Smartcards across the GWR network.

[whole diary]

[stuving]

The question is though....will paper season tickets finally disappear? Having to get it reprinted every couple of months is really irritating..especially since train staff always make out that it is my fault that the ticket has faded!

Is that the question? If it bugs you, all you need is that you can opt for an electronic one. If other people keep using paper ones, why would that bother you?

[t0m]

Is that the question? If it bugs you, all you need is that you can opt for an electronic one. If other people keep using paper ones, why would that bother you?

Fair enough. I wish my need to use a paper season ticket would go away. I would be DELIGHTED by the opportunity to have an electronic ticket.

[Phantom]

The question is though....will paper season tickets finally disappear? Having to get it reprinted every couple of months is really irritating..especially since train staff always make out that it is my fault that the ticket has faded!

Interesting to see at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) the barriers are covered in adverts about paper tickets being replaced by smart cards

[ray951]

I have a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Touch smartcard that I have been using successfully for a number of weeks now and I have been attempting to buy a standard return ticket on the GWR website to load to my smartcard, but without much success.

I was trying to buy an off-peak return from Winchester to Southampton for later this week but I am only offered paper tickets or GWR e-tickets and there is no option to load the ticket to a smartcard. I was logged into my account while attempting this, I also tried it without logging in but had the same response.

I thought maybe I wasn't seeing the smartcard option because this is a SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) service, so I then tried to buy a ticket for Didcot to Reading and again no smartcard option.

So I went to the GWR Touch page where there is a different link to the booking engine. That link takes you to a different version of the booking system (with ITSO ticket options) but it appears to only offer season tickets; although it did look like I could have bought a Winchester to Southampton season for my smartcard!

So that leads to a load of questions:
   1. Can you buy non-season tickets for a GWR Smartcard with the GWR booking engine? And if so, how?
   2. If not, can you buy and upload them at a GWR TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)? Or anywhere else?
   3. Could I upload tickets to my GWR smartcard at a SWR TVM if purchased at said TVM?
   4. Even if I managed to buy a Winchester to Southampton ticket on my GWR smartcard would it work with the SWR gate lines?
   5. Why is this so complicated!

[plymothian]

So that leads to a load of questions:
   1. Can you buy non-season tickets for a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Smartcard with the GWR booking engine? And if so, how?
   2. If not, can you buy and upload them at a GWR TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)? Or anywhere else?
   3. Could I upload tickets to my GWR smartcard at a SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) TVM if purchased at said TVM?
   4. Even if I managed to buy a Winchester to Southampton ticket on my GWR smartcard would it work with the SWR gate lines?
   5. Why is this so complicated!

1. Currently only GWR gated to GWR gated station singles and returns are available
2. As above
3. Not currently, but an SWR ticket office should be able to - in theory
4. Probably not
5. Because this is new and not everything is ironed out yet.  And it's a DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) project that was basically handed to TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to sort out individually how they were going to implement it after the first generation L&SE/ScotRail TOCs started it but without the thought of cross-TOC integration.  However, GWR are one of the more advance 2nd generation TOCs in their scheme.

[didcotdean]

… I thought maybe I wasn't seeing the smartcard option because this is a SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) service, so I then tried to buy a ticket for Didcot to Reading and again no smartcard option...

It is possible to get some fares for Didcot to Reading with "Only fares that can be loaded onto an ITSO SmartCard" selected. However, although Anytime Day Return and Off-Peak Single are available, an Off-Peak Day Return is not (if you unselect ITSO this fare reappears).

[ray951]

Thanks everybody for the response.
The link that I have that has the ITSO option appears to only allow the sale of seasons http://tickets.gwr.com/gw/en/journeyplanning/seasonmixingdeck, and the standard GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site https://www.gwr.com/tickets/mobile/#/qtt doesn't have the ITSO option. I am missing something or is there a different link for buying non-seasons?

And finally Is there any timetable for making the Smartcard option available on the standard GWR buy tickets page?

[didcotdean]

http://tickets.gwr.com/gw/en/journeyplanning/mixingdeck has the ITSO option for non-seasons although I haven't got as far as buying a ticket from it to see if it works. This use of ITSO cards doesn't seem to have been advertised and the option may only be there for test purposes.

[ray951]

Thanks that link works for me and I can at least see the Smartcard option, although like you it doesn't show any off-peak tickets!

I did try and book a ticket but when you get to delivery there is no option to load a ticket onto my smartcard even if I am logged into my account.

I will now stop wasting time and wait for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to complete their SmartCard rollout.

There is an advert at Didcot that says do away with paper tickets and replace them with the GWR app and/or Smartcard, and it doesn't mention any limitations on what type of tickets you can purchase with each technology. Although given that the advert is for both the GWR app and SmartCard I would guess it would get quite complicated to explain and it does point you to the GWR website.

To be fair to GWR their website does primarily talk about buying season tickets, although one part of the website says 'By the summer of 2019, you will be able to use your touch card to buy a wide range of tickets on most routes across Great Britain.' Of course that could still be true.

[plymothian]

My apologies for neglecting to mention that singles and returns between GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) gates stations can only currently be purchased at GWR ticket offices

[didcotdean]

So what went wrong then? I thought this kind of capability was already there ...
From https://touch.gwr.com/

By the summer of 2019, you will be able to use your touch card to buy a wide range of tickets on most routes across Great Britain.
To do this we need to upgrade our systems.
How this will affect you
from 05 July we’ll stop accepting new touch card registrations until the end of September
from 15 July you won’t be able to buy new tickets on your current GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) touch card
from 15 August your current touch card will stop working
If you have a ticket that goes beyond 15 August, we’ll provide you with an alternative ticket. We’ll be in touch (sic) soon to give you the details of this.
When the new system has been launched, we’ll let you know here what to do to get your new card.

[stuving]

So what went wrong then? I thought this kind of capability was already there ...
From https://touch.gwr.com/

By the summer of 2019, you will be able to use your touch card to buy a wide range of tickets on most routes across Great Britain.
To do this we need to upgrade our systems.
How this will affect you
from 05 July we’ll stop accepting new touch card registrations until the end of September
from 15 July you won’t be able to buy new tickets on your current GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) touch card
from 15 August your current touch card will stop working
If you have a ticket that goes beyond 15 August, we’ll provide you with an alternative ticket. We’ll be in touch (sic) soon to give you the details of this.
When the new system has been launched, we’ll let you know here what to do to get your new card.

I'm not sure why, at least based on that page. It was put there nearly a year ago, and while the process has started it has only used the gwr.com site - and is running late, of course.

So it apears that not a single person in the GWR organisation has remembered that site exists, despite it being in use less than a year ago, still less have they registered that promise to at least provide a link there to get a new card!

[TonyK]

Since then, rumours have arisen of First leaving railway business in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) - and buses - and concentrating on North America. If I were in charge of considering that, I would first drop anything not essential to the day to day running of the business, including spending money on developing systems that I am unlikely to use in the future. I don't know if that has anything to do with the delay, just thinking aloud after reading newspaper reports with the past few days.

[ChrisB]

I understood the talk is ogff hiving off (selling) both the Greyhound FirstBus in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), while holding onto the franchises & the yellow bus network in the USA?

[Timmer]

I understood the talk is ogff hiving off (selling) both the Greyhound FirstBus in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), while holding onto the franchises & the yellow bus network in the USA?

That’s how I read it yes. Of course the shareholder meeting called for later this month may change that.