Great Western Coffee Shop

Morning all,

Daughter in Worthing has just randomly asked if they can purchase a ticket from a Worthing ticket machine for departure from, say, Gatwick, or a different station?

I suggested the ticket office would be a far better bet, who could (when prodded?) also check splits.

This has raised my curiosity, as I've never used a ticket machine  :-[

At the risk of being frightfully 21st century, I'd suggest she uses the TrainSplit app to get the ticket on her phone - that will let you buy with any starting place, and will work out the splits for you.

Thank you Richard.
I've already suggested railuk tickets (but note it also uses TrainSplit front page).
Assume railuk takes a cut from ticket purchase via TrainSplit.
She has an aversion to most websites that ask for your soul and blood details, etc! (Don't ask.........)

The answer to your original question is yes you can collect from any station
After selecting the ticket the screen has the option to where the ticket can be collected
It defaults to the departure station but can be amended to any station
Easily done and easy to collect

The original question was whether you can choose a different origin at a station's TVM.

The answer is, it depends.

Some machines allow it, some don't. I know that SWR's Scheitt & Bachmann TVMs allow you to choose a different origin. I've done so a few times at Templecombe when wanting split tickets. I'm fairly certain that most Southern TVMs also allow you to choose a different origin station.

Also depends on the software. The Machine at Pershore provided by GWR looks exactly like the machine at Worcester Shrub Hill provided by West Midland trains. However while the West Midland machine allows purchase of tickets starting from other stations the GWR machine does not, Nether do the more modern GWR machines at Worcestershire Parkway.

Indeed. Several ticket machines on the GWR network have been replaced in recent months. At Clifton Down, the old machine did allow purchase of tickets from another station. The new machine (of a different type) doesn't. I don't know whether we should expect a software update that will enable that facility again.

I don't know about Southern's machines, but I wouldn't rely on being able to purchase tickets from another station without checking the ticket machine in question in advance.

I wouldn't expect that if I were you.

1. A machine with less options offers a quicker average transaction time and means that you (if you are a TOC) can get away with fewer machines.  From a passenger viewpoint, it may be easier to find the right ticket too

2. You (if you are a TOC) can reduce the sale of split journey tickets, redirecting sales to the tickets intended for the journey that are in the industry fare manual, end to end. From a passenger viewpoint, the chance of getting an invalid ticket or combination is reduced,

3. The machines or software may be less complicated and cheaper for the TOC to buy or lease.

"Most tickets available here - if you can't find the tickets you need r aren't sure, please use the staffed ticket counter or if there is no counter available, please pay the train manager" seems reasonable.

Thanks, Graham. My thought of a possible software upgrade comes from a vague memory that, when the old machine was first installed, you couldn't use it to buy tickets from another station, but that facility was added later.

While it's true that the new machine is quicker to use than the old one was, I don't think that the absence of the button in the corner of the screen offering tickets from another station (which is what we had before) makes a significant difference to the time taken to buy a ticket.

It's helpful to be able to buy split tickets from a station such as Clifton Down. When making an early start on a journey beyond Temple Meads, a through ticket for the journey may be available only as an expensive Anytime. By splitting, it can be possible to combine an Anytime ticket for the first leg (and Anytime tickets for the Severn Beach Line itself are very cheap) with an Off-peak ticket from an intermediate point.

It was also useful when travelling to Clifton Down from a local station which doesn't have a ticket machine, since if the guard didn't come round you could buy your ticket on arrival.

As to the advice to pay the train manager, the TMs on the Severn Beach Line are always very helpful, but since Clifton Down is a Penalty Fares station (and has a ticket machine), I would be wary of boarding the train without a ticket without first speaking to the on-train staff.

Of course, it's now possible to tap in with a GWR smartcard, though I haven't tried one myself yet, and one can also buy split tickets online and then collect them from the machine, or have them delivered as an e-ticket.

The Machine at Pershore has now been upgraded to allow purchase of tickets for journeys from other stations.

However I am not sure if I should be posting this in the lighter side.

Can members guess which other local station is missing from the list of stations.

WOP?

(added: Worcestershire Parkway - needs adding to short-code look-up)

Correct its only been open 4 years. Its still not listed under nearest stations on the national rail APP ether.

I didn't know that was a thing on that app!