Northern Station Improvements & New Ticket Machines

[pemma]

That's good to know as I often pop into Northwich (or send my wife) to collect tickets.

I hope the new machine is a bit easier to use than the old one.

There should still be a LM TVM at Hartford station, presuming you drive to a station to collect tickets.

The new TVMs do have larger buttons and a contactless payment facility (I've not tried it so I don't know how well it works or doesn't work.)

 

[Puffing Devil]

There should still be a LM TVM at Hartford station, presuming you drive to a station to collect tickets.

The new TVMs do have larger buttons and a contactless payment facility (I've not tried it so I don't know how well it works or doesn't work.)

Hartford is a little out of the way for us - Northwich works well as my wife goes to the gym there. The old TVM was slow and appeared to be steam driven!

 

[Bletchleyite]

LM have retrofitted contactless to all theirs, and the one at Bletchley works just fine. Saves my knees in half squatting down so I can use the stupidly designed PIN pad and read the display on it.

(This is going to be an issue over time as people get taller and older.)

 

[pemma]

LM have retrofitted contactless to all theirs, and the one at Bletchley works just fine. Saves my knees in half squatting down so I can use the stupidly designed PIN pad and read the display on it.

(This is going to be an issue over time as people get taller and older.)

Ideally there needs to be a TVM which a wheelchair user can use at any station with TVMs but that doesn't mean every station needs the pin pad at a position where it can be operated by someone sat down. One good thing about the new Northern TVMs is apparently where the meaningful part of the display is on the big screen changes according to the height of the person using it.

 

[Bungle965]

Castleton has a new TVM installed and in use, one thing I do wonder is with it completely being exposed to the elements how well the usability of it is going to be after a period of heavy rain. The Parkeon that was there before suffered from that to the point where it was almost impossible to use.

Also of note is that the barriers at Rochdale have been installed however are not yet operational, pictures are attached.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ideally there needs to be a TVM which a wheelchair user can use at any station with TVMs but that doesn't mean every station needs the pin pad at a position where it can be operated by someone sat down. One good thing about the new Northern TVMs is apparently where the meaningful part of the display is on the big screen changes according to the height of the person using it.

Yes, that's quite good. The issue with the low PIN pad is that it's inset into the machine so I can't see it from full height. If it was flush with the face of the machine it would be possible to use it from any height. I do indeed like the feature of the "big screen" machines that the TVM display can be at any height you wish, though using one lower down is fine provided I can see it (and it's angled upwards)!

Train open-door buttons on the inside are getting similar - the "open" button on most newer stock is at the lowest point it can be without me bending my knees or back to reach it. I think the long-term solution to this one will need simply to be two sets of buttons, one set low down, one higher up. Providing two PIN pads, one about 0.7m from the floor and one about 1.5m from the floor, may also be a viable option.

It's not a problem now, just irritating, but given that I already have mild knee issues by the time I'm say 70 it may well be. And while people do shrink a bit in old age, when my generation (and the even taller younger one) make it to old age it will be a wider one.

FWIW, many banks now provide two ATMs, one at wheelchair height and one at non-disabled adult height.

 

[johntea]

It isn’t just Northern that install things in less than ideal places!

 

[theblackwatch]

Where is that? No doubt one or two will blame Transdev for putting it there!

 

[sheff1]

Also of note is that the barriers at Rochdale have been installed however are not yet operational, pictures are attached.

If I am looking at those correctly, the barriers are in the subway ... has the booking office been moved from the upper level ?

 

[johntea]

Where is that? No doubt one or two will blame Transdev for putting it there!

At a stop outside Harrogate Hospital so there is some sort of logic to it I suppose, even though there are about a million of them in the hospital itself anyway!

 

[theblackwatch]

At a stop outside Harrogate Hospital so there is some sort of logic to it I suppose, even though there are about a million of them in the hospital itself anyway!

Bizarre, I wouldn't think of doing my hands at a bus stop!

 

[Bungle965]

If I am looking at those correctly, the barriers are in the subway ... has the booking office been moved from the upper level ?

No it has not, the booking office has remained on platform level.
Sam

 

[M60lad]

So what's the logic in having barriers at Rochdale when the booking office is where it is as surely you have to go through the barriers to get to the booking office?

 

[Bletchleyite]

So what's the logic in having barriers at Rochdale when the booking office is where it is as surely you have to go through the barriers to get to the booking office?

The logic is "Northern". That is, there isn't any.

The booking office should be moved before the barriers are put into operation.

