Print size on (physical) Advance Tickets

[Mikey C]

When did it become normal for seat reservations to be included on the same ticket as the journey, rather than as a separately printed ticket?

I'm happy to have it all on one ticket, but the downside is that writing can be really small. I'm not sure the attached photo does justice to the tiny size of the font used! Luckily I have decent varifocals

It's not helped by Bristol TM to Paddington being printed twice, once for the journey and once for the seat reservation.

 

[Merseysider]

Unbelievably, almost ten years ago.

There's a thread on the introduction of the new style of tickets.

 

[Benjwri]

To clarify this is only advance tickets, flexible tickets are issued with a separate seat reservation.

 

[XAM2175]

Unbelievably, almost ten years ago.

There's a thread on the introduction of the new style of tickets.

Yes, though if I'm not mistaken the OP's example does have text a bit smaller still than what I'd considered standard. It does vary by TVM manufacturer.

 

[Watershed]

Avanti TVMs have, within the last two weeks or so, begun printing tickets in tiny print as shown here. I suspect it's just a bug - if so, how hasn't it been fixed yet, and if not, what on earth are they playing at?

 

[Haywain]

Yes, though if I'm not mistaken the OP's example does have text a bit smaller still than what I'd considered standard. It does vary by TVM manufacturer.

I also thought the origin and destination look a bit smaller than usual.

 

[trainophile]

Not a problem until you have to submit a photo of the ticket for a delay repay claim, which usually states it must be legible. I collected some from Liverpool Lime Street the other day and the print is ridiculously small.

 

[LowLevel]

Avanti TVMs have, within the last two weeks or so, begun printing tickets in tiny print as shown here. I suspect it's just a bug - if so, how hasn't it been fixed yet, and if not, what on earth are they playing at?

I've noticed that. A pain in the backside!

 

[PG]

I've noticed that. A pain in the backside!

At least I'm not the only one who 'tenses up' when squinting

 

[CyrusWuff]

When did it become normal for seat reservations to be included on the same ticket as the journey, rather than as a separately printed ticket?

I'm happy to have it all on one ticket, but the downside is that writing can be really small. I'm not sure the attached photo does justice to the tiny size of the font used! Luckily I have decent varifocals

It's not helped by Bristol TM to Paddington being printed twice, once for the journey and once for the seat reservation.

Looks like one of the first examples of a new layout "in the wild", given the way fields have been rearranged. The issuing info now ends in 06-X10 rather than 05-00 too, suggesting this is version 6. Don't know what the X10 refers to, however.

 

[Wallsendmag]

That's CCSTX V6 ,looks very small. If I didn't know better I'd think it was a conspiracy to move people to PRT and eTickets

Avanti TVMs have, within the last two weeks or so, begun printing tickets in tiny print as shown here. I suspect it's just a bug - if so, how hasn't it been fixed yet, and if not, what on earth are they playing at?

New CCSTX version, although they may have interpreted the spec incorrectly, I think the LNER website moves to this format tonight although I could be wrong.

 

[Watershed]

I was trying to avoid being that cynical, but it's unbelievable really. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and all that...

You really couldn't make this sort of stuff up. Only in the rail industry could that be considered an acceptable "upgrade".

 

[AngusH]

The text is so small and then there's empty space and duplicated information.


This has the look of committee work....

Hopefully Wallsendmag is right and the spec has been slightly mis-interpreted.

 

[Joe Paxton]

The OPs ticket as printed is just ridiculous. Testing in the field? Oh, we'll just test it on the punters.

Still, remember with an Advance you can only take the booked service... if you can actually read what it is supposed to be!

 

[Mikey C]

Looks like one of the first examples of a new layout "in the wild", given the way fields have been rearranged. The issuing info now ends in 06-X10 rather than 05-00 too, suggesting this is version 6. Don't know what the X10 refers to, however.

The ticket also has my surname on it, upper right. I don't remember ever seeing that before either.

The OPs ticket as printed is just ridiculous. Testing in the field? Oh, we'll just test it on the punters.

Still, remember with an Advance you can only take the booked service... if you can actually read what it is supposed to be!

On the bright side, if the conductor has poor eyesight, they won't be able to see you're on the wrong train either

 

[Wallsendmag]

It's also got the format used for the ticket on, X10. Just checked the spec and the example images look far more normal than this.

 

[Gaelan]

The ticket also has my surname on it, upper right. I don't remember ever seeing that before either.

I've got my surname printed on some (otherwise normal-looking) tickets purchased from Trainsplit and printed at a Scotrail machine last week. I don't think I recall seeing it before that either? Different spot though, printed among the various numbers on the bottom orange bar.

