Some idle thoughts - a better way forward for buying tickets or paying fares?

Here’s a thought….

I was caught up in the TVM^▸ shutdown, and closure of Goring station this morning. I intended to go to Reading to undertake some much overdue shopping, breaking my journey at Pangbourne to collect a pair of spectacles whose lenses had been changed.

I tried to use the on-line system on my smartphone. I could not remember if I had previously signed up “on the app”, so tried to register as a new customer, only to be told that there was already an account registered to my email address. This was after having to select a departure time (I wanted to catch the 10-22), I could not choose the “after 10-00” option as this time had passed – the next was “after 10-30” – and so on, with a similar need to choose a 30-minute slot for my return when I simply wanted to catch the first train back after I completed my shopping – what a rubbish interface! And what a contrast to the user-friendly new scan and pay system I used at M&S when I eventually got to Reading. Rather than miss the train, I got to Pangbourne and was able to buy the ticket at Pangbourne from a real person.

Our colleague Taplow Green tells us that he cuts the faff by tapping in and out using his credit card. Now I always carry two cards – my payment card that is the grandson of that first cashpoint card, and a credit card. Most of my friends do likewise, partly to give the flexibility of budgeting, but also (in my case) having been advised by a retired senior banker that a relatively low limit credit card is a useful barrier to access to my current card against on-line fraudsters. TG, as a daily commuter probably is used to selecting one card (if he has more than one) to use each time. For those of us who are now retired casual travellers remembering which card we used and when we should tap out, this is “faff”. Even TG has admitted that he has forgotten to tap out and had to apply for a refund.
It’s so much simpler to ask at the ticket office for an off-peak return on a Senior Railcard, tap the card machine, stick the outward portion (helpfully labelled!) in the gate line to get out of Reading Station and the remaining part to get back in to go home. No faff there, and it’s almost as simple when the TVM is working.

Then a thought occurred to me – I have just taken out my second Senior Railcard. My new card has no bar-code, QR^▸ code, magnetic strip nor chip. Yet next year it will be 50 years since Lloyds Bank issued me a “cashpoint card” with a magnetic strip which enabled me as a student to draw cash at most (eventually all) Lloyds branches. In due course it has evolved via a cheque guarantee card to a payment card. I also recall a very user-friendly rechargeable ticket card I used on Vancouver’s Skytrain service some years ago.

So – what idea has the sight of my Senior Railcard inspired?

How about a universal railcard that uses one of the many alternatives (barcode, QR code or similar) that you can acquire at a station, Post Office, convenience store or on-line, and top-up at any such outlet with credit that you can use – at a ticket office, TVM, on the train or by tapping in and out (if that floats your boat). If we are to lose ticket offices, the default should be a touch and go machine (or machines) at stations or on trains at which you select your destination, whether it’s a single or return and if you are departing after the peak premium time. If you have insufficient credit, you can then be told, to avoid the embarrassment of getting on without sufficient credit to complete your journey. If your date of birth and any of the various qualifications for discounted travel are entered on first taking the card out, the discount can automatically be applied, in the case of senior discounts immediately on your 60th birthday.

No need for a smartphone, with a battery that’s charged and sufficient credit and signal to complete the transaction. No need to download a confusing, badly designed app – I suggest they be banned! No need for different systems in London and elsewhere, and the possibility of devising a way of using them on busses as well. No need even to have a bank account with a payment card. Instead, one easily obtained piece of credit card sized plastic that is universally accepted and instantly recognisable as the one to use to travel by train.

No doubt more knowledgeable forum members (whether in the field of IT or practicalities of fare collection and checking) will point out problems I haven’t seen. Clearly it does not do away with the desirability of fare simplification, but perhaps this might even work before that long-desired goal is achieved?