Passenger's anger as train ticket office shuts

[whole diary]

[willc]

On the other hand, both machines at Nailsea are situated very much out in the open - not even inside one of the perspex shelters - so they're almost immediately rendered useless whenever it rains!

Chris, have you complained to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) about this? At Charlbury they have now provided a little roof due to the rainwater problem and at Hanborough, the new waiting shelter has an overhanging roof section at the end, which the machine sits under, having previously been out in the elements.

[eightf48544]

Do all machines issue prepaid tickets?

I'm not sure the one at Taplow does.

[vacman]

Do all machines issue prepaid tickets?

I'm not sure the one at Taplow does.

From what i've seen across the network it appears that all of the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s that are at staffed stations are able to print pre-paid tickets and ones that are at unstaffed stations don't.

[Chris from Nailsea]

On the other hand, both machines at Nailsea are situated very much out in the open - not even inside one of the perspex shelters - so they're almost immediately rendered useless whenever it rains!

Chris, have you complained to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) about this? At Charlbury they have now provided a little roof due to the rainwater problem and at Hanborough, the new waiting shelter has an overhanging roof section at the end, which the machine sits under, having previously been out in the elements.

Thanks for your very interesting comparative comments, willc! 

A bit of history about the Nailsea and Backwell ticket machines: when they were first installed, both machines were 'stand-alone' - sited out in the open, with no shelter at all.  As a result, they were out of action almost all of the time, due to rainwater getting into them.  After several months of passengers moaning about this unsatisfactory state of affairs to train staff, when we all had to buy our tickets on board (Nailsea being unmanned at that time), a purpose-designed cover was installed over each machine.

However, this was not a real solution to the problem, as the sheet of perspex on top only protects the machines from rain falling vertically from above: the open front, and the side and back panels of mesh, still allows any driving rain to render these machines useless!  For those unfamiliar with Nailsea & Backwell, the platforms are located on top of an embankment, so the wind and rain just whips through those mesh panels (particularly on the machine on platform 2), thus still making them too soggy to work!

Pictures, courtesy of Fletcher on Tour (thanks, Lee!), illustrate this point:

[willc]

I will admit the machines at Charlbury and Hanborough are a bit better located to protect them from the elements than these. Clearly that one on the platform needs to live inside a waiting shelter - is that what's sticking into the picture on the right?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Exactly right, willc!  I just don't understand why that particular machine was stuck out in the open at all, when it could have been positioned some six feet to the right, completely inside the platform shelter!

 

[eightf48544]

The one at Taplow is actually just under the (high) canopy at the West end of platform 4 (Up Relief). It is partly protected by teh permit to travl machine but still suffers in the wet.

The other problem we have is that it faces South so on sunny days you have stand so as to put the screen in your shadow otherwise you can't read it.

Taplow is only manned for 25% of the train service (no Sunday trains)  does that make manned or unmanned?

[Tim]

Do all machines issue prepaid tickets?

I'm not sure the one at Taplow does.

From what i've seen across the network it appears that all of the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s that are at staffed stations are able to print pre-paid tickets and ones that are at unstaffed stations don't.

This fits with my experience.  I suspect that the reason behind it is that the prepaid ticket collection technology is not very reliable (it certianly was pretty poor a few months ago when I last used it heavily).  You eneter your booking code and the machine fails to contact the server or fails to find your ticket .  The 4 ot 5 times when I've had these problems they have always been soluable by ticket staff who can find your ticket on their computer and print it out for you.  I guess that without this fall back they don't trust the equipment to work reliably enough and wan't to aviod teh hassle of tickets not being issued and passengers either missing their trains or travelling without tickets and getting into arguments with ontrain staff

[smokey]

My pennyworth about this matter, I've seen far to many times people having trouble obtaining their Prepaid tickets from Booking Offices and more so from TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s, a simple suggestion maybe it's time British Train Companies had in place for Internet and Telesales Tickets a Printable Bar Code for Internet sales and a Bar code sent to Mobile Phones, so that on train staff using a reader can print tickets on the train where the normal system of obtaining tickets has failed.

Something to Note about the TVM's installed by FGW^▸ (First Great Western), I spent a lot of time talking to a Scheidt & Bachmann service engineer one day whilst waiting for a train, the S & B engineer stated that the TVM's come with 2 types of touch screen,

The first type is  for indoor use
and a Second (more expensive type) for out-door use.

DO you Need to guess which type of touch screen FGW have on their TVM's?

Now all I'll say is my dad always use to say,  "Penny-wise & Pound Foolish"

The Shelters erected over some of the TVM's have cost many times the Extra cost of Outdoor screens that SHOULD have been fitted in the FIRST place.

LIke I've said before FGW just don't do their homework.

[Tim]

Norwegian State Railways (NSB) allows you to book your tickets on line for collection on the train.  You print your own booking confirmation and sit in your booked seat.  The guard comes round with your ticket, stamps it and hands it to you. 

[bemmy]

All the airlines have e-tickets.

National Express have e-tickets with barcodes.

Indian Railways have e-tickets on which is printed the number of a form of photo id (eg passport, driving licence) which the guard can ask to see in order to validate your ticket.

Why can't the British train companies manage it? Then we wouldn't need to be worrying about it getting lost in the post, or whether or not the fast ticket machine happens to be working when we need it.

[Chris2]

All the airlines have e-tickets.

National Express have e-tickets with barcodes.

Indian Railways have e-tickets on which is printed the number of a form of photo id (eg passport, driving licence) which the guard can ask to see in order to validate your ticket.

Why can't the British train companies manage it? Then we wouldn't need to be worrying about it getting lost in the post, or whether or not the fast ticket machine happens to be working when we need it.

Virgin trains have got limited e-tickets (print at home) and m-tickets (sent to mobile) between London Euston and Manchester Picadilly. If booking tickets with megatrain.com (which covers South West Trains and East Midlands Trains) you get a reservation code sent by text message. So the British train companies are starting to introduce electronic tickets, it just needs to be extended.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Something to Note about the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s installed by FGW^▸ (First Great Western), I spent a lot of time talking to a Scheidt & Bachmann service engineer one day whilst waiting for a train, the S & B engineer stated that the TVM's come with 2 types of touch screen,

The first type is for indoor use and a Second (more expensive type) for out-door use.

DO you Need to guess which type of touch screen FGW have on their TVM's?

Now all I'll say is my dad always use to say,  "Penny-wise & Pound Foolish"

The Shelters erected over some of the TVM's have cost many times the Extra cost of Outdoor screens that SHOULD have been fitted in the FIRST place.

LIke I've said before FGW just don't do their homework.

Thanks very much for your comments, smokey: I agree entirely!

Now, I've been saving this snippet, I must admit, but now seems to be an opportune moment to raise it.  During one of my frequent 'moans' to a FGW conductor, while buying my ticket on board yet again due to the soggy machine at Nailsea not working, he said that the contract with Scheidt & Bachmann included the provision of purpose-built covers for their machines - but FGW originally declined those as 'unnecessary'.

It's rather ironic, then, that some time later, FGW have had to accept that some form of shelter is in fact necessary - and they've had to fit shelters after all!

And, just as an aside, I noted that the machine on platform 2 yesterday morning was 'out of service' (I flicked open the perspex cover and saw the usual pool of water in the trough where the tickets normally land - it had rained overnight!).  Furthermore, on my return journey yesterday evening, the machine on the footpath to platform 1 was also 'out of service' - again, it had rained during the afternoon.

I think we've established elsewhere that these machines cost over ^20,000 each - so why don't FGW look after them a bit better?