m-tickets

[Anastasius]

I was reading an article in todays' Times about the m-ticket trials on some train lines and that the aim was to make these 'mandatory' within a couple of years. M-tickets are loaded onto your smartphone. So to my mind, and if the article is to be believed, surely this disenfranchises those who either do not have a smartphone nor wish to have a smartphone?

Has anyone else heard anything about this ?

[Old Grumpy]

Has anyone else heard anything about this ?

No...

Perhaps because 1) I don't read the Times and 2) I don't have a smartphone!

OG

[Petrushka]

No I've not heard about this either but it wouldn't surprise me. Companies of all kinds try to force the market in all sorts of ways, usually for their benefit and not ours. I'd guess that the option will be there but wouldn't have thought it mandatory though.

[Dave2002]

No I've not heard about this either but it wouldn't surprise me. Companies of all kinds try to force the market in all sorts of ways, usually for their benefit and not ours. I'd guess that the option will be there but wouldn't have thought it mandatory though.

Not quite the same is the situation at the car park in our local station. Often the ticket machines are out of order, or the only working one is about "half a mile" down the car park and back again, which is useless if one's train is on its way. There are "helpful" notices saying "not to worry - you can get on the train and pay by phone" - which surprisingly enough costs more - plus it clearly doesn't work if one doesn't have a phone etc.

I hate the assumption that everyone has a phone or a mobile phone. Some web sites insist on a mobile phone number, so I used to just put random numbers in, though that has other consequences sometimes.

[Serial_Apologist]

As a 70-year old London resident I'm just glad I have my senior traveller's card, though I suppose were this requirement to come about I'd be restricted to the journey limits stipulated on the London rail map, not being in possession of any kind of cell phone let alone the smart variety.

[David-G]

There was a similar article in the Telegraph a few weeks back. The headline gave the same impression of it being mandatory, but the actual text of the article said nothing about it being mandatory. The Press like to twist things to appear dramatic.

[decantor]

I too read an article about this quite recently - can't recall where. Its emphasis was rather different, claiming that those who could/would not pay by phone would be charged higher prices to cover the overheads of manning ticket offices, loading ticket machines, and so on. The suggestion was that the elderly would be subsidising the young's travel, but I also wondered about what tourists would make of it: "We're being fleeced! Again!"

Like Dave2002 in #4, I too resent the assumption that all the world has a smart-phone, or at least a cell-phone. I don't.

[oddoneout]

I hate the assumption that everyone has a phone or a mobile phone. .

Almost as arrogant is the assumption that there is universal coverage for said devices.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ever increasing compulsory dependence on expensive obsolescent merchandise will one day be seen as the main characteristic of life today, alongside the ever-increasing destruction of biodiversity and the ecosphere. As a cyclist I wonder how much longer will puncture repair patches be obtainable, when so much more money can be made from insisting on completely new inner tubes every time a puncture takes place. Gone are the times when one could say, well, at least I darn my socks.