Ticket Machines - machines missing or broken, and penalty fare implications (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[Jim]

On the machines, one of the biggest farces' is you can't do Group Save

[vacman]

On the machines, one of the biggest farces' is you can't do Group Save

Or local railcards! In defence of these machines, they are very useful to COMPLIMENT the booking office at busy stations, particularly when some old granny is trying to book tickets for ten years in the future, and at some stations are very well used. At Truro FGW^▸ (First Great Western) use Assistant Ticket Examiners between trains to "queue bust" at busy times, maybe something they should do more of using spare Conductors/Train managers!

[martyjon]

It is fact that you can buy a ticket on the train without penalty if your method of payment is not accepted by the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine), in particular I refer to Rail Travel Vouchers and Travel Tokens but I wouldn't be sure if a cheque backed by a cheque guanrantee card would be accepted, perhaps someone in the know would oblige with a definitve answer in this particular instance.

[Jim]

On the machines, one of the biggest farces' is you can't do Group Save

Or local railcards!

Thats the other 1 I was thinking of!

[vacman]

On the machines, one of the biggest farces' is you can't do Group Save

Or local railcards!

Thats the other 1 I was thinking of!

Very interesting point! according to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s "buy before you board" leaflet, if you cannot purchase the ticket you require from the machine "you should purchase a ticket for at least part of your journey", but this contradicts the Penalty fares rules which say that if you travel beyond the validity of your ticket you are liable to a penalty fare??

I must say that I am a supporter of the Penalty fares scheme in principal, however, I think that only staffed stations should be in the scheme and not stations that just have a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine). It would be far better to have "PERTIS^▸ (Permit to travel)" (Permit to travel) machines at these stations so that the passenger just basicly buys a voucher which is part exchanged for a ticket from the guard on the train or at the barrier at destination station. Most other operators who operate a PF^▸ (Penalty Fare) scheme have this system in place.

[Graz]

I think it would be an awful lot easier. Stick ^3 in, pay ^1 to the conductor with change! No need to navigate through complicated screens either.

[Lee]

An interesting guide (link below.)
http://www.theticketcollector.co.uk/wordpress/2007/09/20/no-ticket-false-details-given/

[Graz]

At stations where there is only one self-service ticket machine there is a further automatic machine called a Permit to Travel machine. This is normally located near the station entrance / exit or beside other self-service machine.

No, there isn't..... at least not at Oldfield Park. Are FGW^▸ (First Great Western) breaking the rules?

You should insert the maximum number of coins you have with you into the Permit to Travel machine, up to the value of your journey. Press the button and you will be issued with a Permit to Travel. Failure to insert the maximum number of coins may lead to you being issued with a Penalty Fare or recommended for prosecution for Permit Abuse.

So your pockets will be searched for coins each time you get a Permit to Travel ticket that doesn't cover the full fare?  Say you didn't know the exact price of the ticket?

Honestly, the amount of strict rules and regulations that have come in nowadays is enough to put people off travel. It's almost as if you feel like a criminal just for taking a train ride!

[Timmer]

Oldfield Park should have two ticket machines as anyone travelling in the Bath direction without a ticket has to walk all the way down quite a long walkway to platform 1, buy the ticket then back up the ramp again, over the bridge and down to platform 2. Not very convenient. Of course if there is a queue for buying tickets because a Bristol train is due you may miss your train on the other platform trying to buy a ticket!

[Scooby]

But of course the new extended Penalty Fares area is another FGW^▸ (First Great Western) shambles and none have been issued?? Am I correct??

[martyjon]

The ticket machine on the down platform has had its plastic (perspex) screen split diagonally from top left to bottom right for about 4/5ths of the screen diagonal. Once I tried to get a ticket to and it would not accept the letter W as this letter was underneath the split of which one part of the perspex was trapped under the other part as the split was not a straight vertical split. The last time I saw the machine, the split screen was still in place but it looked as if someone had prised the trapped bit and both sides of the split were flat and it would accept the letter W but when one got to the buy ticket screen a message was coming up "Card Transaction Only".

[smokey]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are busy installing Automatic Ticket Machines at a lot of locations, Ex Wessex stations mainly, however I choose not to use them for several reasons,

1, They don't offer small Group discounts (Group3 or Group 4).

2. They Now offer Tickets for Tomorrow BUT THESE are PEAK TICKETS, Great valve if traveling off Peak!!!

3. They give lone Children Railcard discounts???

4. They DON'T always offer the Cheapest fare, as a Booking office SHOULD.

[vacman]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are busy installing Automatic Ticket Machines at a lot of locations, Ex Wessex stations mainly, however I choose not to use them for several reasons,

1, They don't offer small Group discounts (Group3 or Group 4).

2. They Now offer Tickets for Tomorrow BUT THESE are PEAK TICKETS, Great valve if traveling off Peak!!!

3. They give lone Children Railcard discounts???

4. They DON'T always offer the Cheapest fare, as a Booking office SHOULD.

They only offer Peak tickets for tomorrow so that regular commuters don't have to queue up at the busiest times! if they offered off peak tickets then everybody would buy them from the machine the day before and use them the next day in peak time, didn't think of that?? No, didn't think so! They also don't give lone children railcard discounts, it wont let you past the payment screen, and how do they not offer the cheapest fare for the journey?? whenever i've put anything in to one of those machines it's offered the full range of tickets availiable for that time of day?? The only thing they don't do is offer group save for some reason.

[Conner]

The only problem I have with them is that they don't offer Day Rangers.
My local station is often unstaffed due to sickness so I pick up my ticket the first time I get off (the staff usually can't find it on train or don't get to me). I find the machines a lot more appealing as I don't have to queue.

[Chris from Nailsea]

whenever i've put anything in to one of those machines it's offered the full range of tickets availiable for that time of day??

Thanks, vacman! I can only comment on our machines at Nailsea, but the problem is that our machine was actually installed in the open on platform 2, rather than inside the existing shelters.  This machine faces the early morning sun, so it's almost impossible to read the screen: from about 0920 onwards, lots of those eligible for 'older person discounts' (I'm not being ageist!) are struggling to work out how to buy off peak tickets for the later 0946 service to Paddington.  Fair enough, but there's a growing queue of commuters, who want to buy a return ticket for the 0928 to Bristol Temple Meads - which is, perhaps fortunately in this example, delayed by a few minutes, let's say.

The problem is, as soon as the ticket machine's clock turns 0930, the option of a 'standard day return' disappears from the screen, and the only ticket offered is a cheap day return.  However, as I understand it, if I catch the 0928, even if it's delayed by a few minutes, I should have bought a 'standard day return' - but the machine doesn't allow me to do so, because the dear old pensioners in front of me (bless them - I'll be one some day soon!) took so long to buy their much less time-critical ticket!

Why does the machine just remove the option for me to buy the ticket I need to buy because of its clock mechanism?  Or would you, hearing this apparently implausible story, allow me to buy the correct ticket on the train?