 

[Krokodil]

I was trying to avoid being that cynical, but it's unbelievable really. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and all that...

You really couldn't make this sort of stuff up. Only in the rail industry could that be considered an acceptable "upgrade".

Printing an obligatory reservation on the same card as the ticket which mandates the reservation saves a lot of faffing around waiting for the passenger to find both.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Having reservation details on a separate piece of card hasn't completely disappeared.

 

[XAM2175]

The ticket also has my surname on it, upper right. I don't remember ever seeing that before either.

I've got my surname printed on some (otherwise normal-looking) tickets purchased from Trainsplit and printed at a Scotrail machine last week. I don't think I recall seeing it before that either? Different spot though, printed among the various numbers on the bottom orange bar.

Surname from the ToD booking has been around for quite some time too, but as Gaelan notes previous formats printed it with the CTR at the bottom left.

 

[rmt4ever]

Is there anywhere that still issues the airplane boarding pass style tickets?

 

[ainsworth74]

Is there anywhere that still issues the airplane boarding pass style tickets?

Hasn't been for donkey's years now. I think GNER was the last holdout? Well, Eurostar I think might but only for their own services and only in limited circumstances as I've had them issue me with that style of ticket when I was using tickets bought through DB (where you had to go through a manual gate).

 

[Mike395]

Hasn't been for donkey's years now. I think GNER was the last holdout? Well, Eurostar I think might but only for their own services and only in limited circumstances as I've had them issue me with that style of ticket when I was using tickets bought through DB (where you had to go through a manual gate).

Eurostar were still printing the boarding pass-style tickets as recently as last year from their collection machines at St Pancras, but I've noticed since then that the printer on these appears to have shrunk, so presumably that's been phased out.

 

[43066]

Not a problem until you have to submit a photo of the ticket for a delay repay claim, which usually states it must be legible. I collected some from Liverpool Lime Street the other day and the print is ridiculously small.

The print is small but, based on the photograph of the ticket upthread, seems perfectly legible to me!

Printing an obligatory reservation on the same card as the ticket which mandates the reservation saves a lot of faffing around waiting for the passenger to find both.

Indeed. Hard to see what all the fuss is about, really! Saves paper and one thing less to lose.

 

[ainsworth74]

Eurostar were still printing the boarding pass-style tickets as recently as last year from their collection machines at St Pancras, but I've noticed since then that the printer on these appears to have shrunk, so presumably that's been phased out.

Ah fair enough! I've never had cause to use their collection machines (as I was either e-ticketed or needing to use the manual gate) so never noticed.

 

[AngusH]

The print is small but, based on the photograph of the ticket upthread, seems perfectly legible to me!

Did you view the image at actual ticket size or at a larger image size?

 

[43066]

Did you view the image at actual ticket size or at a larger image size?

I can read it perfectly well in the photo embedded in the thread, which is rather smaller than actual size.

Surely it isn’t small enough to cause issues for anyone with decent (or decently corrected) vision?

 

[AngusH]

I can read it perfectly well in the photo embedded in the thread, which is rather smaller than actual size.

Surely it isn’t small enough to cause issues for anyone with decent (or decently corrected) vision?

Yes it is. Consider dyslexia where there are specific font size recommendations (12-14pt)

Dyslexia friendly style guide - British Dyslexia Association

This Style Guide provides principles that can help ensure that written material considers the difficulties experienced by some dyslexic people and allows…

www.bdadyslexia.org.uk

Maybe that's not always achievable for a ticket, but making the text smaller is moving away from the recommendations.


Plus it's just annoying to make text so small you have to struggle to read it, especially in bad light.


My other main criticism is the lack of a visual hierarchy.
All of this text is the pretty much the same size and weight and thus the same visual importance.

The most obvious text being the serial numbers at the bottom


(I've edited my comments to remove some excess words)

 

[43066]

Yes it is. Consider dyslexia where there are specific font size recommendations (12-14pt)

My other main criticism is the lack of a visual hierarchy.
All of this text is the pretty much the same size and weight and thus the same visual importance

Fair points.

Plus it's just annoying to make text so small you have to struggle to read it, especially in bad light.


My other main criticism is the lack of a visual hierarchy.
All of this text is the pretty much the same size and weight and thus the same visual importance.

The most obvious text being the serial numbers at the bottom

Presumably this comes from a combination of wanting to use less paper, and the expectation that e tickets will increasingly be used in the future.

 

[ainsworth74]

Presumably this comes from a combination of wanting to use less paper

Though considering that CCST is a set size using less of the available space is a waste itself as you're not saving paper!