Railcards are going Digital

[Seacook]

I suspect more people have their mobile with them constantly than don't. I don't give out my landline number as I just use my mobile. Hence I like to have my mobile with me.

I give out my landline number but not normally my mobile number. I do not want to be distracted by phone calls when I am out of the house.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just because it can be done, it doesn't mean it should be done.

Just because you don't want to use it doesn't mean it shouldn't.

 

[takno]

I don't give out my landline number as I just use my mobile. Hence I like to have my mobile with me.

I rarely give out either. Although I do carry my mobile almost everywhere, I don't answer calls from random numbers since they are virtually all PPI.

Definitely not 100% on keeping the phone charged, particularly on Voyager/Pendo journeys where the awful reception burns through the battery at an alarming rate.

 

[PermitToTravel]

Zero need to get any such permission.

Need permission from the photographer.

 

[trainophile]

Presumably the guard would need to take hold of one's phone to check the displayed railcard, especially if the lighting is bad or very bright?

I don't fancy that, an example reason being just two days ago I witnessed a youth excavating his nostrils while playing on his phone - why should the guard have to handle his phone in the first instance, and then transfer all the germs picked up onto everyone else's phones?

I know the same applies with tickets, but at least they are disposed of at the end of the journey, and one can wash one's hands!

 

[AlterEgo]

Presumably the guard would need to take hold of one's phone to check the displayed railcard, especially if the lighting is bad or very bright?

I don't fancy that, an example reason being just two days ago I witnessed a youth excavating his nostrils while playing on his phone - why should the guard have to handle his phone in the first instance, and then transfer all the germs picked up onto everyone else's phones?

I know the same applies with tickets, but at least they are disposed of at the end of the journey, and one can wash one's hands!

Is this a real objection??

 

[trainophile]

Is this a real objection??

Actually yes it is. I don't hand my phone to strangers, you don't know what is on their hands! hock:

 

[Marklund]

Is this a real objection??

Tesco cashiers don't touch customers mobiles to use the various clubcard/payment apps.

If they dropped it, and broke it...

 

[infobleep]

I give out my landline number but not normally my mobile number. I do not want to be distracted by phone calls when I am out of the house.

I get free calls on my mobile so I don't bother with the free calls bit of my landline any more. I know people can still ring in but I find it easier to deal with calls on my mobile.

Of course if people. Think crashing mobiles and dead batteries are good enough reasons not to introduce digital rail cards then I'd argue people losing the paper ones would be a good enough reasons to scrap rail cards altogether and have nothing at all. Personally I like the idea of both.

 

[infobleep]

Presumably the guard would need to take hold of one's phone to check the displayed railcard, especially if the lighting is bad or very bright?

I don't fancy that, an example reason being just two days ago I witnessed a youth excavating his nostrils while playing on his phone - why should the guard have to handle his phone in the first instance, and then transfer all the germs picked up onto everyone else's phones?

I know the same applies with tickets, but at least they are disposed of at the end of the journey, and one can wash one's hands!

Season tickets aren't disposed of. I know the guard might not pick it up.

 

[infobleep]

Tesco cashiers don't touch customers mobiles to use the various clubcard/payment apps.

If they dropped it, and broke it...

But Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's and Boots staff do, to mention but several I've dealt with.

No point in allowing a Tesco store card to be assed to Android Pay or Apple Pay if they can't actually be used.

Companies have to allow their cards to be added is my understanding.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's and Boots staff do, to mention but several I've dealt with.

Never by me. I simply will not hand it over, I just ask what to do with it and they tell me where to hold it to scan.

 

[mildertduck]

Hardly any travellers carry a battery pack, reducing to virtually none if they aren't carrying a bag.

That's quite an interesting argument - and I wonder if that makes me and my friends the exception rather than the rule. I have a group of friends, between 20 and 30 years of age, in a variety of occupations, and we all carry battery packs with us with one exception*. In the case of two of us, this is due to the fact that we need to be contactable for work purposes, so need to keep a phone that is "alive" on our person. The others just find it more convenient the having to find plug sockets when out and about. So 5 out of 6 of us have some kind of charging mechanism on us at all times.

(*the exception is why a card-based card is needed: they do not have a phone at all).

 

[infobleep]

Never by me. I simply will not hand it over, I just ask what to do with it and they tell me where to hold it to scan.

Well where I shop their fixed scanners can not read the barcode. The scanning technology at most tills isn't advanced enough.

The hand hand readers work but not many shops have such things or they have just one at the customer services desk.

 

[infobleep]

That's quite an interesting argument - and I wonder if that makes me and my friends the exception rather than the rule. I have a group of friends, between 20 and 30 years of age, in a variety of occupations, and we all carry battery packs with us with one exception*. In the case of two of us, this is due to the fact that we need to be contactable for work purposes, so need to keep a phone that is "alive" on our person. The others just find it more convenient the having to find plug sockets when out and about. So 5 out of 6 of us have some kind of charging mechanism on us at all times.

(*the exception is why a card-based card is needed: they do not have a phone at all).

I carry a battery pack around because my phone doesn't last that long. It would last longer if I didn't have so many apps or I switched certain features off but I don't wish to do that so I carry a battery charger with me instead.

 

[AlterEgo]

Tesco cashiers don't touch customers mobiles to use the various clubcard/payment apps.

If they dropped it, and broke it...

Well quite. You don't have to actually handle someone's phone, just ask them to display the railcard.

Same applies in supermarkets, Nando's, mobile airline boarding passes...I don't hand them over, I just display a card via Apple Wallet or place under the scanner.

