Why I prefer to use a ticket office and obtain a physical ticket

[Bletchleyite]

Yes this really is the solution. Paper tickets use, well, paper, laminate and carbon, and should be subject to a nominal fee of 20p in the same way we have a surcharge plastic bags now. Took a couple of years but I now take reusable bags everywhere.

The Dutch applied a EUR1 charge about 10 years ago for booking office use. So probably EUR2-3 in real terms now. Though their fare structure is quite simple.

I think a surcharge for use of the booking office for tickets that could be otherwise obtained would be fair and might drive changes in behaviour. That way you could potentially, in major stations only, have one or maybe two windows with very well trained staff for a premium, expert service and stuff you can't get any other way.

 

[AlterEgo]

That way you could potentially, in major stations only, have one or maybe two windows with very well trained staff for a premium, expert service and stuff you can't get any other way.

What sort of services are you envisaging there?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't buy tickets in advance of travel.

I mostly don't either.

The tickets I buy are reasonably-priced day returns or period returns, and advance singles wouldn't work out cheaper.
If there's serious disruption on the day I've planned a journey, I'll postpone the journey. (If I'm going away, I'm staying with family or friends. We can be flexible about times or days of travel.)
So not buying in advance doesn't cost me anything, and it avoids buying and then having to get refunds.

So I'm at the station buying a ticket.
I could buy an e-ticket online. But there isn't a quiet haven at the station to do this task, which it important to get right. Also, I wouldn't be able to print out the e-ticket as a backup.

Last week I cut things VERY fine for a journey. I bought an e-ticket on my phone while quickly walking from the car park to the platform (I think it went through when I was half way along the footbridge, fortunately the gateline was open as had it been closed I might not have made the train), then paid for the parking on my phone. Without those two facilities the journey would have been impossible.

Buying a walk-up e-ticket on your phone really is very, very easy, particularly when you're used to one of the apps. If you're not, Trainline's probably has the best UI and doesn't charge fees for same day purchase.

If the ticket I want is available from the TVM on smartcard, I could use the TVM. But not all my journeys are available on smartcard.
If I used the TVM to buy a credit-card-sized ticket, then there is the possibility of the dreaded error message appearing on the screen, to the effect that part of the ticket could not be printed, please go to the ticket office. So it is wise to be prepared to photograph the screen in case this happens. Which makes using the TVM a bit of a faff.
(If a single cannot be printed, you don't get charged. If half a return is printed, you get charged for the return, and have to go to the ticket office to pay for a new ticket and get a refund on the partly-printed ticket.)
(If single-leg pricing was in operation, then I'd be fine with buying a single each way.)

Has that ever happened to you? I don't think I've ever had a "fail to print", but if there isn't a booking office just take what is printed and buy again on another TVM, and resolve it later, with a chargeback if the TOC is unhelpful.

Also, I buy my railcard at the station. You get the railcard straight away, it lasts perfectly well as long as you keep it from heat and light, you avoid the reported problems with online purchase, and there is back-up in the form of the railcard receipt (though with a £10 charge for a replacement).

The plastic credit card sized ones you get from the Railcard site are far more robust and harder to lose than the thin card booking office ones.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2022 ==

What sort of services are you envisaging there?

Just them having the knowledge to deal with extremely complex journey requests and to get it right first time. Like the "going to Scotland with an overnight break using a Railcard" one mentioned above. A fee of £1 would easily be recouped in time savings if not an expert, just like the Trainsplit fee is worth paying for the simplicity (and seat selector) using that site provides.

(I'd not mind the classic "you'll have to ask Lime St for that" if it was likely that Lime St actually knew! But Merseyrail stations don't need booking offices, they really just need a TVM (or two if it's a station split by a level crossing as a number are) and tap in/out contactless a la LU, as well as e-ticket acceptance). Good quality CCTV covering all areas of the station would be a better security provision than booking offices that mostly are out of view of the platforms.

 

[AM9]

Yes this really is the solution. Paper tickets use, well, paper, laminate and carbon, and should be subject to a nominal fee of 20p in the same way we have a surcharge plastic bags now. Took a couple of years but I now take reusable bags everywhere.

