MyTix Mobile Ticketing

jamesinclair wrote:If it doesnt get collected, the ticket is still used.

You are supposed to activate your ticket before you get onboard, but us humans aren't very good at following rules, are we?

I'm sure NJT would love to go to a POP system like on light rail. They would have to have one conductor to comply with government safety rules and they would love not to have any ticket collectors. For that matter, I would also expect, what with universal TVMs and now smartphone ticketing, they would try to cut ticket agents also. However, they would have to negotiate with their operating unions to get train crew reductions. I imagine the unions would refuse. There would be a strike if NJT tried to impose a crew size reduction. Would Christie welcome a strike because it would improve his standing with the Republican right for 2016? I hope not....

WestfieldCommuter wrote:

jamesinclair wrote:

JoeG wrote:LIRR42, you can display up to 5 tickets on 1 phone.
As far as activating the ticket as the conductor approaches, how does that differ from getting out a paper ticket as he approaches? The possibilities for larceny are slightly less with the electronic ticket because once activated it expires in 2.75 hours. With a paper ticket, until the conductor actually collects it, there is a chance of re-use.

What NJT, and all commuter rail systems in the US, should do is require you to validate your ticket before boarding, as is done with light rail.

If it doesnt get collected, the ticket is still used.

I wonder if the end goal is to turn it into more of an honor system with occasional checks, and cut down on the number of ticket collectors needed on trains.

Doesnt work if you can activate when you see an inspector coming.

It works with light rail because the machine is on the platform

My guess is that in practice (whatever the official rules are), conductors will accommodate, the lost, the brain dead, the bewildered very nicely. If the guy trying to get from Newark to Middletown, NJ, ends up on a train to Middletown, NY, decides it doesn't look right and ends up in Port Jervis, I would suspect he would be allowed to get to Middletown, NJ at no extra charge.

That's not my experience with paper tickets. When somebody tells me that he rode past his stop I sell him a ticket to go back.
I worked at Morristown in that grand Lackawanna station for years and I had people walk in from time to time asking if they were in Moorestown, NJ; which they pronounced Morristown. One guy, when I told him he'd have to go back to Newark, get a train to Philly and a bus to Moorestown, gave up and went back to New York.

Merged two topics regarding the same thing together.

Another update for the MyTix app is now available. With the addition of the remaining NEC stations and the Atlantic City Line, it now means tickets can be purchased on the app for all rail lines.

Are MyTix tickets scanned to prevent re-use? More specifically, can I buy a Newark-Dover ticket and take a Newark-Summit train, get off at Summit, then catch the next train that stops at Summit bound for Dover? Reason is that the outbound Newark platform can be unpleasant in the cold, and I'd rather get on the first train that comes and wait somewhere else. I've had crew balk a couple times when I do this with a Trenton-Dover paper ticket, in particular, a TC who looked at my ticket as we left Summit said "this ticket is only good if you board at Newark".

loufah wrote:Are MyTix tickets scanned to prevent re-use? More specifically, can I buy a Newark-Dover ticket and take a Newark-Summit train, get off at Summit, then catch the next train that stops at Summit bound for Dover? Reason is that the outbound Newark platform can be unpleasant in the cold, and I'd rather get on the first train that comes and wait somewhere else. I've had crew balk a couple times when I do this with a Trenton-Dover paper ticket, in particular, a TC who looked at my ticket as we left Summit said "this ticket is only good if you board at Newark".

I don't know about Iphone tickets, but as a ticket agent, my answer is yes, why not? You are allowed to complete your journey on a connecting train or trains. Stop-overs aren't permitted on one way or round trip tickets, but connections are, as long as you get the next train out. I don't know of any rule that you have to wait at Broad St. for a through train. Maybe some trainman knows something that I don't know.

I'm pretty sure that's only allowed in very limited circumstances. What's stopping the guy from buying a ticket to Dover, going to Summit, having dinner, and then going home to Dover? That's more expensive than a through ticket to Dover last I checked. Summit may be a special case as it's a transfer point, but I'm not sure. This is not that easy to do with a paper ticket in my experience.

It appears the poster does not like waiting at Newark Broad Street, so it seems he gets on whatever train comes first (be it going to Dover, Gladstone, Summit, or wherever), travels to Summit, and there, if his train is not going to his desired destination, he will hop off and wait there until the correct train comes.

Logically, it would seem like that would be allowable, since you are traveling in one direction and you are changing trains so you can reach your intended destination, one that is different from the one you are traveling too.

Let's say you wanted to go from Orange to Morristown on the M&E. Glancing at the schedule, it would appear at first that the fastest way there at a certain point would be to take a train that is bound for Gladstone, then at Summit, transfer for the correct train to Morristown.

With paper tickets a condr. can't tell if you've gone shopping for hours at your connection point unless you tell him. Maybe with I-phone tickets he (or she) can tell. They expire after a certain length of time, I think. But the question isn't about stop-overs, but legitimate connections.

A couple of weeks ago a customer came to my ticket window saying that he had used his I-phone to produce transportation several times, but this morning it wasn't doing it. I couldn't give him help because I know nothing about them, but suggested that he try customer service.

Jtgshu wrote:Keep in mind that NJT isn't really just a commuter operation anymore. There is SIGNIFICANT off peak ridership, and non-regular riders which take the train every day, all times of the day and night. Its easier to use paper tickets, especially for infrequent riders. Then the question should be asked, is it cost effective or efficient to have two types of tickets? Paper and electronic? How much money would actually be saved, in particular in the revenue department and back office stuff....

It works, and while there might be something that could work electronically in the not to distant future, I think the paper tickets in some form, and the people to collect them, are going to be around for some time.

Well, Transit apparently thinks it is going to be cost effective. All four ticket vending machines at my station (Middletown, NJ) have e-ticket advertising pasted on them as well as well as a couple of (what used to be TDI) posters around the station.

philipmartin wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:Keep in mind that NJT isn't really just a commuter operation anymore. There is SIGNIFICANT off peak ridership, and non-regular riders which take the train every day, all times of the day and night. Its easier to use paper tickets, especially for infrequent riders. Then the question should be asked, is it cost effective or efficient to have two types of tickets? Paper and electronic? How much money would actually be saved, in particular in the revenue department and back office stuff....

It works, and while there might be something that could work electronically in the not to distant future, I think the paper tickets in some form, and the people to collect them, are going to be around for some time.

Well, JT, Transit apparently thinks it is going to be cost effective. All four ticket vending machines at my station (Middletown, NJ) have e-ticket advertising pasted on them as well as well as a couple of (what used to be TDI) posters around the station.

I really wish he could respond to you... believe me, I do. Unfortunately, he can't.

I wish he could respond too.

Just to clarify, the "somewhere else" other than Newark where I detrain to wait is always Summit, because it is listed as a transfer point on my ticket and can be punched. I would never ask to get off at another, non-transfer station - that would raise the suspicion of fraud.