on here. Have that happen to you once, with all the associated aggravation, and many people would choose to revert to card tickets which can be read by the human eye.
 

arb

Member
Joined
31 Oct 2010
Messages
411
Why are people still buying mag stripe tickets, Smartcards are so much more resiliant

Because of this exclusion in the Advance Tickets FAQ:

If the passenger is delayed and the rail industry or its partners (as shown below) is at fault, which should be checked with your Control Office, change to another train of the same company is allowed to get them to their destination with the least delay.
...
Excluded:for the avoidance of doubt, are:
•Tickets that cannot be read on-train e.g. smartcards (but allowable where electronically checked, delay verified and Advance ticket endorsed in Travel Centres

If my season ticket is on paper and I'm making a longer journey by combining it with an advance, and I get delayed whilst on the part of the journey covered by the season, I just carry on my journey as best as possible and explain the situation to a guard. But if the season is on a smartcard, I have to artifically delay myself even more by getting off the train at the split point and getting the advance endorsed in a travel centre before I can continue, just in case I don't make a connection later in the journey. No thanks.
 

Wallsendmag

Established Member
Joined
11 Dec 2014
Messages
5,133
Location
Wallsend or somewhere in GB
Because of this exclusion in the Advance Tickets FAQ:



If my season ticket is on paper and I'm making a longer journey by combining it with an advance, and I get delayed whilst on the part of the journey covered by the season, I just carry on my journey as best as possible and explain the situation to a guard. But if the season is on a smartcard, I have to artifically delay myself even more by getting off the train at the split point and getting the advance endorsed in a travel centre before I can continue, just in case I don't make a connection later in the journey. No thanks.
Why would you need to do that?
 

arb

Member
Joined
31 Oct 2010
Messages
411
Because the FAQ that I quoted explicitly states that I have to.
 

Flying Snail

Established Member
Joined
12 Dec 2006
Messages
1,625
Why are people still buying mag stripe tickets, Smartcards are so much more resiliant

Why is the rail industry still issuing seasons on mag stipe only cards and now bog roll junk?

Single use contactless tickets could combine the resilience of contactless as well as a mag stripe AND crucially a printed face for those parts of the railway that insist on human readable tickets. Glasgow Underground have been using disposable contactless tickets for all fares for the best part of a decade so why can't the "big" railway do so for tickets costing far more than a single loop of the subway?

Also, why is it always the passengers fault when the railways equipment fails and their products are so unnecessarily complex and inconsistent depending on what format they are bought in?
 

Wallsendmag

Established Member
Joined
11 Dec 2014
Messages
5,133
Location
Wallsend or somewhere in GB
Why is the rail industry still issuing seasons on mag stipe only cards and now bog roll junk?

Single use contactless tickets could combine the resilience of contactless as well as a mag stripe AND crucially a printed face for those parts of the railway that insist on human readable tickets. Glasgow Underground have been using disposable contactless tickets for all fares for the best part of a decade so why can't the "big" railway do so for tickets costing far more than a single loop of the subway?

Also, why is it always the passengers fault when the railways equipment fails and their products are so unnecessarily complex and inconsistent depending on what format they are bought in?
You're preaching to the choir when it comes to Ultralight.
 

talldave

Established Member
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Messages
2,169
Why is the rail industry still issuing seasons on mag stipe only cards and now bog roll junk?

Single use contactless tickets could combine the resilience of contactless as well as a mag stripe AND crucially a printed face for those parts of the railway that insist on human readable tickets. Glasgow Underground have been using disposable contactless tickets for all fares for the best part of a decade so why can't the "big" railway do so for tickets costing far more than a single loop of the subway?
I was in Madrid this week and see they've dumped paper tickets since I was last there a couple of years ago. You get a reusable paper contactless ticket. (My 50 minute journey from the airport was €5.70 return!).
 

185143

Established Member
Joined
3 Mar 2013
Messages
4,486
I was in Madrid this week and see they've dumped paper tickets since I was last there a couple of years ago. You get a reusable paper contactless ticket. (My 50 minute journey from the airport was €5.70 return!).
As have the Glasgow Subway.

Walking into a subway station for the first time after the 2010(ish) modernization was a bit odd. Though I'd only done it once before. Had a Roundabout ticket issued by ScotRail and naturally went to the barriers and saw nowhere to put the ticket in. Went to the ticket office who told me I had to get one of their tickets, still free but all smartcards. It's basically a stiff card ticket with a chip in it. Obviously a season ticket is issued on a proper smartcard.
 

Haywain

Veteran Member
Joined
3 Feb 2013
Messages
14,875
I was in Madrid this week and see they've dumped paper tickets since I was last there a couple of years ago. You get a reusable paper contactless ticket. (My 50 minute journey from the airport was €5.70 return!).
So they've replaced non-recyclable paper tickets with non-recyclable paper tickets? Don't get me wrong, I think that 'ultralight' (paper smartcard) is a solution to some of our difficulties but it isn't ideal as it doesn't remove problems of lost tickets, for example, and still needs ticket machines but with an added element of complexity.
 

talldave

Established Member
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Messages
2,169
So they've replaced non-recyclable paper tickets with non-recyclable paper tickets? Don't get me wrong, I think that 'ultralight' (paper smartcard) is a solution to some of our difficulties but it isn't ideal as it doesn't remove problems of lost tickets, for example, and still needs ticket machines but with an added element of complexity.
I guess it's no different to trying to use Southern's Key for one- off journeys? Ironically I had to resort to the ticket office in Madrid as I couldn't find my destination on the Renfe ticket machine! I think there are possibly two types of Renfe machine, in addition to Metro machines as well. All a bit confusing and the usual helpful staff were nowhere to be seen as the airport's a bit of a ghost town.
 

XAM2175

Established Member
Joined
8 Jun 2016
Messages
3,469
Location
Glasgow
So they've replaced non-recyclable paper tickets with non-recyclable paper tickets?
I think there might be some confusion here - the Madrid system has eliminated single-use stock and now fulfills pay-per-ride tickets on the Tarjeta Multi, which is a standard reusable plastic smartcard that's provided for free with a tourist travel pass, or for EUR2.50 otherwise. As far as I know there are no ultralight cards in use there.
 

AM9

Veteran Member
Joined
13 May 2014
Messages
14,191
Location
St Albans
So they've replaced non-recyclable paper tickets with non-recyclable paper tickets? Don't get me wrong, I think that 'ultralight' (paper smartcard) is a solution to some of our difficulties but it isn't ideal as it doesn't remove problems of lost tickets, for example, and still needs ticket machines but with an added element of complexity.
Passengers losing their tickets is primarily a passenger problem. The railway doesn't have to take responsibility for lost cash so why should a ticket system need to insulate passengers from their own carelessness with tickets.
 

Haywain

Veteran Member
Joined
3 Feb 2013
Messages
14,875
Passengers losing their tickets is primarily a passenger problem. The railway doesn't have to take responsibility for lost cash so why should a ticket system need to insulate passengers from their own carelessness with tickets.
Quite right, but it is still a downside compared to eTickets.
 

talldave

Established Member
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Messages
2,169
I think there might be some confusion here - the Madrid system has eliminated single-use stock and now fulfills pay-per-ride tickets on the Tarjeta Multi, which is a standard reusable plastic smartcard that's provided for free with a tourist travel pass, or for EUR2.50 otherwise. As far as I know there are no ultralight cards in use there.
It's not plastic, it's paper. I'm talking about the Renfe Tarjeta Renfe & Tú ticket.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top