That would be a hard sell given the racks of leaflets for spurious 'attractions', 'bargains' and other unwanted paper-based publicity at stations. Then there's the bins full of Metro and Standard free newspapers, plus other detritus handed out. The volume/weight of tickets collected every day I would gess is way less than that, and paper products are hardly the environmental liability that plastic wrappers and bags are.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That would be a hard sell given the racks of leaflets for spurious 'attractions', 'bargains' and other unwanted paper-based publicity at stations. Then there's the bins full of Metro and Standard free newspapers, plus other detritus handed out. The volume/weight of tickets collected every day I would gess is way less than that, and paper products are hardly the environmental liability that plastic wrappers and bags are.

It's more about discouraging use of the staffed booking office. Though I suppose you could do £1 for that and 20p for the TVM.

 

[Haywain]

the Rail Delivery Group Mystery Shopper Ticket Office survey has had as many as 1 in 25 ticket offices fail to sell accurately in some years, although other years it has been half that.

Having seen (and challenged) the mystery shopper reports in the past, I wouldn't trust them in the slightest. The mystery shops are, seemingly, carried out by people who have little understanding of what they are asked to buy and therefore are poorly qualified to judge whether they get the right tickets. Having said that, 1 in 25 failing is surprisingly good considering what we read on here!

 

[AM9]

It's more about discouraging use of the staffed booking office. Though I suppose you could do £1 for that and 20p for the TVM.

So here we go again, penalising those that have to use a TVM, (cash only).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Having seen (and challenged) the mystery shopper reports in the past, I wouldn't trust them in the slightest. The mystery shops are, seemingly, carried out by people who have little understanding of what they are asked to buy and therefore are poorly qualified to judge whether they get the right tickets. Having said that, 1 in 25 failing is surprisingly good considering what we read on here!

Don't they do it by giving them a specific instruction of what to buy (i.e. a set of things to ask/say that could only lead to one outcome), then seeing if what they got was that thing? If not that's a bit rubbish.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2022 ==

So here we go again, penalising those that have to use a TVM, (cash only).

It's not unreasonable that people should be offered a cheaper fare for using a method of fulfillment cheaper for the railway (you can call it a supplement or discount but it's the same thing). It's been done already (with just as much whining) in charging for online booked tickets to be delivered by post.

 

[Bread & cheese]

Has that ever happened to you? I don't think I've ever had a "fail to print"

Actually, not to me personally. But I've known it happen to quite a number of people over my many years as a ticket clerk. (I'm now retired.) That's one of the problems with working for the railway: you get to see everything that goes wrong, and it can be off-putting...
(It's just possible that my having been a ticket clerk might be an additional reason for my using the ticket office, but I do genuinely often find it more convenient.)

 

[Runningaround]

The trouble with ticket offices is sometimes you get a kind soul and other times you get a different sort of "'soul". And also the queues, always when you have least time to spare!

I prefer etickets because I have lost CCST and not noticed until challenged (about 20 years ago: the RMT-pin-wearing guard allowed me to buy a straight £5 replacement single probably because I had other tickets for earlier parts of the jorney and had only lost one) but I have never lost a phone without knowing about it, plus I can keep copies of etickets on another device or printout as backups.

I've lost a CCT the shiny little bleeder slipped out my pocket and needed to buy another off the guard(Who sold me a Bog Roll ticket to use through London), the new notes are particularly shiny and slippery and don't separate so easily, I've used a ticket office once since due to the faff through London with mobile/bog rolls.
It's an expensive mistake that would have been resolved had I bought it online stuck it on the phone and printed out backups.

 

[Haywain]

Don't they do it by giving them a specific instruction of what to buy (i.e. a set of things to ask/say that could only lead to one outcome), then seeing if what they got was that thing? If not that's a bit rubbish.

You'd like to think so but it's more a briefing and sometimes they haven't considered all the possibilities. Especially problematic on the ECML where there's a lot of choice due to open access operators. I suppose, based on my experience, that the potential for challenging the reports when they come back to the station also depends on who reads them and what they know about ticketing. It wasn't that we got everything right but that the mystery shoppers got enough wrong!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2022 ==

But I've known it happen to quite a number of people over my many years as a ticket clerk.

Staff used to tell me that it happens 'all the time'. They failed to see the big picture though - that with 21 machines averaging 500 or more transactions (each) a day, a single figure number of problems was to be expected (and would need sorting out by staff).

