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TOD collection

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cjp

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I wandered into a google group - uk.railway and have come back seeking expert advice if you would be so kind?
It was suggested that TOD could be collected other than from the selected station nominated when making the purchase on line
"
I usually specify Retford, but I often then collect the tickets elsewhere
e.g. Sheffield or Paddington or the Stansted Expess machine at Liverpool
Street (just the first three that I can remember using). In the
last-mentioned case the journey was nothing whatsoever to do with Stansted
Expess or indeed anything in that area. I think the requirement to specify
a station is there merely to ensure that you know that tickets can't be
collected from *every* station; there is no requirement to stick to the one
you chose to specify.
"

Not wanting to get caught by trying to apply this useful information
is this true?
If it is true are the places one can collect TOD from limited by some arcane rule?

I suspect it is either not true not generally true as the "collect pre paid button" on my local FGW machine is usually greyed out but is ready and waiting for me when I go to collect my tickets bought on line

May I, Mr Moderator, just mention something related to my question but actually I have tracked it down as discussed -but unresolved - in another thread going back to February ??:)

At Bicester there are three Ticket On Departure machines. So far I have used two of them. One requires the debit card and a code be tapped in and the other, more friendly, machine just reads the card and prints out the tickets.
Why can not all machines be standardised to be friendly and helpful? If they were I would not have to pull out bits of paper, peer at them and tap away at the screen all of which takes time for the person behind me.And I hate it when it happens to me - just a few such events quickly tie up a machine and cause queues and angst as the time for the next train gets closer.:oops:


It is my first question that most interest me.
 
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philjo

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You can normally collect the tickets from a different station than the one selected. However only the stations on the list have TOD facilities so if the station you want is not on that list the ticket cannot be collected there. So it acts as a sort of safeguard to check that the passenger can collect the ticket from a station convenient to them.

Main exception - some ticket types have to be collected only from certain machines - e.g. I believe that some can only be collected from Southern stations.
 

cjp

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You can normally collect the tickets from a different station than the one selected.
Main exception - some ticket types have to be collected only from certain machines - e.g. I believe that some can only be collected from Southern stations.
"normally??"
Not sure how that equates with the pre paid button being greyed out though as at any one time there must be zillions of tickets waiting to be collected up and down the network of machines. :(
 

dzug2

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"normally??"
Not sure how that equates with the pre paid button being greyed out though as at any one time there must be zillions of tickets waiting to be collected up and down the network of machines.

Why can not all machines be standardised to be friendly and helpful


:(


1 I would suspect that it's because for some reason it's acting as a standalone machine and is not connected to the network as would be necessary for TOD.. That's if I've understood the question

2 Because it takes time and money to standardise things - and before you've completed it the standard will have changed anywy
 

MikeWh

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A greyed out button is indicative of network issues. You may find that you also can't pay by credit card, depending on the nature of the network issues. In the London area you also may find the Oyster button greyed out as well.

Apart from that, any TOD enabled machine will dispense any* tickets ordered through standard booking engines (eg WebTIS, Trainline, My Train Ticket etc) regardless of which station was selected when ordering. The reason for selecting one is (a) to ensure that it has TOD facility and (b) because it's intuitive to say where to collect from. It really doesn't matter where you go though.

* OK, the caveat. Southern sell some online tickets through a completely different mechanism to their standard WebTIS interface. These tickets have a 7-char rather than 8-char reference number and can only be picked up from Southern operated machines.
 

34D

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As others have hinted, not every ticket vending machine is TOD enabled - I believe Merseyrail have some that aren't for instance.

If a machine is 'offline' for whatever reason then the booking office at that station are able to assist.


At Bicester there are three Ticket On Departure machines. So far I have used two of them. One requires the debit card and a code be tapped in and the other, more friendly, machine just reads the card and prints out the tickets.
Why can not all machines be standardised to be friendly and helpful? If they were I would not have to pull out bits of paper, peer at them and tap away at the screen all of which takes time for the person behind me.And I hate it when it happens to me - just a few such events quickly tie up a machine and cause queues and angst as the time for the next train gets closer.:oops:


It is my first question that most interest me.

This is generally in line with my own experience at various machines. I must say though that I see the requirement to enter the code as a useful security feature, though I certainly see your point aswell. Others can probably advise on the models of TVM which exhibit the different behaviours. S&B are one for instance.
 

island

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After several combinations of booking site and TVM, the only time I have been able to get a ticket dispensed without entering the booking code was when I had used a trainline-based site and collected at a Virgin TVM.
 

cjp

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Apart from that, any TOD enabled machine will dispense any* tickets ordered through standard booking engines (eg WebTIS, Trainline, My Train Ticket etc) regardless of which station was selected when ordering. The reason for selecting one is (a) to ensure that it has TOD facility and (b) because it's intuitive to say where to collect from. It really doesn't matter where you go though.

You guys are so good!:D

If only I had known that before.
Several times I have had to go back into London because I had forgotten to pick a ticket :cry:
But hey I have been educated so thanks.

Mind you I expect (hope) I might not have been alone in ignorance.
 

Max

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This is certainly a common misconception. I recently started working in the travel information centre at a busy interchange (on the bus side, but we also deal with rail enquiries). My colleague was advising people to travel by train to the next station on the route to collect their train tickets, and wasn't aware that Northern had activated TOD on our machine and that tickets for collection at Sheffield could be collected there!
 

bb21

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Not everyone wants all tickets to be printed in one go, which is one reason why the machines don't chuck everything that is related to a card out when inserted. For example, I might only want to collect my bookings on the day of travel, in order to take advantage of Southern's "Rainy Day" guarantee.

That said, Fasticket machines will normally print the tickets automatically if there is only one booking in the database related to the card, whereas ToDler and S&B machines will always ask for the references regardless of how many associated bookings there are to the card.
 

cjp

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Not everyone wants all tickets to be printed in one go, which is one reason why the machines don't chuck everything that is related to a card out when inserted. For example, I might only want to collect my bookings on the day of travel, in order to take advantage of Southern's "Rainy Day" guarantee.

The guarantee is excellent, it is just a pity the refund cannot all be dealt with online.
Southern recommend making a separate booking for any ticket for which you think you might want to make a refund claim under this guarantee.
 

cuccir

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East Coast's machines will print without a booking reference if you only have one booking on that card.
 

island

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I believe EC has changed very recently from printing without the booking reference to requiring booking reference always. I may be corrected by someone who has travelled EC in the last year.
 
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