End of train ticket clipping?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The Telegraph and covered elsewhere such as the Daily Mail

It's the end of the ticket clipper on train services after inspectors complained about repetitive strain injury.

One train operator has stopped using clippers to check tickets after their inspectors said clipping hundreds of tickets hurts their wrists.

It could see the 150-year-old tradition phased out across the country.

Abellio Greater Anglia - which carries tens of thousands of passengers on the Norwich to London Liverpool Street line every day - made the decision after staff raised concerns.

[bobm]

They must have suddenly upped the number of ticket checks if they have only just noticed RSI.

[ChrisB]

Other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) use ink stamps for example.

[Timmer]

So scribbling on everyone's tickets with a biro won't bring on RSI?

[Tim]

So scribbling on everyone's tickets with a biro won't bring on RSI?

I can well believe that the risk of RSI is higher when using a possibly blunt clipper to punch a large hole versus using an ink stamper or pen.  The forces to get the clipper through the ticket will be much higher especially if the staff are using cheapo hole punches from Rymans rather than proper well engineered equipment.

[patch38]

Surely the era of clipping tickets should have ended before now anyway? I know we have discussed this before but we are long overdue more general electronic ticketing on the network: that would put an end to ticket punches.

[Tim]

Surely the era of clipping tickets should have ended before now anyway? I know we have discussed this before but we are long overdue more general electronic ticketing on the network: that would put an end to ticket punches.

I happen to think paper tickets and clipping them is a rather neat solution.  Cheap, easy and not dependent on batteries.  If it has lasted so long maybe it is a good system.

Also, the ticketing system needs an overhaul in terms of simplifying fares and rules.  This should be done BEFORE any move to electronic ticketing.  Of course it won't be so electronic ticketing will add a new layer of complexity, loopholes and anomalies

[Bmblbzzz]

I thought ticket clipping had disappeared already. It always seems to be ink stamping or just scribbling with a biro nowadays (or sometimes nothing at all).

[ChrisB]

Got my ticket clipped on XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) only this very morning

[bobm]

On the subject of ticket checks, has anyone else noticed GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff seem to be turning the ticket over before "gripping" it so the information appears on the white background on the back rather than the front and thus easier to read.

Seen it four or five times in the last few days. Anyone know if it is a new policy?

[plymothian]

Yes, it is, as:

1.  It means the grip is not able to wiped off to reuse the ticket
2. The wet ink on the front does not get on passengers, who then complain

It probably makes ticket checking longer too.