 

[Deafdoggie]

Do these online ticket systems suggest purchasing a family railcard (in clear terms) for someone who is booking tickets and is eligible for one, when the cost of the tickets without a railcard is more than the railcard and discounted tickets put together? Or a 2 together railcard for that matter?

I'm asking whether this is the case now, not what could be made available online in the future.

I've had Trainline suggest a Family Railcard, which helpfully they could sell! That said, I had (in the dim and distant past!) a ticket office not suggest a young person railcard when I clearly qualified.

Yes this really is the solution. Paper tickets use, well, paper, laminate and carbon, and should be subject to a nominal fee of 20p in the same way we have a surcharge plastic bags now. Took a couple of years but I now take reusable bags everywhere.

I suspect many ardent supporters of paper tickets would go off them if they cost more!

I never understand quite how members of this forum have such bad luck with phones. The rest of the population manages without loosing them, breaking down or running out of battery and use them constantly, yet forum members appear unable to go an hour without a calamity happening to theirs.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I never understand quite how members of this forum have such bad luck with phones. The rest of the population manages without loosing them, breaking down or running out of battery and use them constantly, yet forum members appear unable to go an hour without a calamity happening to theirs.

I think this Forum has more than its fair share of Luddism and technophobia, which is surprising for an online forum!

The whole carrier bag thing proves clearly that you can easily influence behaviour with a tiny charge. 10p per bag means only adding a quid or so to the largest shop, which most people would do without noticing. Yet behaviour has changed.

 

[Deafdoggie]

I think this Forum has more than its fair share of Luddism and technophobia, which is surprising for an online forum!

 

[Bletchleyite]

FWIW I don't just mean people who prefer a paper ticket. I mean the very prominent and strongly held view on here that "paper ticket for cash from a person" is the only way to do anything. The "technophobia" bit is about a view that paying by card means the bogieman is tracking you. They may be to sell advertising, but as an individual they're really not interested in you, it's just advertising profiling.

 

[AlterEgo]

That would be a hard sell given the racks of leaflets for spurious 'attractions', 'bargains' and other unwanted paper-based publicity at stations. Then there's the bins full of Metro and Standard free newspapers, plus other detritus handed out. The volume/weight of tickets collected every day I would gess is way less than that, and paper products are hardly the environmental liability that plastic wrappers and bags are.

Nobody would be hard-selling anything, just do it. Paper ticket machines consume electricity and have to be on all the time the station is open. The carbon footprint of a paper ticket is more than you think.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2022 ==

I suspect many ardent supporters of paper tickets would go off them if they cost more!

I never understand quite how members of this forum have such bad luck with phones. The rest of the population manages without loosing them, breaking down or running out of battery and use them constantly, yet forum members appear unable to go an hour without a calamity happening to theirs.

I agree

 

[Bletchleyite]

Nobody would be hard-selling anything, just do it. Paper ticket machines consume electricity and have to be on all the time the station is open. The carbon footprint of a paper ticket is more than you think.

Plus a TVM I believe costs about £15-20K. If you can have fewer of them because people aren't using them, money is saved. So many people are now buying online that the number at Euston has been reduced considerably, for instance. (London is leading the way in the UK in eschewing cash and in the use of mobile phones).

 

[Haywain]

Plus a TVM I believe costs about £15-20K.

That's just the initial outlay, there's also significant annual running costs.

 

[AM9]

Actually, not to me personally. But I've known it happen to quite a number of people over my many years as a ticket clerk. (I'm now retired.) That's one of the problems with working for the railway: you get to see everything that goes wrong, and it can be off-putting...
(It's just possible that my having been a ticket clerk might be an additional reason for my using the ticket office, but I do genuinely often find it more convenient.)

Yes, I've had a 'fail to print' at Watford Junction. Luckily there was a proper booking office a few metres away, who despite being staffed by LM staff were quite happy to print a set of Virgin tickets..

 

[arb]

It's not unreasonable that people should be offered a cheaper fare for using a method of fulfillment cheaper for the railway (you can call it a supplement or discount but it's the same thing). It's been done already (with just as much whining) in charging for online booked tickets to be delivered by post.

I disagree that a giving a discount on the new method of doing something is the same thing as putting a supplement on the old method.

