Would Third-Party Rail Ticket Machines Be A Good Idea?
I travel extensively on the UK rail network and my journeys are generally of three types.
- Local journeys within the London Zone 1-6 Travelcard area, for which I use my Freedom Pass.
- Journeys to places like Brighton, Hastings, Ipswich and Rochester, where I generally buy a ticket from a machine.
- Long distance journeys, where I use the Internet and pick up the ticket at a machine.
I suspect that many travellers across the UK, have a similar pattern of use.
The Changing Nature Of Cash Machines
Forty years ago, there were an adequate number of cash machines, but they were generally associated with bank premises.
I can remember my delight, when I first found a machine in a motorway service area.
Now, cash machines are everywhere and all are free. Although, there are mutterings, that charges might be made and the number of machines will drop, due to contactless cards.
A Third-Party Rail Ticket Machine
At present, the nearest to this are the ticket machines on the London Overground.
The latest ones allow you to do all the normal ticketing functions, with these valuable additions.
- Buying a ticket between any two stations in the UK.
- Buying an extension ticket from the London Zone 6 boundary.
- Prices are generally the lowest you can purchase, on the Internet without using Advance Tickets for specific trains.
These feature means, that if say I’m going to a football match outside London in a few days, I’ll buy my ticket from the Overground.
Ticket machines will add more and more features.
- Train information.
- Itinerary printing.
- Buying Advance tickets for a specific train.
- Seat reservations.
- Special tickets like Plus Bus, Plus Tram and Rover and Ranger tickets.
- Selling railcards
Imagine turning up in a city and being presented with a screen on the same machine, which allows you to buy Travelcards and tickets for local attractions.
As the machines get more sophisticated, I believe there will be less need for ticket machines to be at train stations.
So could we see companies like The Trainline putting ticket machines in places like shopping centres, superstores and the smaller shops that service Oyster in London?
If the financial model stacks up, I’m sure we will see ticket machines everywhere!
Ticket Machines On Platforms And In Ticketed Areas
In Germany, there is often a ticket machine after you have passed the gate.
I find it very useful, as they can be used to buy tickets for a later journey or look up future connections.
I only know of one ticket machine inside the ticketed area in the UK and that is on Platform 8 at Stratford station.
We need more of these!
Would a third-party company be more likely to provide them? Especially, as they’d quickly identify the most profitable places, where there were large numbers of interchange or waiting passengers.
Collateral Benefits
Making rail tickets more available will surely increase sales. Suppose you live in Nottingham and your mother lives in Peterborough. You’ve just had a bad drive across the Midlands to see her for her birthday.
Will a ticket machine in your local superstore, lead youto investigate the trains as an alternative?
If it does, it must surely lead to more passengers on the trains.
Train companies are notoriously bad, at making sure that a weekend service has enough carriages.
Making it easier to buy tickets would surely give them a better estimate of passenger numbers.
But would the train companies make use of the information?
Conclusion
We’ll see a lot more ticket machines.
Some will be from third-party operators. Just like cash machines!
Successful Trial Means Tube On Track For 4G Coverage By 2019
The title of this post is the same as this article on Rail Technology Magazine. This is said.
The Tube network will see 4G connectivity arrive in 2019, TfL has confirmed, meaning mayor Sadiq Khan’s original ambitions will be able to go ahead.
The news comes following a successful trial of the technology on the Waterloo & City line, where 4G technology was tested in tunnels and stations along the line in the summer.
I wonder how long it will be before all trains, trams and buses have 4G connectivity.
In some ways, I think providing 4G connectivity outside stations, bus stops and other important places is more important.
Suppose you are stuck in an area with no signal and perhaps you have fallen over and seriously cut your leg and need help or just a lift home.
Wouldn’t it be so much better, if you could find somewhere, where you know you could summon assistance or a lift?
I have two questions.
- Will 4G connectivity be added to the Overground?
- Will 4G connectivity be switch on station-by-station and line-by-line or in one go in 2019?
In some posts about this, it is suggested that a driving force behind the connectivity, is that the emeergency services are moving to mobile phone technology. So if that is the case, then the answers to these questions must be in the affirmative!
The Reliability Of Online Reviews
Wake Up To Money this morning on BBC Radio 5 was talking about the reliability of on-line reviews.
So I sent in the following text.
As a coeliac, I find if I type “gluten free restaurant” with the city I’m in, I find somewhere good. Perhaps coeliacs don’t want to drop their peers in it!
It wasn’t read out directly, but someone else had said the same thing and the two messages were combined.
The method has certainly found me some very good gluten-free meals.
Monarch Goes Bust
It is not a good time for airlines with Ryanair in a mess and now Monarch has gone bust.
The CAA has announced a web site at www.monarch.caa.co.uk, where passengers should look for information.
I checked the site out of curiosity and it seems to do what the chair of the CAA said it does on the BBC!
The internet would seem to help in these situations.
Even Vauxhall Corsas Have 4G Wi-Fi
This is the case according to adverts at the side of the pitch in the England Slovakia game at Wembley tonight.
I don’t drive, so I don’t care, but it appears that this increasingly features on cars.
Bombardier have fitted this feature to Crossrail’s Class 345 trains, so will we see it increasingly fitted to all trains, taxis and buses?
It’ll certainly be something that passengers on public transport will expect.
