The rail ticket thread

[Wowbagger]

I'm a bit surprised we don't have one of these. However, a brief look round couldn't locate it. Mods, it this is duplication of effort, then please merge.

I made an interesting discovery today.

WHen booking tickets using the East Coast website, in order to avoid delivery costs it makes sense to buy your advance tickets on line and then get them out of a machine. You have to nominate the machine form which you get the tickets, it seems. However, just fora change I nominate my local station, Prittlewell, where there is no machine, and went down there during business hours today to collect them I had a second set of tickets for which I had nominated Southend Vic as the machine from which I intended to collect.

However, the Man behind the Counter gave me the second set of tickets as well. What is more, he didn't need the 8-digit collection code that one has to key into a machine. This got me wondering why we are prompted to name a station/machine at all, if every ticket office can dispense the tickets. I had always assumed that the 8-digit code was for security, to ensure that me just finding some bod's credit card on the platform and sticking it in the machine on spec was not a profitable sideline. The Man behind the Counter didn't need any other form of identity so in a sense i could have done just that. I haven't tried yet, but i would imagine that any ticket machine would be able to dispense tickets, no matter which machine was nominated.

Incidentally, the tickets I collected today were for the Skinflint Express to Peterborough and back, and the tickets to Mordor Central for the Rollrights ride.

[Jaded]

If I book several journeys online, then go to collect the tickets from a machine, I only need to key the booking code in for the first set of tickets. When I put my card in to collect the second/third sets the machine just gives me the tickets.

[Adrian]

If I book several journeys online, then go to collect the tickets from a machine, I only need to key the booking code in for the first set of tickets. When I put my card in to collect the second/third sets the machine just gives me the tickets.

Which is a right pain if you were thinking of not collecting them and using Southern's rainy day guarantee.

[hellymedic]

I am too lazy to wish to juggle credit card, phone with code stored in its memory and innumerable ticket vouchers in the noisy hubbub of of a station. A quid spent on postal delivery (I think some rail companies post FOC or did) is well worth it to me. I can separate outward tickets from returns and put receipts etc Somewhere Else.

[mcshroom]

The reason I use Southern or Chiltern for tickets is that, although they use the same booking system as East Coast (so same prices and bike booking options), the delivery is free. Out here there aren't many ticket machines yet so it's usual to get them posted.

[Jaded]

It might be my imagination, but the numbers of days they allow for postage of tickets seems to have grown, so it isn't always possible to get them posted.

[ian]

I've no real idea why you can't collect from any machine or staffed ticket office, but it has always puzzled me. Pretty sure that for Southern machines I just put my credit card in and have never needed the code. Mind you, I always collect the tickets before I'm awake and fully cognisant of what I'm doing.

[Morrisette]

I have never needed the code, just put the card in the machine. The only time it prompted me to put the code in it then didn't work, so I went to the desk, and the guy there hummed and ahhed and said he couldn't issue them....but then he did.

[Basil]

When buying tickets on The Train Line, I have discovered that:

A) I can collect from a ticket machine on ANY station.  Regardless of which station I nominated.

B) I can collect tickets bought by someone else, on their card.  I simply insert my card and imput the colection code.

I'm guessing that the insertion of the card is simply an "Audit trail", not a security identification.

[Tim Hall]

I've no real idea why you can't collect from any machine or staffed ticket office, but it has always puzzled me. Pretty sure that for Southern machines I just put my credit card in and have never needed the code. Mind you, I always collect the tickets before I'm awake and fully cognisant of what I'm doing.

That's how I used to do it. Until the time I'd bought 3 sets of bargainacious tickets from Southern for 3 consecutive FNRTTC. Something like 50p each. Rock up at station with 5 minutes to spare. Poke in card. Get asked for code, which is sitting at home. Bugger. Shell out full whack on walk on ticket.  I think the code is used to allow you to pick which of your many ticket purchases you want to collect. When there's only one purchase, the code becomes irrelevant.

Being able to collect from any station is a Good Thing. On last year's LonJog I ordered tickets from Three Bridges to London and Bingam to Three Bridges, electing to pick up tickets at Three Bridges and Bingham. Then, for a jape, I tried to see if the Three Bridges machine would issue me all the tickets, which it did.  This was v. handy as Bingham station has a platform, another platform, a footbridge and a shelter.  No ticket office, no ticket machine, no nothing. 

[Greenbank]

The counter staff will generally help you out when they're not busy with lots of other customers[1]. If there's a queue then you may just get told "the computer says no" unless you say that the machine isn't working.

Out of the 3 or 4 times I've got tickets from the window I've only been asked for the booking reference (the 8 digit code) once; I've also been asked for ID once; the rest of the time they just do it from the card.

I use the East Coast website and pick up my tickets at the local station. I collected some the other day for the summer holiday in Cornwall in a couple of months time (2 adults return journey from Paddington to Cornwall for £75, nice).

1. There can be a queue of 50 people for the 3 service windows at Putney Station some mornings (for the people trying to buy weekly/monthly/annual season tickets). The station has 4 machines, but the queue(s) for those are generally the same length if not longer.

[Greenbank]

As for collecting from other stations I'm led to believe (by some people at work who had something to do with it) that it's to do with where the ticket info is stored.

All info sits in the central ticketing database. If you nominate a station then the ticket collection info is sent to that station and stored on the local station system.