The former gets the customer on-side with the new method, and creates a buzz where they start telling their friends "look, I saved a whole 50p by doing this, isn't that cool, you should try it!". Whereas the latter creates bad feeling, whining, and stories in the local papers about how people are being ripped off by the nasty mega-corporation. Of course, it has to be a real discount, you can't put all prices up by 50p the day before you start offering the 50p discount!

Yes, that does cost the company money in the short-term, until they can rebalance the prices over one or two regular rounds of price increases. But if they are the ones who want their customers to change their habits, for the sake of saving the company money in the long run, then that seems like a reasonable price to pay for not upsetting their customers. Cue debate about whether the railway cares about upsetting its customers or not

 

[TUC]

Problems have been reported here of the electronic railcard not working temporarily and of people being unable to renew their railcards without providing a photograph even though the railcard referred to didn't use a photograph, essentially there have been mistakes made which trickle down to the "app" to cause it to break temporarily - either your railcard wasn't affected or it was only at a time you weren't trying to use it. For better or for worse, I'd currently rather rely on a relatively sturdy piece of plastic in my wallet.

Whether or not the app should actually require a photo, isn't the simple answer to use the very same phone and just take a picture of yourself?

 

[Lucan]

I never understand quite how members of this forum have such bad luck with phones. The rest of the population manages without loosing them, breaking down or running out of battery

The rest of the population has problems with them all the time. My daughter is always losing or breaking hers, and she isn't on this forum. Same with her friends I gather.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2022 ==

Why would you not in reporting the phone stolen ask for another SIM with the same number rather than go through the rigmarole of telling everyone (bank, retailers etc included) a new one?

That would be a long and sad off-topic story, but in a nutshell the apparently helpful guy at EE to whom I reported the stolen phone call said he would suspend my account, but it transpired later that he had deleted my account and it could not be retrieved. Night shift guy, perhaps a vacation student worker.

Shows how dependent we are on other people being competent at their jobs, and how often they are not, and that includes designing web apps. I am constantly finding web sites that don't work properly, including government and bank ones. At least cash gives you some (but not entire) independence from these foul-ups.

 

[ashkeba]

Having seen (and challenged) the mystery shopper reports in the past, I wouldn't trust them in the slightest. The mystery shops are, seemingly, carried out by people who have little understanding of what they are asked to buy and therefore are poorly qualified to judge whether they get the right tickets. Having said that, 1 in 25 failing is surprisingly good considering what we read on here!

So the mystery shoppers sound like average passengers who have little understanding of what they are asked to buy and therefore are poorly qualified, but judge they do, whenever the public -funded railway becomes a political topic!

 

[stephen rp]

"Senior off peak day return to xxxx please".

OR

Look for destination at machine (type in letters if it's not on the main list), different result on ticket price depending whether you choose any station or a particular one because different TOCs have different fares, check which TOC it's valid on, choose how many tickets, whether or not you have a railcard, what sort?, which train? (the next one, idiot machine), which train back?..... and that's if you know what you're doing.

 

[Philip]

"Senior off peak day return to xxxx please".

OR

Look for destination at machine (type in letters if it's not on the main list), different result on ticket price depending whether you choose any station or a particular one because different TOCs have different fares, check which TOC it's valid on, choose how many tickets, whether or not you have a railcard, what sort?, which train? (the next one, idiot machine), which train back?..... and that's if you know what you're doing.

Unfortunately it seems the first scenario doesn't fit with the narrative of many on this forum, nor the government.

 

[Sniffingmoose]

Just yesterday I could see why stations need to be staffed. I got to the station at 10am on Sunday morning, my heart sank when I saw the queue for the ticket machine stretching all the way out side of the station and into the car park. Just realised its the commonwealth games so trains to Birmingham are going to be really busy. Ticket office was a few minutes late opening but once open the queue went down fast and I managed to get my day rover ticket. The office can issue tickets faster than a TVM because office staff are professionals and unlike passengers they dont have to fathom out how to work the TVM machine.

In addition, the station was so busy that first Crosscountry train of the day would not be able to accommodate everyone, however the memeber of platform staff on duty got on the phone to Crosscountry control and requested a stop order on the next train that was not booked to stop so it could pick up those passangers left behind who could not get on the first service.

Now that is what I call great customer service. I have always been impressed with the staff at my local station and if they get cut it would be a huge downgrade in the service.

