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Paper Roll Ranger Tickets

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lancededcena

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I was on Peterborough station last week ordering a East Midlands Ranger (last time I ordered one in 2019, shown to the right) and they gave me it in paper roll (or as I call it, bog roll) format. I didn't ask anything about it as I was eager to get on with my bashes.

image0.jpg

The QR code did not work in any East Midlands Railway station that I've been on (Derby, Nottingham and Leicester) and it only works in LNER stations (Peterborough). A bloke did try to scan it at Derby and it came up with the correct details of the ticket but the gates haven't been programmed in to let me through.

I really cannot understand the rationale of migrating over to the roll format with rangers (not sure if it works with rovers). I hope my long and valuable rover ticket isn't printed in bog roll format when I come down to York, but that being said I heard that £200+ worth tickets are being printed in paper roll too!

Is LNER alone at doing this weird format and not having it work with other TOC barriers, and is there still equipment there to print out old ones or do I have to haggle a bit with the ticket salesperson?
 
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Starmill

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They print on roll all over the place. Avanti, West Midlands Trains, onboard or mobile staff here there and everywhere.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Any particular reason why "bog roll" sized tickets are seemingly becoming more common?
 

Starmill

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Any particular reason why "bog roll" sized tickets are seemingly becoming more common?
A ticket with a 2D code is considered a "smart" ticket. Eventually credit card sized tickets will be retired.
 

Journeyman

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A ticket with a 2D code is considered a "smart" ticket. Eventually credit card sized tickets will be retired.
Yup. The barcode contains FAR more information than the magnetic stripe, and the tickets are far harder to reuse fraudulently as a result.
 

lancededcena

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I do think bog roll tickets should be way more compact and easier to fit in my ticket wallet rather than being crumpled up in there. Also its very flimsy unlike the old magnetic stripe tickets. I think a compromise should be done by printing the QR code on one side and having information printed on the other side in the same form and materials as the old magnetic stripe tickets, minus the magnetic stripe of course.

Or better still, if they want us to be using smart tickets on phones, have all tickets purchasable from an app just like point to point tickets. So glad that GA, my home TOC won't be getting rid of the old mag-stripe tickets...yet.
 

XAM2175

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Any particular reason why "bog roll" sized tickets are seemingly becoming more common?
Is it not possible to print a qr code on a card-sized ticket?

The magnetic-stripe "ecosystem" is hugely expensive to maintain and so would be heading for the figurative skip regardless, but indeed there's no technical reason preventing the printing of the 2D barcode (which, it should be noted, is not QR code) on an unstriped cardstock ticket. I'd suggest that the adoption of the paper roll stock in particular is being driven by the fact that both the paper stock and the printers that use it are cheaper than any form of cardstock.
 

ABB125

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I'd suggest that the adoption of the paper roll stock in particular is being driven by the fact that both the paper stock and the printers that use it are cheaper than any form of cardstock.
Obviously! :D

There's something about the card ticket which just isn't quite emulated by the paper ones, but I can't work out what.
 

dk1

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I always know I’m going to have to explain my PlusBus ticket to bus drivers when it’s printed on toilet roll.
 

ChrisC

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I do think bog roll tickets should be way more compact and easier to fit in my ticket wallet rather than being crumpled up in there. Also its very flimsy unlike the old magnetic stripe tickets. I think a compromise should be done by printing the QR code on one side and having information printed on the other side in the same form and materials as the old magnetic stripe tickets, minus the magnetic stripe of course.

Or better still, if they want us to be using smart tickets on phones, have all tickets purchasable from an app just like point to point tickets. So glad that GA, my home TOC won't be getting rid of the old mag-stripe tickets...yet.
I once had a 7 day rover ticket printed on bog roll stock and it was a real inconvenience it not fitting into my ticket wallet without folding it. After a few days it was looking really worn and I had problems with ink beginning to smudge on the ticket after it had been stored in the plastic ticket wallet. The main problem was just the constant problem of not being able to just easily show it when asked without having to take it out of my ticket wallet and unfold it.
 

