Season tickets from Melksham

[whole diary]

[grahame]

To confirm - 7 day ticket purchased with no problem at the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) this morning.   What I would have done as a "first timer" with a picture of myself for an ID card rather than a railway ID card is a different question.   Good to see lots of people using the machine.

[Fourbee]

To confirm - 7 day ticket purchased with no problem at the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) this morning.   What I would have done as a "first timer" with a picture of myself for an ID card rather than a railway ID card is a different question.   Good to see lots of people using the machine.

grahame I am assuming your railway ID is a "standard" photocard? I have used a supermarket photo printing service in the past with passport sized photos (a few copies 4-up on a 6" x 4" print, prepared with home photo editing software) and have a couple of photocards already made up from a staffed station (saves hassle when in a hurry). Obviously you need to have it in your possession at the machine though!

On a related note I know railcard photo IDs are not meant to be used with seasons. I am not sure of the reasoning behind that.

[Fourbee]

...and until the other day I didn't realise the barcode on the photocard can be scanned at ticket offices to save them inputting the number.

[ChrisB]

I think Graham's point was that he couldn't obtain a photocard as he has no ticket office at Melksham?

[JayMac]

The ATEs (and some conductors) on the Severn Beach Line carry a stock of Season Ticket Photocards. I don't know whether that is the case across the network, but it can be handy, provided you've got a passport sized photo of yourself on you.

[paul7575]

On a related note I know railcard photo IDs are not meant to be used with seasons. I am not sure of the reasoning behind that.

Probably just that railcard photocards do not have the same 'ABC nnnnn and barcode' format of the standard season ticket photocard.   

What I can't quite work out is why they couldn't use similar numbering, and be dual purposed?

Paul   

[ChrisB]

My photocard is over 25 years old & has no barcode! Still the first one I ever got.

[paul7575]

My photocard is over 25 years old & has no barcode! Still the first one I ever got.

SWT^▸ (South West Trains) withdrew my old one a few years back, as they wanted to standardise them on the latest numbering system; possibly to make sure they all have barcodes?  He just transferred the photo though, it was all done during the same transaction at the window.

I guess with an older photocard the risk is that you enter a number at a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) that doesn't like the format, and you're stuck?

Paul

[ChrisB]

Seems to work for me still in TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) whenever I've wanted a weekly, and I have no problem quoting the number at booking office windows.....cccnnn format, 3 letters, 3 numbers!

[bobm]

My photocard is over 25 years old & has no barcode! Still the first one I ever got.

Just soooo last century. 

[paul7575]

Seems to work for me still in TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) whenever I've wanted a weekly, and I have no problem quoting the number at booking office windows.....cccnnn format, 3 letters, 3 numbers!

I'd just be worried that although it might work with your current TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company), another's booking office staff (or TVMs) might be singing from a different sheet...    6 o'clock on a wet Monday morning wouldn't be a good time to find out...

Paul

[ChrisB]

The rules are that you must have a railways-issued photocard - nothing about how recent it should be - and I'm still easily recognisable from my photo. I don't see that they could reasonably refuse to issue

[Brucey]

Southern allow ordering of their own season tickets online to be collected from a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine):
https://tickets.southernrailway.com/sn/en/journeyplanning/SeasonMixingDeck

There is also a warning later in the process only to pick them up from their own TVMs.

For those who like living life on the edge and may feel like using a another TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s TVM to collect their Southern online season ticket, please don't try this at home (see attached image)....

[paul7575]

Reminded of this thread, because  BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today have just run a story about someone buying a 7 day season from Basingstoke to Twyford from a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine), and when prompted for a 'photo card number', he'd entered his Photocard Driving Licence number.

He appears to have been given an opportunity to pay an 'administrative charge', with a threat of a court appearance if not paid, but is clearly rather disgruntled and has got the BBC involved.

The BBC of course have completely misread the issue and have displayed a load of National Railcards onscreen, explaining that the chap should have had a 'Great Western Railcard'.

So, as this shows, should it not be better for the TVM to require a correctly formatted and valid "ABC nnnnn" Railway photocard number?   And should any on screen prompts be more accurate in describing what they are actually asking for?

Paul

[Brucey]

Given that a driving licence number is 16-digits and clearly unique, I cannot see how anyone could claim this is not acceptable as proving only one person uses a photocard.

In particular, NRCoC^▸ (National Rail Conditions of Carriage) number 15 seems to permit "another form of personal identification".