 

[Bantamzen]

I presume from those photographs that there is a way past the main barriers to reach the lift, as at first glance it looked like from the Metrolink / Town Centre entrance it wasn't possible to reach the lift?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I presume from those photographs that there is a way past the main barriers to reach the lift, as at first glance it looked like from the Metrolink / Town Centre entrance it wasn't possible to reach the lift?

There is a separate barrier on the other side for the lift.

 

[pemma]

The logic is "Northern". That is, there isn't any.

The booking office should be moved before the barriers are put into operation.

Some stations need quite a bit of work to them before barriers can be installed. Before barriers were fitted at Huddersfield it looked like only platform 1 could be barriered due to the location of the ticket office and the stairs down to the subway but TPE changed the ticket office layout and moved the stairs from the station building to platform 1, which allowed all platforms to be covered by barriers.

 

[Rail Ranger]

Just to mention that booking offices can issue tickets which have been ordered online.

 

[pemma]

Just to mention that booking offices can issue tickets which have been ordered online.

Staff can but they aren't usually supposed to unless the passenger can't collect them from the TVM for whatever reason.

 

[Geeves]

Apparently the gates should be live at Rochdale on Monday morning. In regards to tickets being bough online no one ever said we werent allowed to issue them, what is the actually the case is that some staff get a bee in their bonnet about tickets being bought online when they can sell them, so they just send them all the the TVM. I personally issue every TOD I get, I would sooner people came to me to be honest.

 

[Starmill]

Apparently the gates should be live at Rochdale on Monday morning.

Why bother? Surely people will have to be allowed through to use the ticket office...

I personally issue every TOD I get, I would sooner people came to me to be honest.

There are financial implications to doing this! Although they are only likely to benefit your employer.

 

[pemma]

what is the actually the case is that some staff get a bee in their bonnet about tickets being bought online when they can sell them

I was once told by a Northern ticket office clerk that I shouldn't have purchased a ticket online as she could have sold it for the same price without a booking fee. However, I didn't pay a booking fee and did get Nectar points on the transaction which wouldn't have been given if I had purchased from a Northern ticket office.

 

[Geeves]

Yes of course every situation is different but I don't mind. In my mind the more tickets that come out of that machine the better my job prospects! Usually I can advise on any information the passenger might have missed or if there is a cheaper option. Everyone goes away happy

Any way I digress. I believe they are currently working on the ticket machine bases for the Reddish South and Denton, just add a train now and you should be good to go!

 

[Chrisyd]

Always find it a treat if I have time to spare and can get any tickets I have ordered printed by the staff at my regular station on the way home. As an annual season ticket holder I get few chances to interact with none RPIs at the stations. I won’t say which one as I don’t want to get the staff in trouble for being really friendly and helpful!

 

[urbophile]

Not a 'Northern' station, but Liverpool South Parkway had one very unreliable machine, installed by Northern, until a few weeks ago. During the Lime Street blockade when Parkway was rising to the challenge, three other machines appeared (in a different part of the concourse) and operated by other TOCs (I think Virgin and East Midlands at least). Now that Parkway has reverted to its customary semi-slumber, the TVMs still seem to be there and working. Does anybody know if that is going to be a permanent arrangement? Since many long-distance services call there it is essential that there is always at least one machine in working order, especially as the Merseyrail ticket office seems unable to issue tickets booked online.

 

[pemma]

Knutsford station's new TVM has gone out-of-service again, which is around 4 weeks after the last time I noticed it going out-of-service. Maybe Northern should be servicing them monthly?

 

[Bungle965]

Apparently the gates should be live at Rochdale on Monday morning. In regards to tickets being bough online no one ever said we werent allowed to issue them, what is the actually the case is that some staff get a bee in their bonnet about tickets being bought online when they can sell them, so they just send them all the the TVM. I personally issue every TOD I get, I would sooner people came to me to be honest.

Barriers were set open as usual however the terminal for the barriers was live.
Sam

 

[Bwlch y Groes]

Knutsford station's new TVM has gone out-of-service again, which is around 4 weeks after the last time I noticed it going out-of-service. Maybe Northern should be servicing them monthly?

They drop out and come back again quite a lot. Not sure about why but we're getting loads of reports of this with new machines. At least one of the cases is due to bad signal

 

[skyhigh]

Pleased to report that the new ticket machines at both Headingley and Burley Park are in place and operational.

 

[johntea]

The one at Headingley was out of order around 8:45am this morning!