But it says in great big letters at the top of the ticket "VALID ONLY WITH RESERVATION(S)".
I know what it means, you know what it means... but you
could read that and think it means the ticket is only valid with a reservation - which you would have made. It doesn't tell you literally that you must have the reservation ticket with you (or to hand).
I do think it's mad to have so many tickets and wonder if there isn't a way to either print on the reverse or somewhere else on the same ticket. At some point, we should be updating all ticketing facilities to allow for totally blank cards to be used as ticket stock and for the printer to print out everything - whether that's in the traditional layout or a more advanced layout.
You could even consider putting a QR code on the corner somewhere to speed up the reading/verification of a booking if necessary.
Not that it would happen overnight, but the industry should consider doing this and then set a deadline at some point in the future. It can't be that hard (maybe the barcode bit) given most mechanical printers will need to be replaced soon anyway, and the thermal ones already can print anything you like.
Until that happens, take the advice; carry everything you have with you until you've finished your journey and are now safely back in your home!!
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I have to agree. The only reason for having a separate ticket must be to trap the unwary.
To be fair, it's more likely down to the fact that the technology in ticketing is VERY old and VERY out of date. It works, but is in need of a radical overhaul to catch up.
I guess we were quite ahead of the game when we got the new ticketing, so it stands to reason it would go out of date quicker. The system works, even if it is fiddly (I also hate having so many tickets squashed into my ticket wallet) but that doesn't mean we can't express the opinion that it would be nice to update it.
Smart ticketing with NFC is probably the way ahead for a lot of things, but I can see paper tickets always existing. In London, it's easy to ditch paper as many people (including tourists) can happily use an Oyster on prepay or get a Travelcard, but I think paper will still have to stick around for a long time yet eslewhere.
It would help staff a great deal if the tickets had more information and they don't need to sort them all out when handed a clump of tickets from a confused family!