Timescales for tickets collected from TOD machines

[43094]

Hello

I'm considering buying a ticket on-line tonight, for travel tomorrow, to be collected at Leeds station TOD machines tomorrow morning. Travel would be 0926 ex Liverpool, so i'd be in Leeds around 0630.

If I purchased the web-fare now, would the ticket be available from the machine in Leeds at that time tomorrow morning, or is there a certain amount of time one needs to allow before the ticket is available to collect?

 

[bb21]

Officially 2 hours from the time of booking, although some websites claim that they can have the ticket really for collection in 15 minutes.

 

[43094]

Cheers.

 

[MikeWh]

Real experience here says that I've never had a problem picking up tickets ordered on a WebTIS site after just 5 minutes - the time it takes to get to my local station.

 

[transportphoto]

Most sites won't sell you the ticket unless the TOD timeframe is satisfied.

TP

 

[island]

I have bought tickets on my iPad standing by the ticket machines at Euston and immediately gone over to a machine and picked them up.

 

[MarkyMarkD]

Well, surely either the machines are permanently online (in which case it should be instantaneous) or offline with periodic connections to update (in which case it might only be updated every few hours).

It wouldn't surprise me if they were originally implemented within periodic connection, but nowadays the cost of being permanently online is pretty negligible so I expect that is why tickets can be collected instantaneously.

 

[barrykas]

Well, surely either the machines are permanently online (in which case it should be instantaneous) or offline with periodic connections to update (in which case it might only be updated every few hours).

The issue isn't the machines themselves, but the "back office" systems that the various booking engines use to process ToD sales.

Trainline-powered sites use a system called TRaCS, which appears to transfer bookings to the ToD database in batches for reasons best known to those who set it up, hence the delay of two hours before collection is possible.

Atos WebTIS-powered sites, on the other hand, have a live connection to the ToD system and are thus generally available for immediate collection.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[MarkyMarkD]

Ah! That is very useful. I am glad that I normally use a WebTIS powered site, in that case.

 

[bb21]

I was advised by EMT that trainline-engines have the TODs downloaded manually and this can mean a significant time-lag between booking and ready for collection, especially on Sundays. I have only recently had instances where the ticket was not ready for collection on a Sunday 100 minutes after booking, and it was not showing on the TIS in the ticket office either.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Out of curiosity, what happens if despite leaving the 2 hour plus gap, your booking isn't showing up on the machine? (never happened to me, just wondering - doubt its that likely though).

 

[bb21]

Out of curiosity, what happens if despite leaving the 2 hour plus gap, your booking isn't showing up on the machine? (never happened to me, just wondering - doubt its that likely though).

In my case as I had to travel, I bought a new ticket, and SWT refunded me the ticket I booked online afterwards, despite it not quite being 2 hours.

 

[34D]

Out of curiosity, what happens if despite leaving the 2 hour plus gap, your booking isn't showing up on the machine? (never happened to me, just wondering - doubt its that likely though).

About 3 years ago, bought from a trainline site, ticket wasn't there, local station allowed me to travel to my first change point, it didn't come up on the machine there either so their staff gave me a docket to travel to my next change point where it was available.

 

[Bungle73]

I turned up at the station one day to collect some pre-booked tickets and the machine wouldn't let me have them (this was a few days after I'd booked them). I just went up to the ticket office window, told him the problem, he asked me to put my card into the chip-and-pin machine and he printed them out for me.

The issue isn't the machines themselves, but the "back office" systems that the various booking engines use to process ToD sales.

Trainline-powered sites use a system called TRaCS, which appears to transfer bookings to the ToD database in batches for reasons best known to those who set it up, hence the delay of two hours before collection is possible.

Atos WebTIS-powered sites, on the other hand, have a live connection to the ToD system and are thus generally available for immediate collection.

Cheers,

Barry

Seems that's another reason for me to stick with WebTIS sites (which I prefer anyway).