For what it's worth, for all the flights I've taken in the last couple of years, the boarding passes (which are the type you print at home) have had traditional bar codes (EAN13).
In Scotland and the rest of Britain, train tickets don't have a bar code, but they have a magnetic strip which is read by the ticket gates. On-board ticket inspectors read the tickets visually.
In France, the tickets appear not to have any electronic information, as far as I can see. I recently bought a ticket for the TGV. When I ordered it on-line, I was given a 6-character alphanumeric code. I had to type that code into a terminal at the station, and that printed the ticket. However, the ticket was never checked, either electronically or visually, on the whole of the 600 km. journey, nor at the stations at either end.
Sorry if this is off-topic. It adds nothing to the original question, but it might be of interest anyway.
Mike
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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
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