Great Western Coffee Shop

I have noticed in the last few weeks that tickets bought on line were available to collect from TVMs in much less than the two hours formally quoted.

This has applied to both ones bought via the FGW website and their app. I booked some this morning and was able to collect them from the station 15 minutes later.   I also booked some as I was passing through Ivybridge on the train and was able to collect them when I got off at Plymouth.

Has there been a change of policy or have I just been lucky?

I think I've read somewhere that the 2 hours is a safe figure to quote right across the UK because there is / was eventually just one TOC who's machines weren't online and just got updated every couple of hours.     For the rest - it was much more like electronic speed.

I've been denied tickets for tomorrow after 9 p.m. at the Paddington manned ticket desk (they've got special permission to not sell the full range), denied the ability to buy from a machine directly (as I wanted a split), so sat on a seat, ordered online and collected 10 minutes later.   Where there's a will, there's a way!

Does anyone know if one TOC is still doing batch updates?   And if so, which one?

Indeed it is rather quick ;D

Look at it like a BACS Wire Transfer concept. The Bank tells me that it'll take up to 2 hours for an FPS (Faster Payment Service) to go through to the beneficiary bank. I transferred some funds on my Barclays Account to Ladyfriend Trouts bank account. By the time she had logged into online banking on her PC (NatWest) the funds had cleared, took about 5 minutes if I remember correctly.

Equally I've had a transfer take just over 90 minutes in the past... :-X

Retailers that use the ATOS WebTIS Mixing Deck booking engine tend to have tickets ready for collection very soon after the purchase is completed. I've heard of someone stood on King's Cross concourse buying tickets on their tablet (via East Coast - ATOS WebTIS Mixing Deck) and collecting them from a TVM less than 5 minutes after the transaction was completed.

It's thetrainline based system that tends to be much slower.

The two hours quoted is fairly standard across the industry to take account of the slowest system.

I have stood next to a SWT machine whilst booking on the phone and as soon as I got my booking confirmation I put my card in and received my tickets.

Needless to say, I was not on the SWT website (trainline), it was a WebTIS one.

Unfortunately, four years on, The Train Line powered websites are still not offering tickets for collection immediately.

Travelling to St Andrews via a bus connection from Leuchars.  As the bus element is not railcard discounted, it was cheaper to split the tickets into two: one to Leuchars and another for the bus only from Leuchars to St Andrews.

TVM at my origin (a ScotRail station) only offered tickets from that station, so bought my ticket to Leuchars only.  "ST ANDREWS BUS" was a destination I could select on that machine.

On arrival at Leuchars, ticket office was closed whilst the staff member performed other duties.  TVM (a different type of machine) did not offer "ST ANDREWS BUS", only "ST ANDREWS ROAD" (the one on the Severn Beach Line, sigh).  Bought ticket online at ScotRail website (tried GWR for the Nectar points, but they didn't offer the destination).  Ticket purchased, went to collect it.  Booking reference not found.  Gave it about 10 minutes.  No luck.

By this time, the guy from the ticket office was back behind the window.  He tried the booking reference on his computer.  Again, no luck.  Fortunately, he was able to sell the ticket I needed.

Straight on the phone to ScotRail (aka Train Line) to ask for a refund on my uncollected ticket.  Telephone operator didn't seem surprised by my predicament.  Seems like they get this situation often.  He offered to refund the ticket immediately, without needing to collect and return.

You really would think, in the year 2017, that adding data to a database and retrieving it from a machine could be done in realtime.  Obviously not.

I think we've discussed elsewhere that the Trainline retains a two-hour collection time, haven't we?

Others now have a 15min collection time. Make your choice, pays your money

But why does it still take two hours, or even 15 minutes, for an online transaction to be processed?  :o

Goodness, even the High Street banks are now talking about clearing cheques the following day!

 ::)

Because no-one has paid the money required to take out the 'slug' from the software?  Perhaps like some of the software dampers on engines?  [answer is an educated guess ...]

AIUI Scotrail has a 2 hour window and is payment card only (which caused problems when GWR TVMs were baulking at taking Amex). On the plus side, it was until recently offering £1.33 on each transaction through Quidco (it should have been 5%).

There are other trainline powered websites which quote 15 minutes now as window (I forget which).

WebTIS powered websites have always been instant for me e.g. GWR.

When you have enough time for the tickets to be posted, they usually arrive the next day for me. I ordered a set recently in the afternoon and they arrived in the morning post the following day.

The return address on the back used to be somewhere in Crawley.

 I do not regularly book tickets online, but from what I assume reading posts.

 Use a debit card and GWR website ?

It seems any of the First Group websites are best at the moment, since you earn Nectar points.  GWR sometimes offer discounts on their own Advance fares.  For journeys involving other TOCs, it is worth checking out their website(s) too for specific discounts.

As for debit card, there is no credit card fee (on GWR anyway), so it doesn't really matter which card you use.  A cashback credit card may be the best, if you have one.

Just in case fraud is detected by the TOC card acceptor.