When a driver is presented with an already printed ticket (return, daily, weekly etc) its validity needs to be checked otherwise anyone could just hop on a bus waving a bit of paper and get a free ride! There is only so much time a driver has time to do, so for me the most important check is the date. If it’s a return was it issued today? If a daily, weekly, monthly etc. ticket is it current? The next check I do is to verify that the ticket is of a valid type for the journey being boarded. If a return is it for this route. If daily, weekly, monthly etc is it of a valid type for the boarding and alighting destinations? There are lots more things which could be checked like does the serial number of the photo ID (if required) match the ticket serial number, verify that the passenger looks like the photo, check the ticket for signs of forgery or tampering etc but there is just not enough time to that. That’s a job for the Standards Controllers, Road Inspectors or whatever they’re called.
Of all the reasons for rejecting a ticket an incorrect date date is by far the most common. So why do the company make it so difficult to check the date? My first example is of a Wilts & Dorset ticket – this is a daily ticket but weekly tickets retain exactly the same format. Look at how large the ‘Issued’ date is in comparison to the ‘Valid until the end of’ date’. As you look at the ticket the much larger issued date jumps out at you and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve told someone the ticket has expired when it hasn’t :-( Whoever designed the ticket must have been totally unaware of how it would be read when in use.
And now my own company, Stagecoach, have made checking the date validity of a ticket more time consuming. Until now all period tickets have followed the date box format ‘From’ as the top line and ‘To’ as the bottom line. So, the driver automatically looks at the lower line to check the ticket is still valid (the driver has little interest in when it was issued). Here are some Goldriders showing the ‘From’ and ‘To’ format.
And here’s the new Student Gold ticket. ‘To’ is now the top line and ‘From’ the second line!!!! There are lots more period tickets which I could show but the common factor in then all is the ‘From’ ‘To’ format so this new ticket is the only one to formatted back to front. I wonder how many holders of these I’ll be telling that their ticket has expired because I read the bottom line as you do on every other ticket. If only somebody with half a brain did ticket design.
Those involved in ticket design could do worse that taking a close look at a Road Tax disc which gives visual priority to the most important factor and less prominence to other information which, whilst being necessary, is of lesser immediate importance.
You’ve obviously studied these more closely than most of us Malcolm – I’m quite thorough but I hadn’t realised the layout had been reversed.
I agree that the date is not prominent enough – we have complained about this before with the internet purchased MegaRiders, but for me the worst tickets to check are plus bus. Because they are railway tickets you look for the words you need e.g. Romsey Bus or Winchester + Bus and then also need to look for both an expiry date and period of validity, otherwise someone buying a period return valid for 3 months or whatever could use it on the bus every day in that period. They’re a nightmare to check properly.