East Coast Fast Ticket Machines

[SteveP29]

East Coast's latest newsletter say that from September 2012 they're updating the machines and you'll need the credit/ debit card used to make the booking and the 8 figure booking reference to get your tickets out of the machine.

Isn't that already the case? I've not been able to get tickets I've got held there without either for 4 years.

 

[Mike395]

At present if you only have one booking that is waiting to be collected, it will not ask you for the code - as I understand it, a FastTicket software update is being rolled out later this year so the code is always asked for

 

[island]

Sometimes you are asked for the code, sometimes you aren't. I've only ever not been asked when I used a Virgin machine to collect an SWT booking. Don't know what the significance is. I usually use SET machines and RSH bookings.

 

[Mike395]

All SET machines are S&B ticket machines, not Shere FastTicket - only the latter (mainly used by Virgin and EC in my experience) will issue tickets automatically where only one booking is in place

 

[island]

The same bank of Virgin machines wouldn't issue a booking I made on Southern automatically.

 

[telstarbox]

In other TOD news, EMT are installing an off-station collection machine at Loogabarooga uni student union... http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/AboutUs/News/Pages/_Loughborough_university_ticket_machine.aspx

 

[MarkyMarkD]

Whilst I understand that inserting the card used to purchase tickets is a sensible security measure, the requirement to enter a complex 8 character booking reference is completely pointless and irritating - particularly when the machines don't always recognised "key"strokes.

Why can't they simply issue tickets (if there's only 1 reservation for that card) or give you a list of reservation refs (if there's more than 1 reservation) with an optional "print all" feature?

It is not exactly likely that, if your card is stolen, the thief is going to visit a rail station and try it in the machines to see if there are any free tickets available!

 

[RailwayDan]

In other TOD news, EMT are installing an off-station collection machine at Loogabarooga uni student union... http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/AboutUs/News/Pages/_Loughborough_university_ticket_machine.aspx

I will be making good use of this seeing as I work at the Uni part time, it is a good 15/20 minutes walk/bus to the station.

I have the consultation documents if anyone is interested in seeing these. PM if so

Dan
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Yes, a 'print all' feature would be very useful. It can be very awkward if there is a only a single TVM and you need to collect a multitude of tickets. The process of inserting card/removing card/entering booking number/printing at least 3 coupons per booking takes a considerable amount of time.

I broke the TVM at a station on the North Kent Line last week from collecting three tickets in succession. The screen went blank, rebooted showing the Windows XP loading screen (?? did not know it ran on that OS) and would not load up again.

The guys behind me said 'you've hacked it!', and walked off.

 

[MarkyMarkD]

On one occasion I had well over 20 individual tickets to print out (travelling with family on a number of different legs) and it took over 5 minutes from beginning to end of the transaction. Not very friendly to anyone else needing a machine. (But I did it at a quiet time, at a station with other facilities for ticket purchase).

 

[fairysdad]

I broke the TVM at a station on the North Kent Line last week from collecting three tickets in succession. The screen went blank, rebooted showing the Windows XP loading screen (?? did not know it ran on that OS) and would not load up again.

The guys behind me said 'you've hacked it!', and walked off.

Going OT I know, but cash machines seem to run on Windows XP as well

 

[DownSouth]

Going OT I know, but cash machines seem to run on Windows XP as well

And up until even last year it was still possible to buy a license for Windows 3.1 from Microsoft! A lot of popular Point-Of-Sale systems used it for quite some time.

 

[Skimble19]

You'd be surprised how many machines run Windows XP / Windows CE... anything from Self-Service machines in Supermarkets to Ticket Machines at stations..

 

[marks87]

Going OT I know, but cash machines seem to run on Windows XP as well

I went up to a cash machine once that had the "Add New Hardware" window on the screen.

Not the most encouraging thing to see...!

 

[jscho84233]

I went up to a cash machine once that had the "Add New Hardware" window on the screen.

Not the most encouraging thing to see...!

That'll be the skimmer that some scally has stuck over the card slot...

 

[34D]

In other TOD news, EMT are installing an off-station collection machine at Loogabarooga uni student union... http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/AboutUs/News/Pages/_Loughborough_university_ticket_machine.aspx

I bet this goes empty of paper and ink for weeks at a time

Will it sell tickets in addition to allowing collection?

 

[swt_passenger]

I bet this goes empty of paper and ink for weeks at a time

Will it sell tickets in addition to allowing collection?

No. As explained in the linked article it will be one of the Parkeon 'TOD only' machines, like those already fitted at major stations on EMT's and SWT's networks.

 

[telstarbox]

They are a great idea - and they cut down the queue for people buying tickets on the day too.

 

[jon0844]

Whilst I understand that inserting the card used to purchase tickets is a sensible security measure, the requirement to enter a complex 8 character booking reference is completely pointless and irritating - particularly when the machines don't always recognised "key"strokes.

Surely if you need the card and the reference number, the card would be the ID and the code merely like a PIN, as against the actual reference number. Therefore you could surely have a 4 digit number, which the customer could even pre-select when ordering online?

It wouldn't matter if the same code was selected/issued for someone else as it would still not tie in with that card number.

 

[michael769]

Going OT I know, but cash machines seem to run on Windows XP as well

As do the monitors above the departure boards at Waverley (as I discovered on Friday)