Penalty fares go live in April 2010

[whole diary]

[grahame]

What I got told - on the one occasion I did this

Was.....

I've got half her journey in the basket I can't do yoursd before I complete

I've been in the position of asking for what I felt was a simple set of tickets at the only tickets desk open, and discovering that production of them was the most time consuming process - a large party on groupsaves, and separate ticket for everyone in this case for some reason.  I asked the chap behind the counter to put my job aside and serve the anxious and getting-narked customer behind as I wasn't in a rush (the group wasn't with me) and got "I wish I could but ... [same reason]"

There are certain situations that the systems don't seem designed to be able to handle!

[thetrout]

Say Boys and Girls better get used to carrying a Bag of Coins around with you.

You can not buy a Ticket for less than ^5 at a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) with a ^20 note.

So the Ticket M/c is Fully operational, but You can't buy your Ticket because you only have a ^20 note.

SO what happens then??

I've been in that situation before... Ok, I appreciate Vacman's comment, you could go to the booking office. But if the booking office is closed...?? How are you supposed to buy a ticket...??

Mind you... I don't think the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) onboard the train would favour you too much if you attempted to buy a ^3 ticket with a ^20 note...

[vacman]

I think this is a very hypothetical situation (I can't spell and I dont care lol), a regular traveller should have a smaller denomination of money if they know the fare is under a fiver, chances are the guard wouldn't be able to change a 20 for a small fare!

[Mookiemoo]

I think this is a very hypothetical situation (I can't spell and I dont care lol), a regular traveller should have a smaller denomination of money if they know the fare is under a fiver, chances are the guard wouldn't be able to change a 20 for a small fare!

but it's not the regular traveller that would be caught out by this - unless they planned to pay by card and the machine was offline

I rarely have more than a couple of quid in cash - I tend to lose my purse and have an unhealthy attraction to vending machines

[Zoe]

I've got half her journey in the basket I can't do yoursd before I complete

This is why more stations could do with a "Tickets for today only" window like at Taunton.

[thetrout]

I think this is a very hypothetical situation (I can't spell and I dont care lol), a regular traveller should have a smaller denomination of money if they know the fare is under a fiver, chances are the guard wouldn't be able to change a 20 for a small fare!

I think we'll have to agree to disagree here vacman,

The only reason i'm saying is that the ticket office at Westbury closes at a rather silly hour... (15:40 on Saturdays IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly')) But please correct me if i'm wrong. So sometimes buying a ticket isn't always possible.

Also if I am making a long distance journey, I'll buy my ticket on the train if the Ticket Office is closed, simply because I don't trust the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s with large amounts of money because I have a fear it could all go wrong... (Which has happened with a ^7.60 fare in the past, it took my money but didn't spit out my ticket ) I know it's unlikely, but i'm a major "glass half empty" type so you'll have to forgive me

[Ollie]

In 'the good old days', of our unfailingly polite station master at Nailsea & Backwell, 'Dave' would have asked the little old lady to 'please just wait a moment', while he served a couple of other customers whose train was now arriving.

Diplomacy. 

What I got told - on the one occasion I did this

Was.....

I've got half her journey in the basket I can't do yoursd before I complete

I'm not familiar with all machines that ticket offices use, but Star (the one a large number of ticket offices use - fgw, swt) has an option to suspend a transaction and then recall it. Believe it will delete itself after about 30mins - an hr though.

[smokey]

Say Boys and Girls better get used to carrying a Bag of Coins around with you.

You can not buy a Ticket for less than ^5 at a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) with a ^20 note.

So the Ticket M/c is Fully operational, but You can't buy your Ticket because you only have a ^20 note.

SO what happens then??

go to the booking office

Oh you got me there Mr Vacman, I didn't realise ALL FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations had a booking office open from before the first train till after the last of the day!

SILLY ME!

[vacman]

Say Boys and Girls better get used to carrying a Bag of Coins around with you.

You can not buy a Ticket for less than ^5 at a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) with a ^20 note.

So the Ticket M/c is Fully operational, but You can't buy your Ticket because you only have a ^20 note.

SO what happens then??

go to the booking office

Oh you got me there Mr Vacman, I didn't realise ALL FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations had a booking office open from before the first train till after the last of the day!

SILLY ME!

and how many time a year do you travel mr smokey? i've seen you once this year

[vacman]

I think this is a very hypothetical situation (I can't spell and I dont care lol), a regular traveller should have a smaller denomination of money if they know the fare is under a fiver, chances are the guard wouldn't be able to change a 20 for a small fare!

I think we'll have to agree to disagree here vacman,

The only reason i'm saying is that the ticket office at Westbury closes at a rather silly hour... (15:40 on Saturdays IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly')) But please correct me if i'm wrong. So sometimes buying a ticket isn't always possible.

Also if I am making a long distance journey, I'll buy my ticket on the train if the Ticket Office is closed, simply because I don't trust the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s with large amounts of money because I have a fear it could all go wrong... (Which has happened with a ^7.60 fare in the past, it took my money but didn't spit out my ticket ) I know it's unlikely, but i'm a major "glass half empty" type so you'll have to forgive me

You can disagree if you like but your the one leaving yourself liable to a Penalty fare! I hear people say to me that they won't put their cards into a TVM coz they don't trust it, I say to them well how do you get cash then? from a cash machine? exactly the same, infact, a TVM is safer than an ATM^▸ (Automated Teller Machine, or 'at the moment', depending on context) as most models dont take your card inside the machine!

[Chris from Nailsea]

That's a fair point, vacman: the worst a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) can do is debit an account but not print the ticket - and I understand the software records such errors, so it would be possible to submit a claim for reimbursement, if that were to happen.

[johoare]

And a quick question from me..

I'd never seen it before (although people at work have experienced it) but the other day the ticket machine told me I'd reached the maximum times I could use my card in the machine that day..

Does anyone know what that is about because I'd not used it since the previous Monday?

But if it is a limitation, and the machine doesn't give you a ticket, even if it's recorded as Chris says, you still don't have a ticket and the machine might not let you use your credit card again?

[Chris from Nailsea]

That sounds rather bizarre to me.

Surely a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) just links to the relevant bank and deducts the price of the ticket: assuming there is sufficient money in the account, it should be possible to keep buying tickets all day, if one feels so inclined ... ?

[johoare]

Well yes.. very bizarre.. To clarify it's the card reader bit that gave this message, not the machine itself..  Maybe a bug in the system?

[Chris from Nailsea]

A bug in the system - or rainwater, possibly?