David Goddard

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I definitely recall seeing QR codes printed on standard card stock at some point - I think this was on some tickets we bought at Doncaster five years ago cant locate them at the moment through. This paper roll looks so cheap and nasty, and is bound to get damaged in a short space of time as it has to be folded to be safely stored. A definite backward step.

Having spent in the past over £1,000 a go on All Line Rovers, which we guarded with more care than anything else we took with us, to be given a flimsy piece of paper like this for such a ticket in future would just not seem right. I assume the TOCs are not supplying pouches to protect the tickets with.

East Midlands Rovers not being accepted at major EM stations is nothing new, even with magstripe - we bought a pair, again in 2016 from the ticket office at Derby and they failed to open the barriers less than two minutes later. Seeing the same issue at Nottingham later that day we didn't even bother to try for the rest of the trip.
 

dk1

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Having spent in the past over £1,000 a go on All Line Rovers, which we guarded with more care than anything else we took with us, to be given a flimsy piece of paper like this for such a ticket in future would just not seem right. I assume the TOCs are not supplying pouches to protect the tickets with.
Every booking office has copious amounts of plastic wallets. You only have to ask.
 

plugwash

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Every booking office has copious amounts of plastic wallets. You only have to ask.
Do they have plastic wallets designed for the paper roll tickets though? or only ones designed for CCST?
 

L401CJF

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Wirral
Pah! People complaining about buying one ticket in bog roll format and having to unfold it. Try having day returns for a family of 4 in that format!
 

plugwash

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Sure you can fold the ticket (though folding it in half is insifficient, thirds might just be enough if you are good at getting the folds in the right place, four parts is more likely in practice), but if you do that then it dramatically slows down the process of showing the ticket and means that every time you show the ticket you are subjecting it to a bunch of wear and tear. Bad enough for a regular ticket that is likely to be shown 0-4 times, but seems like a disaster for a ranger/rover/season ticket.

The whole thing is yet another example of the attitude the rail industry has to it's customers.

Sadly it seems that at least for the moment the best workaround is to avoid buying tickets from humans where possible. Afaict if you want an all-lines-rover on traditional stock you can buy it from the GWR website and have it delivered TOD.
 

dk1

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Sure you can fold the ticket (though folding it in half is insifficient, thirds might just be enough if you are good at getting the folds in the right place, four parts is more likely in practice), but if you do that then it dramatically slows down the process of showing the ticket and means that every time you show the ticket you are subjecting it to a bunch of wear and tear. Bad enough for a regular ticket that is likely to be shown 0-4 times, but seems like a disaster for a ranger/rover/season ticket.

The whole thing is yet another example of the attitude the rail industry has to it's customers.

Sadly it seems that at least for the moment the best workaround is to avoid buying tickets from humans where possible. Afaict if you want an all-lines-rover on traditional stock you can buy it from the GWR website and have it delivered TOD.
Could always just nip into Smiths (other stationary retailers are available) & get some plastic wallets. If not, would it be accepted if you laminate it.
 

roversfan2001

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Could always just nip into Smiths (other stationary retailers are available) & get some plastic wallets. If not, would it be accepted if you laminate it.
Would laminating even work? If they're thermally printed like CCST are then I can see laminating one going quite badly.
 

Sprinter153

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Could always just nip into Smiths (other stationary retailers are available) & get some plastic wallets. If not, would it be accepted if you laminate it.
I wouldn’t try this. They’re printed on thermal roll so would go black under the heat of the laminator.
 

Haywain

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Could always just nip into Smiths (other stationary retailers are available) & get some plastic wallets. If not, would it be accepted if you laminate it.
Laminating isn't generally good for thermal printing.
 

dk1

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Laminating isn't generally good for thermal printing.
I will have to Google thermal printing. Bus drivers should be fine with me today.
 

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