East Midlands Trains unveils the smart ticketing ‘Queue Quickstep’, choreographed by Louie Spence

• East Midlands Trains unveils the smart ticketing ‘Queue Quickstep’, choreographed by Louie Spence, showcasing the smoothest moves to glide through the station with speed, style and grace
• Leaving bags on seats, smelly food and delays at ticket gates are among the nation’s rail commuting pet peeves, as revealed by East Midlands Trains
• Over 122 million hours could be saved every year if commuters switched from paper to smart tickets
• Half of British commuters would make the swap to electronic tickets for environmental reasons

Commuters across the country could shave 122 million hours off their journey time
every year by ditching pesky paper tickets, as a new list of universal commuter pet
peeves is revealed by East Midlands Trains*.

The study of 1,000 British commuters, commissioned by East Midlands Trains, to
highlight the ease of using paperless ticketing, found that leaving bags on seats
(38%), not using headphones when watching TV and films (27%) and eating smelly
food (28%) were amongst the list of the greatest rail user rankles.

Three in ten passengers pinpoint the approach to the ticket barriers as the
nationwide bane of the morning commute, and, 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 having made them
late for work. Further to this, 34% of passengers blame the stalling at ticket gates on
other passengers pushing in, with a quarter (25%) confessing their own inability to
locate their tickets in time was the main reasons for missing trains.

To combat 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 will enable even
the most uncoordinated commuters to fluidly dance through the congestion of a rush
hour ticket gates with speed, style and grace.

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”.

Despite 43% passengers confessing they always use a paper ticket, a staggering
88% of commuters would make the switch to electronic options if they were available
on their journeys. Whilst half of contentious commuters would do so for
environmental reasons, 46% would prefer to avoid the hassle when purchasing
paper tickets entirely.

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”.

The ‘Queue Quickstep’ routine comes as passengers have revealed they mostly
dodge children (52%), in the run up to a ticket gates 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.

East Midlands Trains offers a range of paperless ticket options for passengers right
across the network. Tickets can be loaded directly on to a handy smartcard, sent
directly to a smartphone or sent via email. Paperless tickets help passengers to skip
the queues at ticket machines, can be easily replaced if they are lost and are better
for the environment.

To view and download the ‘Queue Quickstep’, find out more about East Midlands
Trains smart ticket offerings and order your Smartcard online, visit the East Midlands
Trains website: https://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/smart