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Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

eta.st

121–130 of 236 posts

Re: Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

#121
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also adds to the price of food that gets transported from one place to another, and, as such, acts as a regressive tax on people who pay the biggest part of their income on their basic needs (like food). That's one of the main reasons why I don't get the "death to cars!" movement and why I regard it as mostly middle-class privileged discourse: no cars means fewer or worst roads, means food being a lot more expensi…

A truck can carry 10 or 20 times more cargo than a car. The truck toll is not 20x more. The movement to reduce car use is about replacing them with better alternatives such as efficient local public transport and high speed rail, not going back to travelling on horseback.

> The truck toll is not 20x more.

Yes, that was my exact point. The car owners (of which I'm one) subsidise cheaper food for many not car-owners (many of them, presumably, poorer people) by paying more expensive road tolls relative to our vehicles' sizes. And that's good.

Make road toll for trucks commensurate to the real wear they're adding to the roads then you're increasing the price of food (by increasing the cost of transporting said food), hence you're making it harder for poorer people.

Re: Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

#122
post #40
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same way about people who use mobile phone NFC payment at ticket barriers on the tube instead of a plastic cards (again via NFC) Using your phone is much slower and there's a significant chance it'll just fail and hold up the person behind you (me).

Last April, I did the credit card tap in NYC. Last month I was there again and tapped my iPhone and never had an issue. It felt just as fast or even faster since my phone is usually more accessible than a given card in my wallet. I wonder if the Tube’s tap in tap out setup contributes to the issues you see.

It's not the tech per se, it's that you have to open the app or at least unlock the phone (whichever it is), and people are more cautious with their phones compared to a card. They also tend to watch the screen instead of where they're going.

I can slap down my card with my arm outstretched, without breaking my stride, and before I hit the barrier it opens.

Observe a phone user in a London rush hour and it causes a noticeable backlog at gates

Re: Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

#123
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't need to be a phone running iOS and Android, you just need an email client and a PDF viewer for UK train etickets

If that's the case they should be issued free (as in tea in the harbor) open source devices free from Apple/Google spyware for this purpose.

What on earth is your logic there? “You have the option to send a PDF, thus I deserve a free phone of my particular choice”?

Re: Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best tech solution I’ve yet to see is simply accepting credit/debit cards. Checking in, they can charge you minimum fare and checking out they can charge you remainder. They could also charge you maximum fare and return remainder on checkout. You can even keep track of card and give discounts for multiple rides. All without registration. Works with watches and phones too.

Good luck finding out ahead of time whether your foreign card is going to be accepted by the system. Also seems difficult for children who don't generally have credit cards.

Children travel for free on transport for london

Re: Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

#126
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to use an off peak QR code ticket and it did not pass the gates and I was told I wasn't allowed to do it, the ticket rules did not mention it either. It is possible the staff just didn't know about the break in journey rule, I was too tired to fight it at the time.

Yeah, it's still in the conditions of carriage ( https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/National%20Rail%20Conditions%... ) - Section 16. I don't think gate line staff are well trained on stuff like this though.

> You may also end your journey (in either direction in the case of a return Ticket) before the destination shown on the Ticket.

TIL, thanks!

On a related note, I found out the hard way that (some?) airlines don’t let you use a return flight if you missed the outbound leg.

Re: Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

#128

During the COVID outbreak, my public transit provider began to neglect their fareboxes (partly because everyone was boarding in the rear and didn't bother to pay fares anyway.) I noticed that the boxes were still broken and unmaintained. I put 2 and 2 together and realized that a mobile "upgrade" was coming soon, so I kept my eyes out. And sure enough, I got myself invited to participate in the pilot project with the…

> Of course it goes without saying that your phone must be functional in order to scan the thing. So that's a whole tech stack that could go awry and strand you if you don't take precautions It could go awry if Google fucked up, Samsung/phone manufacturer fucks up, battery or charger fucks up, software developer fucks up, internet, etc, etc. we are replacing reliable sustems with fragile ones everywhere

I live in Berlin and use the official BVG app for using the public transport here. it bugs out temporarily fairly regularly and I have to make the decision whether to buy a paper ticket to cover me (incurring extra expense) while the app isn't working or to risk it and hope the ticket inspector doesn't stop me/shows me leniency when I demonstrate the non-functioning app. extremely annoying

Re: Reversing UK mobile rail tickets

#130
post #125

The fact that there's a gender field on the ticket is interesting.

One might assume it's forward thinking - if this were used in Japan, where there are woman-only carriages, this might be relevant.

There should never be a need for this and the fact that they exist is sad.
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