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No Ticket Facilities

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themeone

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I will be travelling from Redbridge (Hants) which is unstaffed and has no ticket buying facilities.

Is it best to order the ticket online and show a printout of the order, or to simply buy the ticket after boarding the train?
 
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gray1404

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Redbridge does not offer ticket selling or collection facilities. You therefore would not be able to just show a print out of your booking as this is not a valid ticket. If I were you, I would buy the ticket upon boarding the train.

The only exception to this is if I could save money buying an Advance ticket for my journey ahead of time. However, if it was a walk up fare I required then in these circumstances I would buy on the train.
 

wibble

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I will be travelling from Redbridge (Hants) which is unstaffed and has no ticket buying facilities.

Is it best to order the ticket online and show a printout of the order, or to simply buy the ticket after boarding the train?

Depends on the ticket you're buying. If it's an Advance fare, you'll need to buy it in advance. If it's a flexible ticket (Anytime, Off Peak, Super Off Peak) you can buy from the guard.
 

gray1404

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If you are buying an advance fare though be aware that you will need to be in possession of the ticket before you board the train. You will therefore need to have made arrangements to obtain the actual ticket before travel. You will not be able to show your booking confirmation email.
 

yorkie

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I will be travelling from Redbridge (Hants) which is unstaffed and has no ticket buying facilities.

Is it best to order the ticket online and show a printout of the order, or to simply buy the ticket after boarding the train?
The latter, assuming you want a walk-up ticket. Simply take a seat and be ready to pay when the Guard walks through doing tickets. If the Guard is unable to sell you a ticket, buy at destination (or interchange station, if appropriate/applicable).

You should be able to buy the full range of fares, using any accepted payment method.

There is no requirement to buy in advance, but if you do, the actual ticket must be shown. The booking confirmation cannot be used to travel in these circumstances (if the station was advertised as having collection facilities, but these were out of order, then the booking confirmation email would suffice)
 

takke

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If it's an Advance fare, consider having it posted out to you. Southeastern (and I'm sure many other sites) will post out at no extra charge and it can be more convenient than queuing up at a station in any case.
 

themeone

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Thanks everyone. I suppose I was thinking the guard would be able to print out the ticket from the booking confirmation, but it seems not. Will just take a seat and be ready to pay as suggested, as it's a walk-up fare.
 

najaB

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One additional idea - you don't have to collect from the station you are travelling from. So if you're going to be passing another station that does have ticketing facilities you can collect it there.
 

themeone

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One last question, I'll only be going to Winchester, which is two trains of fairly short duration. If the guard does not pass by, can I pay on arrival at Winchester, or am I supposed to have actively sought out the guard?
 

yorkie

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One last question, I'll only be going to Winchester, which is two trains of fairly short duration. If the guard does not pass by, can I pay on arrival at Winchester
Yes.
or am I supposed to have actively sought out the guard?
No.

Many trains on the National Rail network do not have staff selling tickets (including the London suburban area trains on SWT for example), and even if they do, it would be bonkers to expect passengers to walk up and down a train looking for them. There is no such requirement (despite what some people may claim)
 

bb21

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You should make a good effort to pay at your interchange station where possible, although you do not have to miss a connection in order to do this. This will be dependent on a range of factors such as travel times and queue lengths at the ticket office.

It is also a good idea to flag the guard down as he walks past to inform him of your intention, especially on the train to Winchester. I would expect a more proactive effort to sell tickets on the first train from Redbridge, although given the short distance between stops, it may not be possible to sell you a ticket on the first train.
 

MarlowDonkey

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I suppose I was thinking the guard would be able to print out the ticket from the booking confirmation, but it seems not.

That's an interesting and sophisticated idea, which could also be implemented by having a ticket machine on board the train. No such solutions appear to have any likelihood of implementation in the near future or perhaps ever.

With no ticket facilities at my local station, I have the same problem. Provided I'm buying more than a week before I travel, I get tickets posted. Most of TOC websites do it for no additional cost.
 

AlterEgo

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That's an interesting and sophisticated idea, which could also be implemented by having a ticket machine on board the train. No such solutions appear to have any likelihood of implementation in the near future or perhaps ever.

With no ticket facilities at my local station, I have the same problem. Provided I'm buying more than a week before I travel, I get tickets posted. Most of TOC websites do it for no additional cost.

Indeed, a ticket machine on the train would stop the bad treatment and suspicion of passengers who board at stations without ticket issuing facilities. It would also free up the guard to conduct safety critical (eg. door operation) duties without the hindrance of selling tickets.
 

themeone

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Indeed, a ticket machine on the train would stop the bad treatment and suspicion of passengers who board at stations without ticket issuing facilities. It would also free up the guard to conduct safety critical (eg. door operation) duties without the hindrance of selling tickets.

This is why I'm enquiring into it in a bit of detail, as I know the whole thing will make me feel awkward and under suspicion, even though I've done nothing wrong.

Unfortunately it's too late for post now, and I probably won't be able to collect from elsewhere either.
 

swt_passenger

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Redbridge to Winchester will include more than adequate time to buy a ticket at Southampton Central, about 25 mins if connecting with SWT. Even in the odd hours that XC start from Southampton at around xx47 you'd still have nearly 12 mins to play with.

