English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm looking for the English word to describe a card which can be sold to a customer which contains several tickets. For instance, in a fitness center you can buy a card which allows you to participate in classes 10 times.
The closest thing I have is "punch card", but not having English as my main language, I'm not sure if that is correct.
The French word carnet is used in English public transport networks for a ticket (or a book of tickets) which can be used on more than one journey.
Pronunciation: /ˈkɑːneɪ/
- A book of tickets for use on public transport in some countries.
Carnet tickets
If you travel regularly to and from London but not often enough to buy a Season ticket, the Carnet ticket booklet could save you time and money.
You can buy a Carnet booklet of either five or 10 single journey tickets and you’ll save 10%. Your Carnet tickets will need to be used within three months and only from selected stations. Don’t forget that Carnet tickets are one-way, so you’ll need a separate book of Carnet tickets for your return journeys.
There are two types of Carnet tickets to choose from:
Anytime tickets - unrestricted travel
Off-Peak tickets - choose this if you:
- Arrive in London after 10:00 Monday to Friday
- Leave London after 09:30 Monday to Friday
- Travel before 16:30 and after 19:01 Monday to Friday
- Travel on public holidays
Please note that Carnet booklets are only available as Standard Class fares.
If it's a solitary card from which 10 uses is used and somehow marred/marked, then calling it a punch card in the USA is easily understood, even if physical "punches" aren't used.
A good alternative could be called a Voucher Card. I can't speak for English usage for slang/jargon outside the USA though.
Ticket Booklet? Not entirely sure if this is what you are looking for, as this is not a single card, but a small book of many tickets. Thought I'd suggest it though.
In Italy a group of ten separate bus tickets are called carnet, but they have translated the expression as 10-trips book of tickets.
It's not a single word but it's perfectly comprehensible, and I imagine that whoever translated the French term knew that many non UK English speaking people would be unfamiliar with the expression, carnet.
You could shorten it to multi-trip or ten-trip tickets, I think this solution is more elegant and self explanatory at the same time.
If a person wishes to purchase a limited subscription to a gym (in my experience subscriptions are monthly or annual, but maybe that's only true in Italy) then I'd suggest
In our country it is called a 'subscription card'. It may vary, either for 8 classes or 12. But still it is a subscription. To say about a gym - probably 'gym membership' card
About public transport - travel card or pass.
The kind of card with a number of locations on it to punch holes or stamp with ink is the earliest form of a customer loyalty card. Generally called a punch card or a stamp card and usually result in getting a gift when all of the holes are punched/stamped (e.g.: buy 10 and get one free).
For a fitness center, I'd use "10-visit pass."
Ten-ride Ticket (or Ten-rides Ticket, I've seen both) is the phrase various public transport organizations in the Netherlands use in English information for tourists.
Not sure if that is officially English, but at least it is pretty clear what it means.
Carnet is used in France and Italy and also by English public transport, but I have never heard it used as a common term by native speakers (I have lived in the UK for a while).
I just asked an American colleague what she would call it and she, after a lot of thought came up with "Gee, I don't know... Maybe a ticket-book or something like that ?"
She actually preferred the Dutch "Ten-ride Ticket" term as a better name, when I mentioned that to her.
The term multi-ride is used by numerous transit authorities in the US to describe passes that allow either a set number of trips or unlimited trips within a set period of time. The term is usually followed by a term such as car, pass or ticket.
A web search of multi-ride provides examples, such as this one.
Depending on context it may be preferable to simply use the local word for such tickets. If you use an existing English word you risk implying some assumptions that are not necessarily true for this specific ticket system.
If you happen to be the issuer of such tickets you have some freedom in choosing what translation you want to use for your specific ticket system. It is more of a marketing decision than a question about what is correct.
Fore reference, here is a Danish klippekort:
It could be called a punch card or a rebate card. When used in context most Danes would probably understand either of those terms. 10-trip rebate card would not need as much context to be understood. But the term is both a bit long for common reference, and technically imprecise, as the card may also be used for fewer longer trips.
The seemingly fitting description travel card would not be acceptable in Denmark as that refers to a different ticketing system. You can't safeguard against such translation mistakes without knowing the local context.
There is no single (non-British) English word to describe 'a' card which can be sold to a customer which contains several tickets. 'A' card cannot contain multiple tangible objects.
You can have a single punchable\mark-able\tab-removable\magnetic-swipable card;
Or you can have (containing multiple, individual card stocks) a ticket book, also sometimes known as season tickets; if they are bound. If they are not bound, they're just a stack of tickets.
I'd suggest against using the word, carnet, which is used "in [only] some [areas of English speaking] countries".
I would call it a Season Ticket.
