Great Western Coffee Shop

Wondering if anyone knows what criteria are assessed for the provision of new ticket machines to a station without existing facilties.

Thanks for posing that interesting question, Kernow Otter.  :)

Are you thinking in terms of possible franchise commitments, the number of passengers likely to use such any such facility, or indeed the practical / security aspects of installing a machine at any particular location?

I know it is a long shot, but we are slowly getting improvements to our station, and there is some local suggestion that a ticket machine would be a useful addition to the other facilities.

Issues people percieve it would be useful for would be collecting pre ordered tickets, allowing people to buy tickets for travel, and therefore helping for better accounting for the actual station usage figures.

So I suppose the question would be what criteria do FGW take into account when assessing the viability of a new ticket machine.

I note that there are very few ticket machines on the Cornish Mainline Stations, and as a tangent I wonder why.

I would also be interested to know what criteria are used to determine if a TVM should have the ability to accept cash payments.

A subject I have an interest in as well. My local line, the Severn Beach Line, has seen huge passenger growth in the last 5 years and revenue collection, despite more regular use of additional on board staff, remains an issue. I'd like to see TVMs installed in lockable cabinets, opened from say the second service of the morning to late evening. Travelling staff could do the opening and closing. Other operators do this, so no reason FGW couldn't.