Some of the objections to a simple step forward are quite bizarre and alarmist and frankly I'm not surprised; this is part of the reason why You Can't Have Nice Things.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

There may be problems buying sequences of split tickets if we move away from paper tickets.

It's getting to the stage where you will need a different smart card for every city (Oyster, Walrus, etc). Indeed I've found myself, on occasions, having to use two Oyster cards for more complex gricing tours around London so each leg starts and ends at logical places for "normal".

I would like to see us move towards a national system of print-at-home ticketing, like they have in Germany. It's crazy that each TOC seems to have its own print-at-home system with tickets not being valid on connecting services run by different TOCs.

 

[trainophile]

There may be problems buying sequences of split tickets if we move away from paper tickets.

It's getting to the stage where you will need a different smart card for every city (Oyster, Walrus, etc). Indeed I've found myself, on occasions, having to use two Oyster cards for more complex gricing tours around London so each leg starts and ends at logical places for "normal".

I would like to see us move towards a national system of print-at-home ticketing, like they have in Germany. It's crazy that each TOC seems to have its own print-at-home system with tickets not being valid on connecting services run by different TOCs.

Which swaps one requirement for another - not everyone has or needs a printer!

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's getting to the stage where you will need a different smart card for every city (Oyster, Walrus, etc).

Use a contactless bank card. Pre-pay ones are widely available if you are not able to get one through your bank for whatever reason.

I would like to see us move towards a national system of print-at-home ticketing, like they have in Germany. It's crazy that each TOC seems to have its own print-at-home system with tickets not being valid on connecting services run by different TOCs.

This (like mobile ticketing) is a roll-out issue, as they all use the same technology.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Which swaps one requirement for another - not everyone has or needs a printer!

Then buy a paper ticket at a TVM. Nobody is proposing to abolish them.

Why do people on here seem to object so much to multimedia ticketing delivery? Use the one that suits you, but don't moan about others' choices.

 

[NSEFAN]

And how would that work with tickets bought on the 'net or at a machine?

You could make it that the railcard number has to be entered for online purchase. Railcards could be issued as smartcard which TVMs can scan to validate and allow purchase/collection of discounted tickets, as an example.

Again, ideally you'd merge all ticketing into a single app/smartcard and standardise the format of digital tickets. It's a right mess at the moment with various print-at-home tickets and third-parties like Trainline. The fares structure is almost a separate issue, the electronic ticket simply needs to be able to hold the information that a printed ticket currently does.

 

[trainophile]

Then buy a paper ticket at a TVM. Nobody is proposing to abolish them.

Why do people on here seem to object so much to multimedia ticketing delivery? Use the one that suits you, but don't moan about others' choices.

That's what I will continue to do, and I am not objecting to alternative systems being available for those who want them. I'm just slightly reserved in case the rail industry decides that everyone has to "move with the times", and that staffed stations and/or ToD machines are areas where economies can be made.

 

[yorksrob]

Then buy a paper ticket at a TVM. Nobody is proposing to abolish them.

Why do people on here seem to object so much to multimedia ticketing delivery? Use the one that suits you, but don't moan about others' choices.

I've seen enough interviews with industry figures predicting the end of traditional ticketing to take the threat seriously, even thought it might not be proposed just at this juncture.

 

[takno]

That's quite an interesting argument - and I wonder if that makes me and my friends the exception rather than the rule. I have a group of friends, between 20 and 30 years of age, in a variety of occupations, and we all carry battery packs with us with one exception*. In the case of two of us, this is due to the fact that we need to be contactable for work purposes, so need to keep a phone that is "alive" on our person. The others just find it more convenient the having to find plug sockets when out and about. So 5 out of 6 of us have some kind of charging mechanism on us at all times.

I used to carry two phones and sometimes a battery pack about when I needed to be contactable for work. Even then the battery pack turned out to be flat half the time when I needed it. No chance I'm going to shuffle that kind of weight about just because somebody doesn't want to print me a railcard

 

[Bletchleyite]

I used to carry two phones and sometimes a battery pack about when I needed to be contactable for work. Even then the battery pack turned out to be flat half the time when I needed it.

Mine isn't. Maybe you should purchase a new one (or your work should).

 

[AlterEgo]

I've seen enough interviews with industry figures predicting the end of traditional ticketing to take the threat seriously, even thought it might not be proposed just at this juncture.

Well, the paper ticket will be dead at some point in the future. The questions are when, and how rollout occurs of new ticket media.

 

[takno]

Mine isn't. Maybe you should purchase a new one (or your work should).

It didn't magically go flat, I just constantly forgot to charge it. I could have tried to expense a new brain, but I'm not sure the medical would have covered it...

 

[Bletchleyite]

It didn't magically go flat, I just constantly forgot to charge it. I could have tried to expense a new brain, but I'm not sure the medical would have covered it...

You could try a higher capacity one meaning you can forget to charge it several times before it actually runs out.

 

[tsr]

You could try a higher capacity one meaning you can forget to charge it several times before it actually runs out.

I got a heavily subsidised power pack when the EE Power Bars were discontinued (remember those?), which were in and of themselves pretty good, apart from the fire risk.

Said battery pack, from a random unknown third party via EE, is rated at 10,000 mAh, and holds charge well enough that I can leave it for months and still be able to charge a couple of phones, with a couple of bars left.

The investment (little more than a tenner for me) is well worth it!

 

[takno]

You could try a higher capacity one meaning you can forget to charge it several times before it actually runs out.

This is bringing back memories of the last time I was at Leeds Festival, trying to keep three peoples phones charged with a single powerpack subscription. Basically involved going to the charging tent to swap powerpack every time somebody went to the bar.