Wouldn't worry about having to rush.
 

fairysdad

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There is no requirement to buy in advance, but if you do, the actual ticket must be shown. The booking confirmation cannot be used to travel in these circumstances (if the station was advertised as having collection facilities, but these were out of order, then the booking confirmation email would suffice)
I'm not disagreeing with you as I know you know the fares and ticketing system much better than I do, but a few times on the North Devon Line I have seen guards accept a printed booking confirmation for travel from one of the unmanned stations, with the aim of the ticket being collected on arrival at Exeter. (When I traveled the line regularly, I did so from an unmanned station, and often had a ticket for collection, but I was in Barnstaple enough to pop to the station there to collect rather than risk it!)
 

najaB

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I'm not disagreeing with you as I know you know the fares and ticketing system much better than I do, but a few times on the North Devon Line I have seen guards accept a printed booking confirmation for travel from one of the unmanned stations, with the aim of the ticket being collected on arrival at Exeter.
There's nothing saying a guard can't accept the booking confirmation, but equally there is nothing saying that they must do so. In effect you would be playing Russian Roulette with respect to the reception that you would get from the guard.
 

noddingdonkey

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I'm not familiar with the particular TOCs you will be using, but do they have mobile ticketing apps or print at home options for tickets bought online?
 

swt_passenger

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I'm not familiar with the particular TOCs you will be using, but do they have mobile ticketing apps or print at home options for tickets bought online?
No, but in any case this is not an advance fare - the usual feature of apps and print at home surely? Does any TOC do mobile or print at home walk up fares?

Redbridge to Winchester we should really only be considering walk up fares, much of the stuff on the previous page about advances and stuff was written before the OP explained his actual journey.
 

Puffing Devil

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Northern, CrossCountry, VTEC certainly do walkup M-tickets, on all routes I think, and quite probably other TOCs too. It's really starting to get quite common.

The Northern app isn't quite "Walkup" - I've not been able to buy a ticket on the platform waiting for a train as there was not enough time to "download to the device".
 

emil

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There is a red Pertis machine located at Redbridge which takes coins. Simply put some money towards cost of the fare and either pay the difference on the train or destination (as the op states) Winchester to get your rail tickets.
 

gray1404

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If there is a permit to travel machine then I believe that you must use it if you are paying by cash. It is valid for an hour from the time of issue. Am I right in saying that once you have a permit to travel, you would be fine passing an interchange station and paying on the next train or must you still pay ASAP? You only need to insert 5p to be issued with a permit to travel. Of course, if you are paying with a form of cash that is not accepted or by card then you cannot get one.

On a separate note, are there any apps that can be downloaded for windows phone that will enable me to make use of etickets?
 

najaB

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Am I right in saying that once you have a permit to travel, you would be fine passing an interchange station and paying on the next train or must you still pay ASAP?
You still have to pay at the earliest practicable opportunity. If you've got oodles of time at the interchange station then you should pay there.

National Rail Conditions of Travel said:
6.3 You must have in your possession a valid Ticket before you board a train unless one of the following circumstances applies:

(a) At the station where you start your journey, there is no means of purchasing a Ticket, either because there is no Ticket office open or self-service Ticket machine in working order
and, where notices indicate that you are in a Penalty Fares area
you purchase a Permit to Travel if there is a working Permit to Travel issuing machine at the station where you start your journey – see section 10 for more information about Penalty Fares...

In these cases, you must, as soon as you are reasonably able, buy an appropriate Ticket to complete your journey. The price of the Ticket you purchase will be the same as if you had bought a Ticket at the station from which you first departed.
 
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island

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On a separate note, are there any apps that can be downloaded for windows phone that will enable me to make use of etickets?
I wouldn't recommend using m-tickets as they carry considerably more restrictions than the identically-priced corresponding paper tickets.
 

Puffing Devil

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I wouldn't recommend using m-tickets as they carry considerably more restrictions than the identically-priced corresponding paper tickets.

Generally agree - I only get them on the day if I suspect I won't be able to get a ticket on the train before landing at the big queues at Manchester Picc.
 

gray1404

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I agree. They are best avoided. Just frustrating that as I have a windows phone I couldn't get one if I wanted.
 

themeone

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Just another question on this. I noticed today that Redbridge has smart card readers. I have The Key from Southern, but assume I couldn't use it on Southwest Trains, is that correct?
 

Top Cat

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Redbridge has one of the newer style PERTIS machines that SWT installed at a small number of stations which are unstaffed and where no TVM is provided.
If you can't use the PERTIS machine for any reason, then my advice would be to approach the Guard on the train to purchase a ticket.
 
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Redbridge (along with neighbouring Millbrook as well) does indeed have a Metric Aura PERTIS machine which accepts coins only. Although in reality you don't have to use it (and most people don't). Most SWT Guards seem to much prefer if you just board the train without a Permit To Travel as dealing with Permit To Travel tickets is a lot more hassle and takes a lot longer. If you just board the train the Guard will be happy to sell you any tickets you want (and you can pay with cash [coins and banknotes] or bank cards).
 
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