Shocking lack of Rover knowledge!

[whole diary]

[smokey]

Surely the swanky new ticket machines could be easily programmed to make finding the rovers reasonably easy for even the most inexpereinced staff? 

Again, eveidence that on-train staff are poorly managed.

Are they? The TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s don't seem to like Rovers and the Bigger the area it covers the more they dislike them.

When did you last see an all line Rover leaflet in a booking hall?

[Worcester_Passenger]

Surely the swanky new ticket machines could be easily programmed to make finding the rovers reasonably easy for even the most inexpereinced staff? 

Again, eveidence that on-train staff are poorly managed.

I suspect that the answer to your question is "yes", but if you look at what's in there already...

If you enter "*" into the station field in Avantix^▸ (Ticket Issuing System used on board trains), then you get the full list of stations, which includes a lot of things which aren't 'real' stations. But the codes / spellings / abbreviations are utterly inconsistent. The list that follows contains just some of the oddities from the F part of the list. Some are obvious, but some are almost impenetrable.

Note the many different ways in which "Freedom of" has been abbreviated (and then take pity on the users).

They're using the 16-character versions of the station names. Given current memory capacity, something longer would be possible (and desirable).

My interpretations/comments are in square brackets. Anyway, treat this as a variant on the 'where is this?' game...

FAIRFORD RIAT
FAMILY DAYROVER    [but for where?]
FARN 2008 ENTRY
FARN TRADE BUS
FAULDHOUSE 2    [Fauldhouse isn't very big, but perhaps this is platform 2?]
FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect) E SUSSEX S1
FCC SUSSXDWNS S1
FCM TRAVEL
FCM TRAVEL JS
FCM TRAVEL SOLU
FDM OF SCOT 4-8    [Freedom of Scotland]
FDM OF SCOT 8-15
FESTIVAL OF SEA
FFEST ROUNDROBIN
FFOS LAS SHUTTLE
FGW^▸ (First Great Western) STAFF PROMO
FINCHLEY ROAD A6
FIRSTBUSRAILCARD
FIRSTBUSRCARD
FIVE SHAKES PROP    [5 Shakespeare properties?]
FIVE WAYS GATES
FLEXI 15DY IN 1M (and several similar)
FLEXPAS 2DIN1MTH
FNCHLY RD A6 20% (and 50% and ST)
FODC ROVER 3IN7 (and ROVER8IN15)    [Devon and Cornwall?]
FONE 7 DAY RVR    [North East?]
FONE FLEXI RVR
FONW 4IN8DAY RVR    [North West?]
FONW 7 DAY RVR
FORWARD TVL MGMT
FOSCL FLEXI RVR
FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent Rover) ROVER 3 IN7 (and 8IN15)
FOSW^▸ (Freedom of (the) South West Rover) ROVER 3IN7 (same)
FOUR WK ALLZONE (and several similar)
FRANKFURT MAIN
FRASER EAGLE
FRDM TVLPASS A (and AB and ABC)    [where?]
FREEDOM 3MONTH    [where?]
FRM OF BRIT 7DY (and 14DY)
FTPL IBE  [a special prize for this one!]
FYLDECOASTDAYRGR

and a couple of Gs...

GALILEO INTL  [I though Galileo was a satellite]
GATE PASS

and more confusion in the Hs...

HOWCIRC DAY RGR    [Heart of Wales]
HT^▸ (Hull Trains) ENG RVR 3IN7
HT OF ENGLAND 7D
HT OF WSX RANGER

And a note to the moderators - might be worth moving this list! Or adding a new section to the acronyms list.

[JayMac]

FRASER EAGLE is an interesting one on that list. Why on earth would anyone need a ticket specific to the former operator and organiser of rail-replacement buses?

Also they went to the wall in early 2009, a victim of the rail network's improved ability to find alternate route workarounds for engineering possessions. They also lost the business from Virgin on the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) which finally started to run as intended.

[plymothian]

I want to buy a ticket to FRANKFURT MAIN from a guard!

Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof surely though?

[Ollie]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) STAFF PROMO

CfN has one of these

[Chris from Nailsea]

cough ... splutter ... CfN looks suitably sheepish! 

[Worcester_Passenger]

I want to buy a ticket to FRANKFURT MAIN from a guard!

Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof surely though?

Frankfurt am Main so as to distinguish it from Frankfurt an der Oder. And you've only got 16 characters.

[Tim]

Thanks for the info on the "Fs".  It is a mess and my sympathy for guards is increased. 

Surely the software could do something better than this!  I thought that the Advantix machines had decent screens so searching for a Rover ought to be a question of selecting "Rovers -> England ->South West ->  Devon and Cornwall -> 3-day Freedom of Devon and Cornwall Rover (select here for full details of restrictions)" with option for going straight to the 16 character stuff only for advanced users or common tickets.

[BBM]

I'll have a go with interpreting a few of these! 

FAIRFORD RIAT - presumably Fairford Royal International Air Tattoo

FARN must be Farnborough?

FFEST ROUNDROBIN - Ffestiniog Roundrobin?

FFOS LAS is a racecourse near Llanelli

FINCHLEY ROAD A6 - National Express A6 coach to Stansted calls there

FORWARD TVL MGMT - "Forward Travel Management is the business travel division of Midlands Co-operative Society"

FOSCL FLEXI RVR - Freedom of Settle and Carlisle Line?

FTPL IBE - Something to do with First TransPennine Ltd?

GALILEO INTL - A global ticketing system which can be used to book Eurostar tickets from abroad - but why have it as a destination?

[Tim]

FTPL IBE - Something to do with First TransPennine Ltd?

FTPL = Freedom of [transpennine?] Line?  for International Business Executives

[Tim]

FAMILY DAYROVER    (but for where?)

West Yorkshire PTE^▸ (Passenger Transport Executive) area, I think?

[BBM]

FTPL IBE - Something to do with First TransPennine Ltd?

FTPL = Freedom of [transpennine?] Line?  for International Business Executives

I've just done a bit of Googling and I've discovered that Raileasy (the online rail ticket service) is owned by a company called Ferries Trains Planes Limited (FTPL). A search of IBE as an acronym brings up Internet Booking Engine. So if that's what FTPL IBE refers to, why issue a ticket with the destination being a website! 

[Ollie]

i think there is confusion. avantix doesnt just show destinations. It will show i think anything with an NLC^▸ (National Location Code). Useful for when checking who printed the ticket.

[vacman]

The ex wessex rovers are the only ones that have problems in the system as they are in there as FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent Rover), FOSW^▸ (Freedom of (the) South West Rover) and FODC.

[Btline]

My sympathy for the guards has gone up as well. What an utter mess. One of the guards who attempted to sell me the FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent Rover) did say they were going to get to the bottom of it, and find out how.

And yes - the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) website still lists Rovers alphabetically. So trying to find a South Coast Rover last year proved difficult. I think it was someone on hear that suggested the SN Daysaver ticket.

Btw - I would strongly recommend the FOSS Rover - it covers a good area, and perhaps if we keep buying them, the guards will know how to sell them!