Wrongly Assumed Facts by Passengers

[bigfoote]

Hmmm...apart from ticket = seat, advance ticket itineraries are flexible and it's only the reservation that's set, so they can travel on any train/route they choose.
Locally speaking, London Terminals (route Southern only) also means SWR to Waterloo because it's quicker.
Any reason for delays/cancellations are lies and it's always the fault of the train company/driver going slow.
Ticket office staff always try to sell the most expensive/restrictive/limited ticket - "It wasn't that much last week when I bought one [at midday on a Saturday, as opposed to peak weekday], you're ripping me off.
Believing all staff know every station/service/calling pattern/facility/good pub/fish and chip shop/etc. nationwide.

 

[xotGD]

That your best chance of getting a seat is to stand on the same bit of the platform as everyone else, rather than moving down a bit.

That when a train has been repainted a different colour, it is a new train.

That if you have reserved seat B17 on the 10:00 train, you are entitled to sit in seat B17 on the 10:30 train.

That there must be no available seats because a couple of people are already standing in the vestibule.

That thetrainline is the cheapest place to buy tickets.

That they need to check online even when I have given them 100% correct information on their connection or where to change to get where they want to go.

 

[goblinuser]

• That you are allowed to buy a ticket on the train because the guard sells them. (How people are meant to understand this is beyond my comprehension, more confusing rules from the railway).
• Still thinking of the railway as a service and not looking out for all the pitfalls of fragmentation such as tickets not being valid on different colour trains.

 

[EM2]

If the ticket gate opens when you put your ticket in, then the ticket must be valid on the train that is on the platform (any platform!).

 

[6Gman]

That Richard Branson owns the Pendolinos.

A misapprehension he encourages to be fair.

 

[6Gman]

"Why do you sell more tickets than there are seats on the train? Stop overbooking!"

A regular on the VT twitter feed.

 

[bearhugger]

The train that is in the platform must be the train that is going to where I want to go to, despite what destinations screens and announcements say.

 

[al78]

Missing a train they have an advance ticket for means they can just get the next one with no penalty.

This is true if the passenger missed the train because of a delayed/cancelled train which made it impossible to catch their connection.

 

[al78]

That holding a ticket entitles you to a seat.

That seems to be a misapprehension on this forum as much as anywhere else.

 

[AY1975]

That if you have a Standard Class ticket and Standard Class is full, you can sit in First Class at no extra cost without permission from the conductor.

That if you are travelling on a service run by company A using rolling stock on hire from company B (or recently transferred from company B, still bearing company B's livery and/or logo) you should address any complaints to company B rather than company A.

That you can take a bike on any train at any time without reservation (especially in peak hours!).

 

[Gareth Marston]

That "Off Peak" printed on their ticket means something generic.

That Manchester and Birmingham Airports are traveled to by buying tickets to Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New St.

That you buy a ticket and it doesn't matter which day you start your journey on.

That the cheapest prices will be available by booking a long distance journey 4 or 5 days before you go.

Having been disgusted by the price of a ticket from Mid Wales to London that you can drive part of the way to say Rugby and get on a train @ 0750 on a weekday morning and save money.

 

[Mojo]

That the question "can I use my off peak ticket on this train" can be answered with providing no further details other than the train's departure time.

 

[infobleep]

That holding a ticket entitles you to a seat.

To be fair to passengers, that point isn't nearly publicised enough by TOCs.

 

[adamello]

Locally speaking, London Terminals (route Southern only) also means SWR to Waterloo because it's quicker.

Now from experience (and I book a lot of travel Southampton Central to London Terminals) and it can be easy to be drawn to the cheaper fare for the Victoria Train, if the restriction is Southern Only the average Joe may not realise that refers to the TOC...

granted they have rephrased it now to be 'via three bridges' but the term 'Southern' can mean more than just the name of a company


Personally speaking these days when booking I book Sou-Wat unless I book sou-z1 for onward travel which means I can't specify waterloo

 

[Confused147]

That everything was rosy before privatisation and therefore everything will be much better if it was renationalised.

And how damn right they are

 

[DarloRich]

That holding a ticket entitles you to a seat.

• That you are allowed to buy a ticket on the train because the guard sells them. (How people are meant to understand this is beyond my comprehension, more confusing rules from the railway).

If the ticket gate opens when you put your ticket in, then the ticket must be valid on the train that is on the platform (any platform!).

That the question "can I use my off peak ticket on this train" can be answered with providing no further details other than the train's departure time.

whilst chortling expertly to ourselves surely these are not unrealistic expectations for people unfamiliar with the railway system

 

[Darandio]

And how damn right they are

Only when viewed through a certain tinted spectacle.