Internet Age Just Starting, Says Tech Guru
The title of this post is the same as the title of a short article in the Business section of the Sunday Times.
It is a summary of an interview with Marc Andreesen onside the Business section.
Some points raised.
- The next wave of technological disruption will affect law, medicine and construction.
- The basic cost of starting an Internet company has fallen dramatically
- There’s something really special happening at the intersection of medincine and computer science.
I certainly agree with the title of the article.
The Labour Party’s Fantasy Economics
Today, the Labour Party has added a rail fare cap to their list of give-aways to all and sundry.
In the 1970s, I was asked to do a programming job for the Chief Management Accountant of a major clearing bank, who are still trading successfully, so my work didn’t toss them down the toilet.
I programmed a system, so that the Bank could work out how much every one of their management functions would cost. The program could be run so that the Bank could see how much say a pay rise for staff would add to the cost of clearing a cheque, in all of their branches. As you can imagine costs were very variable and the reasons for some of the high costs in some branches appeared in the tabloid newspapers.
It was fascinating and three things happened.
- I learned a tremendous amount about the way bankers and accountants look at figures, which I put to good use in Artemis
- I learned a lot about the way bankers think.
- But above all, I gained a good friend, which was sadly cut short by the Chief Management Accountant’s early death from cancer, We regularly celebrated our fruendship in Mother Bunches Wine Bar.
I also decided to move my Bank Account to the Bank and by luck, I was introduced to a Bank Manager, who played a large part in my life.
- He became Metier’s Bank Manager and helped us to be the success we were.
- He went on to be Business Banking Director of the Bank.
- He loaned me the money to buy my first Porsche and then introduced me to the joys of owning a Lotus.
- But as with the Chief Management Accountant, we became firm friends and put the world to rights in many convivial lunches.
Sadly, he died a few days before C.
These two friends taught me a lot about banking.
But I remember one conversation with the Bank Manager in particular.
We were talking about lending millions of pounds to companies, with strong Chilean, Israeli and South African ownership links. He said they were always difficult and risky because of the politics and determined individuals involved, but you satisfied this risk by adding a percentage or two to the deal.
Since then I have been involved in both a small finance company and Zopa; the peer-to-peer lender, as an investor, and the same principles apply.
Just as they do when the banks are lending to countries with dodgy finances.
So what makes the Labour Party think that they any sane Banker will fund their socialist fantasies, by loaning them billions at zero or low rates?
Protecting Your Company, Organisation Or Workgroup From Viruses, Ransomware And Other Malware
I am not a computer malware expert and since 1970, I have generally worked alone, with one or more computers , not connected by a network.
But after all the problems of the last few weeks with ransomware, I feel that one of my experiences of a few years ago, should be put into this blog.
A Daisy Demonstration
The Research Department of a major corporation were interested in using my software; Daisy to analyse data being collected in their local offices.
So I was summoned to their offices to the South West of London, so that they could have a proper demonstration.
I found something extremely sensible that I’d not seen before.
The Department had the usual corporate network, as you would expect, with logins, malware protection, but for my demonstration I used another computer.
The Lonely PC
We moved to a lonely PC sitting on a desk in the corner. It had the following characteristics.
- Adequate power.
- A recent version of Windows.
- Direct connection to the Internet through a landline.
- No connection to the main network.
- A directly connected printer.
- A selection of browsers.
- Microsoft Office, but no e-mail program.
The only thing, that the computer lacked was a large screen.
Uses Of The Isolated Computer
The isolated computer was used for the following.
- Demonstrations
- Checking out ideas and web sites in suspect locations.
- Testing software.
I think that after the recent ransomware attacks, emergency Internet access could probably be added to the list of uses.
Rules For Using The Computer
The Department had setup a series of rules for the use of the computer.
- The computer could be booked by anybody in the Department.
- Comprehensive data transfer rules using physical devices had been setup.
- No software could be installed on computers on the main network, without full testing on the isolated computer.
- The computer was regularly checked for any viruses or malware.
- If any nasties were found on this computer, it was immediately restored to a pristine state.
Incidentally, whether it was for my benefit or not, it was one of the cleanest corporate computers, I’ve used for a demonstration.
Benefits
I was told that since the computer had been installed, malware problems on the network had decreased.
But how much was this down to a constantly improving and rigorously updated malware-protection system for the Department’s main network?
An Ideal System
A lot would depend on the type of company and their needs.
The system I used needed a big screen, as often a demonstration needs to be seen by several people.
I also think, that with a large screen, it could be a valuable tool in Corporate Communications.
Some might think, that this type of computer, which bypasses the corporate network, could be used by those with access for nefarious purposes.
Years ago, my software; Artemis was used to do the Project Management on Chevaline. The Ministry of Defence was worried that the Russians might use some unknown technology to read the electromagnetic radiation from the cathode-ray tube of the VDU. So I suggested they put the desk-sized computer in a shielded internal room. But what about the door, they said! I suggested that they get Chubb to put one of their best locks on the door.
A few weeks later, when a software problem struck, I went home with a complete copy of the project on a disc.
I had encoded the data using a personally-designed method that I still believe is unbreakable. But that is another story! Especially, as I’ve never signed the Official Secrets Act!
As this tale illustrates, there are ways to enforce security and holes will always appear.
