[scrollaway]

Kids these days, how dare they use technology, am I right, fellow luddite on the internet?

People lose paper tickets. People throw them on the ground. Stations are littered with them. Oh, and people do spend ages looking through their pockets, bags, coats and other places for where their paper ticket is at.

You're just being contrarian because you're on a tech website, tbh.

[LtWorf]

If a mobile phone is now a prerequisite for living, governments should issue them to all citizens, and provide maintenance and replacement.

Or just don't expect people who don't own a phone to own a ticket.

[arp242]

Not just a mobile phone, but a phone with either iOS or Android. Plus, a phone with an account with either of two parent companies (avoiding that on Android is possible, but far from trivial). Any "alternative" system is basically a non-starter as all these apps are typically only developed for these platforms, and it's become very hard for any new player to enter the market.

While the duopoly is better than the monopoly of Microsoft Windows back in the day, it's also worse as the reliance on software is much greater, and its become harder (if not impossible) to write your own implementation for $alternative_system.

[lgeek]

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

[intelVISA]

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.

[scrollaway]

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”?

[dTal]

I think the logic is you still need some sort of computer to download and display your ticket, whereas with a paper ticket you don't need any external equipment. This discriminates against those too disadvantaged to own such a thing. You can argue that if the government is going to make possession of a device a requirement to access government functions, they ought to provide it.

[_dain_]

you can use a laptop

[nkellenicki]

That's not what the OP claimed at all. Paper tickets still exist. A mobile phone is not requisite. People can choose the option that works for them.

[LtWorf]

Come here in Sweden.

The main station of the 2nd biggest city has TWO ticket machines.

The minor stations have none. You're expected to use the phone.

[Symbiote]

I wondered on a recent trip where I was supposed to add credit to a Västtrafik card I had from a previous trip.

In Denmark, there are equivalent top-up machines at almost every rail and metro station. (The exceptions are some very rural lines, where machines are on trains instead.)

At the central station in Copenhagen there must be at least 10 machines, if not more. There are also two SJ ticket machines! Sorry Gothenburg.

[LtWorf]

You must go to pressbyrån, but many people use their app to buy the ticket. This of course means that you can get fined if your phone runs out of charge.

The trams have a machine selling tickets on board, and that costs sensibly more than the other options. There is no way to buy tickets on a bus. On a train you must plea your case to the conductor as to why you have no ticket. For example like explaining that the pressbyrån closed at 15.00 and the closest open one implied an 8km walk.

[nonrandomstring]

> littered with them.

I don't see that. The ticket barriers are programmed to retain used tickets. And please lay-off the "contrarian" slurs, I'm just telling you what I see with my eyes each day. If you looked up from your phone you might notice too :)

[JamesMcMinn]

ScotRail have started to print tickets with QR codes on them, which unfortunately are an awkward size (far bigger than a credit card, even larger than a £20), come as a single strip without a perforated edge to tear, and are generally very low quality. I full expect these to become a common sight on the ground as they're not eaten by machines and difficult to store even in your wallet.

[hwatson]

It’s a shame these have become more commonplace.

Northern started issuing them instead of cardboard tickets a few years ago and other TOCs followed along after Network Rail/Cubic finished adding barcode readers to ~all ticket barriers.

I understand why: paper barcode-only tickets are significantly cheaper than cardboard tickets (their lack of a magstripe allows any generic thermal printer to be used), but their larger form factor makes them a definite UX downgrade.

[scrollaway]

Ticket barriers that swallow tickets are not universal. In many cities tickets are reusable over a long period of time and contactless.

I see downvoters are happy to downvote facts, good going HN tonight.

[Symbiote]

Those aren't the tickets that would be littering the ground.

[TEP_Kim_Il_Sung]

People lose phones, or steal them, or hack them. Oh, and people do spend ages looking through their pockets, bags, coats, and other places for their phones too. But paper tickets are less likely to be hacked, and don't run out of power.