GWR mobile tickets

[whole diary]

[WelshBluebird]

Looks like GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have quietly rolled out their mobile tickets to a larger audience! Not looked into it too much myself but seems like its now good for walk up tickets aswell as advances at stations that have had the updated barriers that can read the barcode tickets.

Can't see any news article or PR^▸ (Public Relations) release about it mind you, but here is their updated webpage:

https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey/tickets-railcards-and-season-tickets/mobile-tickets

[ray951]

Having seen the scanners at Oxford and Didcot Parkway I am not sure who this would work if you are travelling in a group and have multiple tickets? Or is it only for individuals, the FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website doesn't mention anything about this.

[grahame]

Having seen the scanners at Oxford and Didcot Parkway I am not sure who this would work if you are travelling in a group and have multiple tickets? Or is it only for individuals, the FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website doesn't mention anything about this.

From press release and email just received

The scheme covers all singles and return tickets; standard and first class, adult and child. Season tickets; Group Save and Rangers and Rovers are not currently available.

[grahame]

Probably worth sharing whole press release:

Use your phone as a rail ticket
Great Western Railway expands use of mobile tickets
 
Go from booking to boarding in just a matter of minutes and without the need for a paper ticket, as Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) launches mobile ticketing across its network today.
 
GWR has expanded the availability of mobile tickets across its network, enabling customers to travel with their ticket on their smartphone or tablet, and the train operator is giving 20 lucky people the chance of winning £200 of e-Vouchers.
 
If all users of the app were to buy paper-free tickets it would save a 10-metre high stack of orange rail tickets every week, or over half a kilometre every year.
 
Passengers can now use their smart phone or tablet as a pocket ticket machine to purchase and to travel following the installation of barcode readers at station ticket gates across the GWR network.
 
Download or update the app for free and see if you route has been updated today.
 
The scheme covers all singles and return tickets; standard and first class, adult and child. Season tickets; Group Save and Rangers and Rovers are not currently available.
 
By downloading the GWR app customers can instantly purchase a wide range of ticket types, including on the day ‘walk-up’ fares, from the GWR app for the majority of journeys across the GWR network.
 
Tickets are displayed on the phone screen as an encrypted barcode to be scanned by new readers at ticket gates, and can also be checked on board by train managers with mobile barcode reading devices.
 
GWR’s Head of Retail Lee Edworthy explains:
 
“Technology has fundamentally changed the way that we travel. The expansion of mobile ticketing will make buying a ticket and travelling with us much easier and more convenient, saving valuable time for customers.
 
"As one of the UKs^▸ (United Kingdom) leading transport providers, GWR is committed to making travelling by train even easier, and that is why we continue to develop our online and mobile ticketing service, ensuring we put our customers first and help communities to prosper.”
 
To be in with a chance of winning one of 20 prizes of £200 in GWR e-Vouchers, simply register on www.gwr.com/mobilecomp, and purchase a ticket from today, Wednesday 18 April until Wednesday 16 May for travel up to and including Wednesday 23 May.
 
Customers can download the GWR app for free from GWR.com/mobile or from the Android and Apple app stores to a smart phone or tablet, and instantly purchase tickets.
 
Previously only a limited number of tickets for selected journeys could be displayed on a mobile device and all other ticket types purchased had to be collected from a ticket machine using the unique reference number sent to the customers’ device via e-mail.
 
Popular GWR routes where this service can be used include those in and out of London Paddington, Bath Spa, Bristol, Exeter, Oxford, Plymouth, Penzance, Cardiff, Swindon and Reading.
 
Those customers buying tickets for use on other journeys right across Britain can still use the GWR mobile app and then simply collect their tickets from a Ticket Vending machine or sales office at the station.

[ray951]

Having seen the scanners at Oxford and Didcot Parkway I am not sure who this would work if you are travelling in a group and have multiple tickets? Or is it only for individuals, the FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website doesn't mention anything about this.

From press release and email just received

The scheme covers all singles and return tickets; standard and first class, adult and child. Season tickets; Group Save and Rangers and Rovers are not currently available.

Sorry I should have made it clearer I wasn't thinking of Groupsave, but when I go out with my family I will buy 4 tickets on-line on my account and this will end up on my phone. Will this be as 4 tickets or a single ticket for 2 adults and 2 children? And when I get to the gates will it recognise that I have either a single ticket for 4 people on my phone and therefore it needs to let 4 people (2 adults and 2 children) through? Or will I need to pass the phone back over the gate so that each ticket can be scanned?

[grahame]

To add from the covering letter

We have issued the media release below announcing the next stage of our smart mobile ticketing roll out.  This will mean customers will be able to buy tickets on their phone and then use their phone as their ticket on the train.  This will mean customers can buy tickets while en route to the station and never again need to worry about losing their tickets!

Rather confirms that this is a stage ...  also comment made that we need no longer worry about losing tickets - just about having phone batteries run out or phones being stolen 
 

[stuving]

To add from the covering letter

We have issued the media release below announcing the next stage of our smart mobile ticketing roll out.  This will mean customers will be able to buy tickets on their phone and then use their phone as their ticket on the train.  This will mean customers can buy tickets while en route to the station and never again need to worry about losing their tickets!