Also ticket office staff know the regulars, if you ask for an offpeak long distance ticket they will split the ticket without even asking.

I am a retired I.T. manager and as others have said on here I would go for a paper ticket every time. We are led to believe we are old fashioned but I would ask to who's advantage is it to have tickets printed electronically. Think about it, an electronic ticket gives you the expence and responsibility of dispaying or printing your own ticket, using your data or your printer. You have to have a working phone, good mobile reception and a good battery. Because it could be that you end up with a criminal record for not being able to show a ticket on your device.

 

[yorkie]

I have noticed that you seem to have an anti-ticket office staff (or perhaps even an anti-rail staff in general) agenda and it's rather unconstructive.

The post you quoted is entirely accurate and I don't understand what you are disagreeing with, but I'm happy to debate it with you, but the debate needs to be constructive; if you have a problem with something I've said, quote it and state what you disagree with and what your opinion is.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2022 ==

Avoiding the “everyone over 60 can’t possibly use a computer” stuff.

My main concern with the push to “digitise“ is specifically around railcards where so called “digital” railcards don’t seem to have forced an update to the rules to account for the issues that can arise with them. I don’t think it’s right that you must have a working, charged phone as accidents do happen. There’s very little leniency, other than the once a year thing where they make it sound as if they’re doing you a massive favour, and in the meantime you go through all the faff and fuss and worry as is seen in the other forum. And for what? So the rail industry can save money on sending out a physical card?

Seems more sensible to me to push some of this back into the rail side, eg requiring you to enter the railcard number when you purchase the ticket, and then if the guard/RPI wants to see the railcard they can scan the ticket and see the railcard on their handheld reader alongside the ticket info. No need then for users to carry around anything at all.

Or at least bring railcards into the e-ticket era where I can print it out if I wish, instead of relying on an app which has failed for me in the past (the railcard disappeared from the app right when an RPI wanted to check it. Force closing the app brought it back)

(I’m slightly biased here as I currently hold a 26-30 which of course has never had a physical option)

I completely agree but I won't go into this further in this thread, as:
1) it's on a completely different subject;
2) e-tickets have none of the potential flaws surrounding digital Railcards held in apps;
3) proposals to change Railcards to become more like e-tickets are best proposed in a dedicated thread

Be careful saying that, - one of the reformers here will be along and say that you were 'lucky', (presumably because holding on to a piece of card the same size as their credit cards is so difficult for them).

Did you actually read my post on this matter?

Just yesterday I could see why stations need to be staffed. I got to the station at 10am on Sunday morning, my heart sank when I saw the queue for the ticket machine stretching all the way out side of the station and into the car park. Just realised its the commonwealth games so trains to Birmingham are going to be really busy. Ticket office was a few minutes late opening but once open the queue went down fast and I managed to get my day rover ticket. The office can issue tickets faster than a TVM because office staff are professionals and unlike passengers they dont have to fathom out how to work the TVM machine.

But not as quick as buying an e-ticket online, in my experience.

In addition, the station was so busy that first Crosscountry train of the day would not be able to accommodate everyone, however the memeber of platform staff on duty got on the phone to Crosscountry control and requested a stop order on the next train that was not booked to stop so it could pick up those passangers left behind who could not get on the first service.

Now that is what I call great customer service. I have always been impressed with the staff at my local station and if they get cut it would be a huge downgrade in the service.

It is and it would be possible at even more stations if the staff are redeployed away from ticket offices into more customer facing roles.

Also ticket office staff know the regulars, if you ask for an offpeak long distance ticket they will split the ticket without even asking.

They're not supposed to do this. Which station is that?

I am a retired I.T. manager and as others have said on here I would go for a paper ticket every time. We are led to believe we are old fashioned but I would ask to who's advantage is it to have tickets printed electronically. Think about it, an electronic ticket gives you the expence and responsibility of dispaying or printing your own ticket, using your data or your printer. You have to have a working phone, good mobile reception and a good battery. Because it could be that you end up with a criminal record for not being able to show a ticket on your device.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I doubt many current IT managers would take this view. There is no requirement to print, but if you choose to, the cost is negligible.

As I've said before, the main reason people seem to object to e-tickets is purely the lack of functionality for a TVM to be able to print them. If the rail industry can fix that, the main objections seem to disappear.

