A study that was commissioned by East Midlands Trains, contained 1,000 British commuters. The study was taken in order to highlight the ease of using paperless ticketing, found that leaving bags on seats (38%), not using headphones whilst watching TV and films (27%) as well as eating smelly food (28%) were amongst the list of the greatest rail user annoyances.
With a possible 112 million hours shaved of commuters journeys every year if paper tickets were ditched.
Three in ten passengers pinpoint the approach to the ticket gates as the nationwide bane of their morning commute, and, with almost a fifth (18%) believe queues at the gates to be the top commuter pet peeve.
With 35% saying their fellow passengers' quirks and quibbles on their approach to the gates have made them late for work.
Further to this, 34% of passengers blame the stalling at ticket gates on other passengers not waiting their turn, with a quarter (25%) confessing their own inability to locate their tickets in time was the main reasons for missing trains.
To help tackle this, East Midlands Trains has partnered with expert choreographer and infectious TV personality, Louis Spence, to create a bespoke dance specifically to avoid the gate grumbles.
Titled the ‘Queue Quickstep', the routine is to allow even the most uncoordinated commuters to fluidly dance through the congestion of rush-hour ticket gates with speed and style.
Despite 43% of passengers confessing they usually always use a paper ticket, a staggering 88% of commuters would make the switch to electronic if it were made available.
Whilst half of contentious commuters would do so due to environmental reasons, 46% would prefer to avoid the hassle.
The ‘Queue Quickstep' routine comes as passengers have revealed they mostly dodge children (52%), in the run-up to a ticket gate with prams (47%), wheelie cases (39%) and fold-away bikes (27%) also featuring as gates blockages.
Aside from the most popular speed-walk from commuters (41%), passengers admit to plugging into a special playlist (12%), humming a certain song (10%) and even take a longer route around the station in a bid to beat the rush at the gates and get ahead of their fellow commuters.
Men are more likely to take the stairs (28%) compared to women, who prefer to scale the escalators (23%) in an attempt to dodge other train travellers heading for the platforms.
What did the officials have to say?
Louie Spence added
“When I was asked to partner with East Midlands Trains to create the Queue Quickstep, I couldn't resist the opportunity to form a concourse conga. This routine not only helps commuters seize their passion for dancing but makes sure they get where they need to go safely and quickly – but with fantastic flair too”.
Jake Kelly, Managing Director of East Midlands Trains says:
“We want to make it as quick and easy as possible for our passengers to get where they need to go so we offer a range of paperless ticket options, from SmartCards to tickets on your mobile phone.
“But, we know we can do more and the ‘Queue Quickstep' is a fun tutorial to help our passengers navigate busy stations and dodge the congestion around ticket gates.
“With our smart ticket gates and ticket machines across the network, we hope to reduce queue times and allow all of our customers to get where they need be in a stylish, but timely, manner”.
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