Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi all,

When GWR close ticket offices will rangers-and-rovers still be available through some means? Either updated ticket machines, buying from staff on the trains or even online? Just want to double check as I have a few trips lined up.

Thanks,
GWR 158

GWRs document on their website proposes that they'll be available "online, on-train & via telesales"

Great. Thank you

Indeed - except that the x days in y ones need to have the date filled in before you join your first train of the day, so according to the rules you need to buy them ahead - on a prior journey perhaps if you're buying on train?

Northern's ticket machines have the full range of Rovers and Rangers on them. 

Indeed they do - so I suspect any TVM can & probably will get upgraded to do so. Well, they should do!

After years of RDG (or whomever) saying that any changes to TVM software are 'too hard', I suspect substantial changes will be rolled out  very speedily.

Well yes, the RDG (Or its constituent parts) won't be paying for it. The taxpayer will.

That's to stop people carrying them as insurance against a revenue check and hoping not to use up a day, only filling the date in if they see revenue staff approaching, so if they spot you writing the date on then you're treated as having no ticket. For all the railway's many faults, I would expect a sensible approach will be adopted and if they're not available to buy at a TVM then you'll be able to buy one on the train (sorry, "on-train") but will be stood over until you've dated it, or perhaps it will be done for you.

So would I - but that is NOT what the rules say.

I willl admit to buying one of these on the train the other day, from Melksham.  Asked the train manager is she would sell me my tickets as I boarded, quoting non-availability from machine.  She gave me an "on my goodness" look when I told her what I wanted ... and it seems it might have been the first of those she sold.  I was not stood over nor instructed, but did date it straight away; these are not commonly sold.

A few weeks ago I visited the east Midlands and bought a 7 day East Midlands rover ticket to use in the area. The ticket office I used (Newark Northgate) were obviously used to selling these, and were very helpful. One day I used a line that was near the periphery of the area covered and the train manager checked it, then came back afterwards to ask me about the ticket. He said he had never seen one in his 6 years on this service, and initially suspected it wasn't valid. Fortunately, I had taken a photo of the map from the Rail Rovers website in case this happened, and he was fascinated to see its coverage. He said there was no way train managers can be expected to know the details of each ranger and rover ticket or other special passes (he quoted a huge number in his area, which was Yorkshire - this service crossed from that county to Lincolnshire - so presumably included some sort of Metro tickets in the Yorkshire metro areas).

He's right - but yet ironically the new technology should give scope for an increased set of ranges, with the OCR code on the ticket identified by the hand thingummy the staff carry these days, and chirping it's acceptance or bleating an objection when scanned.  However, that's deep breath and another thread stuff.

Just been checked on this train, unusually the TM checking the date panel.