Rather confirms that this is a stage ...  also comment made that we need no longer worry about losing tickets - just about having phone batteries run out or phones being stolen 
 

... or software - at your end or theirs - mysteriously losing your ticket or failing to show it. Or would you, (or anyone else with professional experience in the field), rule out that possibility?

[IndustryInsider]

Rather ironic that this paperless revolution is being advertised on the seats of the trains on a printed leaflet.  Some might say that paper and ink would have been better spent on a letter from the MD explaining and apologising for the recent hopeless service offered up by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

[WelshBluebird]

So it looks like actually the mobile tickets are only available if the origin or destination is a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) gated station.

After a bit of a Twitter dialogue, it sounds like this is because they want the ticket to be scanned at a gateline at some point in the journey. Which sounds sensible. Until you realise that, unless these tickets bar break of journey (which I don't believe is the case), you can board late / finish early on your journey, potentially doing a journey that is between two ungated stations. I can see GWR's thinking here, but in reality it doesn't make much sense. I assume they are just banking on people just not doing that.

I can't help feel it is a bit of a kick in the teeth, as at least for me, the very reason I think these are useful is for those of us at ungated stations that have less ticketing facilities anyway!

[Sleepy]

I would suggest checking T&C for these very carefully as certainly other TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) that have tickets via mobile do NOT allow ANY ammendments / or refunds unlike paper versions. So great for train companies bank balance.

[didcotdean]

Used one of these to swerve round the time consuming difficulties at the station of buying an off-peak ticket from Didcot to Reading on the 9:01.

Wouldn't open the barrier at Didcot; maybe understandable as it was a few minutes before 9:00.

Less understandable was that it wouldn't open the barrier at Reading either, around 9:20.

Now I'm sure a paper ticket has done that in the past, but unless barriers now won't pass any valid off-peak tickets until some arbitrary later time (when?) there is an increase in the inconvenience factor having to be let through manually,

Does the fact that it went unscanned through the journey actually make it usuable a second time by the unscrupulous? If so this makes the barrier refusal counter-productive.

No problems on the return.

Incidentally I did see that the ticket contained a term disallowing breaks in journey.

[WelshBluebird]

Incidentally I did see that the ticket contained a term disallowing breaks in journey.

I wonder how enforceable that actually is? Since as far as I know you don't actually see that until after you have bought the ticket and I can't see any wording on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website or app to imply that is the case (indeed the site just links to the normal T&C's for the ticket types, which obviously for some of them say BoJ^▸ (Break of Journey) is always allowed).

[Wilf19]

I started using mobile tickets on my trips to Swindon from Taunton, but I've gone back to paper/card tickets because:

1) There doesn't seem to be a way to add the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) mobile ticket to the iPhone wallet (please correct me if I'm wrong), so I have to faff about unlocking the phone, starting the GWR app, loading the ticket etc etc. Much quicker to hand over a card ticket.

2) Several times the ticket readers used by the GWR on-train staff have failed to read the ticket on my phone, do they need a connection? Result more faffing and delays while they try to scan the ticket,

3) Between Temple Meads and Taunton there is patchy mobile phone signal, the GWR app seems to need a connection to even start let alone show a mobile ticket. I had a bit of a run-in with a CrossCountry ticket checking person because I couldn't load the ticket. This would be fixed by being able to add the mobile ticket to the wallet.

4) At Taunton, the platform 2 wide barrier doesn't have a mobile ticket reader that I can see. if I have my bike on the platform then I have to faff about using the intercom system to get someone to let me out or in.

Way too  much faffing involved with mobile tickets which (in my opinion!) which is not offset by the faff of having to collect card tickets. A good idea not very well implemented, hopefully this wilkl chanhe.

I've also noticed that the GWR app crashes - on an iPhone - if I ask it for a card ticket to collect at the station.

I noticed that the T&Cs say 'no break of journey' in either direction. I thought any Anytime card ticket did allow a break of journey on the return?

rant over

[JayMac]

From the National Rail Conditions of Travel:

4.2 Some Tickets are held as an electronic record on a smartcard or electronic device, or may be transmitted to you for you to print out yourself. In such cases you will be advised of (and must comply with) the specific conditions applying to Tickets held in those formats.

Provided you are advised of any specific conditions prior to purchase then TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) can use this clause to add additional conditions, such as a prohibition on break of journey, to the use of e-tickets.

Stick to paper tickets folks. What you are getting with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) e-tickets is a more restricted product for the same price as a paper ticket.

Add to that, a paper ticket won't be subject to software failures and doesn't require battery and mobile signal to be valid.

[WelshBluebird]

From the National Rail Conditions of Travel:

4.2 Some Tickets are held as an electronic record on a smartcard or electronic device, or may be transmitted to you for you to print out yourself. In such cases you will be advised of (and must comply with) the specific conditions applying to Tickets held in those formats.

Provided you are advised of any specific conditions prior to purchase then TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) can use this clause to add additional conditions, such as a prohibition on break of journey, to the use of e-tickets.

Stick to paper tickets folks. What you are getting with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) e-tickets is a more restricted product for the same price as a paper ticket.

Are you advised prior to purchase though? I certainly cannot see anywhere on the information web page / faq / T&Cs that states that GWR mobile tickets prohibit break of journey apart from on the actual ticket screen after you have bought one. Was going to double check on the app / website, but the transactional part of the site seems to be down, yay.