Having seen (and challenged) the mystery shopper reports in the past, I wouldn't trust them in the slightest. The mystery shops are, seemingly, carried out by people who have little understanding of what they are asked to buy and therefore are poorly qualified to judge whether they get the right tickets. Having said that, 1 in 25 failing is surprisingly good considering what we read on here!

Indeed; I once was interested in mystery shopping (before I became too busy) and realised it wasn't worth my time then, let alone now!

 

[Runningaround]

Just yesterday I could see why stations need to be staffed. I got to the station at 10am on Sunday morning, my heart sank when I saw the queue for the ticket machine stretching all the way out side of the station and into the car park. Just realised its the commonwealth games so trains to Birmingham are going to be really busy. Ticket office was a few minutes late opening but once open the queue went down fast and I managed to get my day rover ticket. The office can issue tickets faster than a TVM because office staff are professionals and unlike passengers they dont have to fathom out how to work the TVM machine.

In addition, the station was so busy that first Crosscountry train of the day would not be able to accommodate everyone, however the memeber of platform staff on duty got on the phone to Crosscountry control and requested a stop order on the next train that was not booked to stop so it could pick up those passangers left behind who could not get on the first service.

Now that is what I call great customer service. I have always been impressed with the staff at my local station and if they get cut it would be a huge downgrade in the service.

Also ticket office staff know the regulars, if you ask for an offpeak long distance ticket they will split the ticket without even asking.

I am a retired I.T. manager and as others have said on here I would go for a paper ticket every time. We are led to believe we are old fashioned but I would ask to who's advantage is it to have tickets printed electronically. Think about it, an electronic ticket gives you the expence and responsibility of dispaying or printing your own ticket, using your data or your printer. You have to have a working phone, good mobile reception and a good battery. Because it could be that you end up with a criminal record for not being able to show a ticket on your device.

Jump the queue and buy online!, you don't have to print them but it's a back up option, your device might fail but you could borrow one and show the email on that, lose your physical ticket and that's it.
And ticket office staff won't be organising trains apart from very quiet ones and they who do prioritise the train over the queue of passengers they've left at the counter hoping to catch it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

"Senior off peak day return to xxxx please".

OR

Look for destination at machine (type in letters if it's not on the main list), different result on ticket price depending whether you choose any station or a particular one because different TOCs have different fares, check which TOC it's valid on, choose how many tickets, whether or not you have a railcard, what sort?, which train? (the next one, idiot machine), which train back?..... and that's if you know what you're doing.

You think most booking office staff are doing all that? If you ask for a Senior Off Peak Return to X then that's what they'll mostly just issue, regardless of if a Super Off Peak would be cheaper.

I can get a ticket selected through to payment on a S&B TVM quicker than I can ask for it. Not so true of some newer TVMs, particularly Avanti's terrible ones, but that's a fault of those TVMs, not TVMs generally.

 

[Sm5]

Ive just had the pleasure of sncf tvm…

it starts out easy enough, select start, destination, date..
Then select number of passengers, thats where it becomes hard…
For each passenger..

Select login, or guest… (i went for guest)..
Select fare type, next
Select single or return, next
Select age, next
Enter dob, next
Enter full name, next,
Select discount, next
Select time, next
Select class, next
confirm choice, next
Select fare, next…
Confirm fare, next
Enter phone number, next (compulsory)
Enter emailaddress, next (compulsory)
Repeat starting at “For each passenger“

Enter cash, card or so e French account thing, next
Put in card, wait
Enter pin, wait
Confirm receipt, next
Print tickets, next…

Got message in french of some error, my tickets have been emailed for collection…

Check phone
Got collection receipt
Goto new machine,
select collect
Enter collection code (no prompt to prove id or credit card)
Select print, change, cancel, next
Confirm need receipt, next
Print tickets, next…


15 minutes, I collected my 4 Euro tickets for our short journey 9 minutes up the line.

Is technology good…?

Well the machine was out of paper and the email allowed me to print it at another machine..
But the ticket buying process was overtly cumbersome, but the machine stayed open even if it had no paper.

Jury’s out, but I always go for paper tickets, I do long days out, my little one drains the minutes and the battery, I dont have a portable printer when travelling, and go minimal on international travel so carrying excess lithium chargers on planes is preferable.

However be glad our tvms are so less bureaucratic