So what are m-tickets?They are eTickets.
I’m sure the bog roll ones I’ve seen haven’t had barcodes.What do you mean by 'not machine readable'? The aztec code on a paper roll ticket can be scanned (and shows all the information you'd expect to see)
I do, but I find anything other than the CCST tickets aren’t really a collection.If you like collecting tickets, an e-ticket should be your favourite, as you can keep them for life in the same quality as when you got it. Unlike thermal print tickets which eventually fade. Dot matrix tickets seem to last longer though and I've still got plenty of those in virtually original quality.
Why were they introduced in the first place if the technology was so much more expensive than the Edmondson tickets which had been in use for the previous 140 years? Using an optical scanner to scan a code would allow a ticket to be either printed or displayed on a screen without paying to write to the magnetic strip, but the loss of the familiar ticket format is an issue for some passengers.However very aware CCST is old technology and barrier systems have to run ticket through machinery as well as read the magnetic strip. Also ticket printing also has to write the magnetic strip. Hence overall expensive.
Aztec code e-ticket however presented is just an electronic reader. For e-tickets tickets bought away from a station printing is an option if at home and have a printer or are somewhere with access to a printer.
Tickets already added to the Apple Wallet can be viewed without internet access or opening an app (although you must still have battery power but contactless payments through Apple Pay can also be done without Internet and on TfL only can still be done with a completely dead battery) and it takes me less than a second to open the Apple Wallet after taking my phone out of my pocket because I have it set up to open when pressing the home button twice (it is the power button on newer models) I very rarely find myself using WiFi since I have had unlimited data for the past few years.I am in a minority, certainly on this forum, but do not want to be using smartphone at the barrier. To have the ticket accessible on the phone without needing internet e.g. copy to folder and load on PDF reader is added hassle. I do not want to rely on public wi-fi putting aside registering to get connected at different stations, as a minimum need to register gor each station operator.