Other stations can access the ticket info, and dish out tickets, if the computer network(s) that serve all of that stuff are working, but if the network is a notwork then only the nominated station will be able to via its local stash of the info.

For the vast majority of the time the network is working and so you can collect tickets from pretty much anywhere.

[Kim]

That seems likely.  If I collect tickets from Silly Oak shortly after booking them online, the machine takes forever to retrieve the details, as if it were accessing a remote database over a low-bandwidth dialup connection.  If I give it a few days, it's much quicker.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Great Western deliver foc, or certainly did as recently as February. On occasions when I have collected tickets from a machine, I've had to enter the booking ref. Frankly, it's just as easy and just the same price to buy from a human on the station as pick them up from a m/c, at least for the journeys I've done it for. Would be different, I guess, if you were buying months in advance and leaving at some unstaffed hour.

[Greenbank]

I use the NEEC website almost exclusively, but I still check the specific train operators website for prices (if booking in advance).

Sometimes the actual operator has special deals for some tickets (even advance tickets) which you won't see looking at any other site.

I used this to get tickets from London to Bristol for £7 each way (for the Bryan Chapman I think) a few years ago.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Forgot to add previously: I used to prefer the FGW site for buying tickets to the various others because it was much clearer to use - you got a list of times and prices. In fact the National Rail site still does this, but as soon as you want to actually buy a ticket it directs to the operator, who now uses the 'mixing desk' which is an exercise in obfuscation, making every ticket appear to be available at every price. Which it isn't. So my tactic now is to check on national rail then buy from a station armed with this info - comes out same price and gives me an excuse to get out! - but that's ok for me cos I have the time to do it.

[Greenbank]

but as soon as you want to actually buy a ticket it directs to the operator, who now uses the 'mixing desk' which is an exercise in obfuscation, making every ticket appear to be available at every price. Which it isn't.

You click on the box in the upper section (under Fares) and the price for each train is then listed below.

Usually only two of these boxes are worth clicking on as they're the advanced fares for standard and 1st class (sometimes the 1st class fares are only a few £ more expensive, and therefore worth it).

Here's a screen grab that shows what I mean (it was part of some screen grabs I did to show how/when to check whether bike bookings are accepted on a train).

http://greenbank.org/misc/neec1.jpg

[hellymedic]

The tickets I booked at midday on Sunday arrived in this morning's post.
Excellent, prompt service.
I'm not travelling till 23 June...

[giropaul]

When buying tickets on The Train Line, I have discovered that:

A) I can collect from a ticket machine on ANY station.  Regardless of which station I nominated.

B) I can collect tickets bought by someone else, on their card.  I simply insert my card and imput the colection code.

I'm guessing that the insertion of the card is simply an "Audit trail", not a security identification.

This is all as I find as well. I actually once asked what to do because my local station (well, as local as it gets round here) was bust. I was told that any machine would do. I often pick up tickets booked and paid for by a client, using my own card.

[ian]

I have learned something. I'd always assumed that if I tried to use a different machine that it would turn, Decepticon-like, into Trainocon and give me a huge metallic thump in the face. This is a real fear because I once called the 'fast' tickets machines 'jam-filled proto-Babbage engines' and they might have heard about it. I still believe they are. Don't even get me started on the ones where you have find the damn station using the ABCDE keyboard rather than QWERTY.

[hellymedic]

I have never needed the code, just put the card in the machine. The only time it prompted me to put the code in it then didn't work, so I went to the desk, and the guy there hummed and ahhed and said he couldn't issue them....but then he did.

On one occasion we did not have the code, we went to the ticket office, where the clerk refused to issue the tickets, wrote the code onto a slip of paper and sent us back to the machine.

Thanks a bunch!
Such fun with wheelchair and luggage; NOT!

[Wowbagger]

I suppose I am fairly fortunate in having a station that sees relatively little traffic outside of commuting hours and the solitary individual behind the counter is quite pleased to have another human to converse with.

[Kim]

I suppose I am fairly fortunate in having a station that sees relatively little traffic outside of commuting hours and the solitary individual behind the counter is quite pleased to have another human to converse with.

I regularly chat with our local ticket office person while waiting for the machine to print tickets, but generally prefer to do the booking online, as I'm less prone to making mistakes with times etc if it's all on a screen in front of me and I have my calendar and relevant discussion threads easily to hand.

It also seems like a more polite approach.  Being a university area, there's a steady stream of confused international students who really need to buy tickets from a helpful human at most times of day.

[Dave_C]

Recentl booked tickets from my provincial station to my home town. I know from experience that the ticket machine oftern ir out of order so I chose to collect the tickets from my offices local station (Edinburgh) as I know I can get the tickets in person. I'd hate to turn up on the day to get the train and find the ticket machine out of order! We have little enough time to change trains in Edinburgh without having to queue to collect tickets having had to buy a second ticket for the journey to Edinburgh in order to get through the barrier.

I wonder if ticket staff on the trains have access to the national database and would be able to give us tickets also?

[Adam]

If I book several journeys online, then go to collect the tickets from a machine, I only need to key the booking code in for the first set of tickets. When I put my card in to collect the second/third sets the machine just gives me the tickets.

That's not the case in my experience.  I've had 5 different trips stored up for about a month, and the other week I went to print 4 of them out.  After entering the first code and getting those tickets, the machine went back to the start, and I had to insert the code and my card, for the remaining 3, leaving 1 more journey stored.