Great Western Coffee Shop

My question is (put simply!) has anything changed with the Reading ticket barriers with respect to break of journey?

My daily commute takes me through RDG and it used to be the case that I could use my weekly ticket (RDG<>Reigate) to go through the barriers one way to get a coffee etc. On my return to the platform I would get a "seek assistance" alert because (I believe) the time between me going out and back was too short.

However in the last couple of months it seems that the ticket barriers don't allow break of journeys so a manual check is required.

I have no problem with this...I am just curious!
 

Barriers can be programmed to accept or reject tickets using many different criteria. It would appear that your particular ticket is not one that will be accepted at Reading.

Barriers, being inanimate, cannot enforce ticketing Terms & Conditions, so they can neither allow or disallow 'break of journey'. If BoJ is permitted with your ticket type then whether the ticket will operate the barriers or not is moot.

Interestingly I travelled via Reading last week and BoJ'd there. My journey was actually doubling back at Reading, using a Routeing Guide easement, and I expected my ticket to be rejected by the barriers, but it worked.

Thanks BNM...I guess my thoughts were why it used to work...would the fact that it was issued by an avantix have made any difference? I can't see why!

Ah, now Avantix issued tickets can be problematical, often failing to encode the mag strip correctly. If I buy on board from my local station the ticket often doesn't work the barriers at Bristol Temple Meads, whereas one bought online, or from the station the previous day, will work them.

There are no hard and fast rules, barriers can be programmed to accept or reject tickets of all flavours, origins/destinations, discount type etc etc. Tickets can also fail to be properly encoded or 'lose' that encoded data.

Barriers are not the arbiter for validity. That's down to Revenue Protection staff.

Yes, I agree. On the first day of my ticket I was surprised that the Reading barriers rejected it but the Reigate barriers accepted it. I have had issues in the past where the avantix tickets seem to printed skew.

Thanks for all your comments BNM

The software on the barriers was also updated a little over a week ago (when the barriers were out of use). I'm not sure whether the change may have affected BoJ conditions.

Barrier operation at any particular 'station B' on a ticket from 'A to C' has to be added manually, for every required station A and C.  Following an update to barriers it is quite normal for remote station pairs that previously worked the barriers to be disallowed.  You might expect them to load up local popular commuting pairs, but with hundreds if not thousands of permutations of 'cross Reading journey', where do you draw the line?  Swanwick to Solihull - should that work for instance?

All you can really do is point out to staff that your particular route details used to allow you in and out, but no longer do, and hope the barrier database is updated.

(I'm assuming here that BB has described his ticket wrongly as RDG<> Reigate above, as that shouldn't have a problem?)

Paul

Paul, yes you are correct. It should have been Thatcham to Reigate.

I have never had a problem with being allowed through the gates by RPI at Reading - although it is "interesting" how the thoroughness of the ticket checks vary :)

barriers need not be out of service to upload a new software.

What is a "Break of Journey"? I occasionally travel from the Cots Line to Gatwick Airport on one ticket and have to change at Reading each time, sometimes with almost an hour wait at Reading and on the return journey sometimes longer than an hour. I go out to the "shop" area for a better choice of refreshments but as I am not leaving the station I do not consider this to be a "break of journey" but these comments make me wonder if my understanding is correct.

Fair question! I regard break of journey as going through the barriers (in this case at Reading) and then back through to complete the journey. I often go to WHS and or the coffee stand (which I think is AW?)). Additionally there are currently no toilet facities on P1-P7.

Prior to the demolishing of the coffees and loos on what was P4 this wasn't an issue...but apart from WHS further down what is now P7 facilities are limited.

It isn't a break of journey to use station facilities, even if they are the non-paid side of the barrier. So even if you are using a ticket which doesn't permit break of journey, such as an Advance Purchase ticket with a connection at Reading you may go through the barrier to use the toilets and shops. Of course once you're there it is quite hard for the staff to stop you leaving the station itself.

I would say damn near impossible but I take your point.

Condition 16 of the NRCoC (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/nrcc/NRCOC.pdf) covers this.

I quite often change at Reading and will also go outside the barriers by showing my ticket (I never try it in the barriers themselves) and have never had any problem..quite often to use the cashpoint as there isn't one (that I know about) within the barriers... But you are quite right.. There is nothing to stop you leaving the station and coming back later.. I did this for the first time recently and felt so bad although I only needed to buy something from Currys in the Oracle so was gone for less than half hour...

On most tickets you aren't doing anything wrong by leaving the station. In the FGW area as far as I know it is just, or at least mainly Advance tickets that restrict break of journey. In other areas of the country some Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak tickets have restriction on break of journey but the most common ones in FGW territory at least, so long distance tickets to London are unrestricted.

This is a nightmare especially on the Underground. I posted not so long ago about having to use the toilets at West Ham which are the wrong side of the gateline but then not being able to get back in because the barriers 'think' the ticket isn't valid as you've completed your 1 Underground journey permitted on cross London non travelcard tickets. But they don't take into account the c2c services that leave from West Ham which your ticket may still be valid on!

As far as I know, it only becomes a break of journey if you leave station premises. It seems however not many staff know this or want to play 20 questions over requesting such a thing!

Did I say, or even imply that?

The barriers were out of use because of an error with the software.

Im merely pointing out that it can be done anytime.