Great Western Coffee Shop

From Railway Gazette (https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/technology/single-view/view/investor-sees-interesting-opportunity-in-rail-revenue-technology.html) a year ago:


Now at GWR ... from my mailbox

What happens if your bid is unsuccessful? Will you be charged what you bid?

Surely not .... only the winner of an auction pays.  It's not a lottery ....

Goodness me...


How many points does that get me in Bullsh*t Bingo?  ;D

Indeed. If you want a lottery then try buying the cheapest valid fare for your required journey from a TVM.

Case in point. A few weeks ago I wanted to buy a 1st Class Off Peak Day Return from Bedwyn to Swanley (£49.60 as at July 2019). The TVM at Bedwyn only offered the 1st Class Anytime Day Return (£109.20). Try as I might with button presses I couldn't get the TVM to offer the fare I wanted and I knew existed. So I took a chance and boarded ticketless - risking at best a Penalty Fare or at worst a Regulation of Railways Act offence. I would, of course, have argued my corner quite robustly if I had been threatened with any sort of penalty once on board. Fortunately I encountered a sympathetic train manager who willingly sold me me the fare I required.

I complained to GWR via social media. Their response was basically that it must have been operator (ie me) error when using the TVM. Bollocks. I know my fares and I know the limitations and vagaries of TVMs. I double checked the same TVM on my return to Bedwyn. The 1st Class Off Peak Day Return fare I wanted simply wasn't available. Deliberate overcharging plain and simple.

Pragmatically, could you not have just bought the cheapest Standard class ticket and explained/excessed it on the train?

(I absolutely agree with you however about TVMs)

Pragmatically, couldn't that still earn you a Penalty Fare if you sit in First Class with it ?   ;)

I think so but what happens if you want to upgrade by excessing the fare?

According to the "rules" I assume you have to sit in Std Class until your ticket has been upgraded. Which goes against what the "rules" say about getting a Weekend First on the train.......perhaps you only get a Penalty Fare Mon - Fri if you sit in First with a Std ticket ?

I remember TMs announcing the upgrade and telling passengers to “make their way down to coaches (etc) and will make their way through shortly.

Earlier this year I had a TVM problem at Victoria.  The SE side TVMs were not accepting cards but would sell me the cheapest ticket to Dover.  The  central side TVMs were accepting cards but would not give me, whatever I tried, the cheapest ticket to Dover.  This within the same station.  Fortunately |i had enough cash on me for the fare.

Has anyone tried Seatfrog yet? I'm a season ticket holder and tempted to try it for a trip from Paddington.. but curious how much the seats end up going for. Is it effectively an upgrade for £10 if nobody bids against me and there is space on the train?

I’ve done it today for a trip from Westbury to Cornwall on the 1503 ex Paddington.  Got the upgrade for £11 on top of a £32 Advance Fare.

On the service I am on there are some seats reserved from PAD to PNZ that state Seatfrog on the reservation label in the seat back.

Best announcement I ever heard from the TM was on approaching Paddington was if you require a weekend first class upgrade,today(saturday).

Please do not attempt to purchase weekend upgrades when you make your return journey at the booking office

Buy them on the train,as the booking office will not sell them to you if you are about to make your journey back home.

Maybe a big sign in the B/Offices to that effect could be displayed.

You used to be able to buy weekend first at the ticket office when you purchased your travel tickets. I can only think the reason this was stopped was when First class was reduced making it even more a case of 'subject to availability'.

Has Seatfrog been suspended for the duration of the current coronavirus pandemic?

Seems to be virtually impossible to use it to upgrade at the present time - a shame, because it's been handy for some very big savings in the past, but I guess it presents a challenge in the current climate?

I don't know ... but a number of rather good deals are not available at present.  "Simplifying the fare system" seems to mean "removing the good deals" ...  SailRail, Isle of Wight rover tickets that I have come across.

I used it successfully a few weeks ago and from what I can see without placing a bid it looks like the app appears to be working.

I'll give it a go!

I think the Island Liner Day Rover was withdrawn because the Isle of Wight Steam Railway is asking people to book beforehand to enable the railway to allocate each party sole occupancy of a compartment.  The Island Line Day Rover - which doesn't include the preserved railway and only the Ryde to Shanklin line is still available.