 

[Ianno87]

That Oyster cards are magic and can always figure out the correcr fare if you do totally random touch ins and outs throughout the day. (Recall three consecutive passengers touching the reader at Hampton Court, getting the error beep, then getting straight on the train).

Also, that railway staff only make decisions based on annoying the public as much as possible. (Gem from my Mum many years back: "I reckon they do engineering works on Bank Holidays because there's more people travelling" - I did correct her)

The very small minority who shout at drivers as if they are personally responsible for the train being late.

And that UK railways are rubbish whilst European railways are always clean, punctual, never crowded and have comparable capacity utilisation to the UK.

 

[Nean]

That the question "can I use my off peak ticket on this train" can be answered with providing no further details other than the train's departure time.

Just providing a departure time isn't really an acceptable answer though... Different companies have different definitions of "peak" so it's not always as obvious as it seems!

 

[DuncanS]

Your boarding pass will though.

Not always - got one last week at Sydney Airport for an onward flight from Gatwick 35 hours later and that didn't have the gate on it.

Tends to have it on if you print it at the airport on the day of departure.

 

[ComUtoR]

Drivers deliberately go slow.
Your [insert TOC] has the worst performance.
This train is ALWAYS late.
This train is ALWAYS cancelled.
The Signaler ALWAYS holds me for a Main line.
SG makes the signal change.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To be fair when passengers are used to guards selling the full range of tickets on board, without even being told they should have purchased tickets prior to boarding unless facilities were unavailable, it's not surprising some feel hard done by when the guard doesn't come through and a RPI at their destination station accuses them of fare evasion.

My line precisely. Tickets should not be sold on board if it can be construed as unacceptable to purchase them on board.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Drivers deliberately go slow.
Your [insert TOC] has the worst performance.
This train is ALWAYS late.
This train is ALWAYS cancelled.

The WLL isn't *always* cancelled, but in recent times I have a slightly less than 50% success rate on the 1710/1810 off East Croydon. That can't be seen as anything other than appalling.

 

[BanburyBlue]

To be fair, most of us have an interest in the railway so can deal with the oddities of the system.

To the average member of the public, a lot of the rules and way of working can be extremely confusing. For example, I remember going to the station with my wife from Banbury to Birmingham. I pointed out the Manchester train from the main departure screen and my wife said "how do you know that train goes to Birmingham - it only shows Manchester up there" - this made me realise that it can be confusing for the average person on the street.

That said, there does seem to be a detached moral compass for some members of the public - that's it's okay to 'pinch' a seat on a train, but wouldn't dream of taking a Mars bar from Tesco.

 

[traji00]

That if one argues enough with staff, a Down Fast train will call at Clapham Junction platform 9 between 1702-1824.

And that platform staff write the timetables.

 

[Bletchleyite]

While I agree neither is acceptable, fare dodging is not dissimilar to software/music piracy in that it doesn't deprive the TOC of something they can sell to someone else, it just means you get no income from the "thief" themselves, which in some cases you may not have done anyway (some people fare-dodge but wouldn't travel if they had to pay).

That doesn't make it OK, but it does to some degree explain it.

That if one argues enough with staff, a Down Fast train will call at Clapham Junction platform 9 between 1702-1824.

I've had stop orders put on at my request[1] during disruption before, though not there specifically.

[1] More a case of "did you know you had about 15 people stood here waiting for an hour due to consecutive cancellations", to which the response was "no, we didn't" and a stop order. Only had it via Twitter though. I also managed to get a stop order for a friend in such circumstances...and he didn't use it! Though that was in the David Whitley LM days.

 

[Starmill]

Why "some"?

I think there used to be charter schemes at various operators, and was formalised across the board so that all must offer it when NRCoT came in.

 

[alxndr]

That "any permitted" on a ticket means that they can go any roundabout route they fancy.

That a ticket purchased a few days before departure and an Advance ticket are not necessarily one and the same.

That delay descriptions and picked out of a hat at random (bonus points when this is "proved" by two different reasons being given when one is in fact just more detailed than the other).

That it's always possible to hold connections and it's just people being lazy/awkward if they're not held.

 

[AlterEgo]

At least some TOCs will compensate down to Standard fare if you have a 1st ticket and no 1st seat, I believe. That's as much of a guarantee as you can provide without compulsory reservations.

All of them now must do under the NRCoT. Another small positive change that went relatively unnoticed.

It used not to be the case, and was only applicable if the *accommodation* wasn’t provided.

 

[keith1879]

this is a common one. so often I hear people complaining online "Damn you GWR, train delayed again". so I ask them what the issue was, and they reply "signalling problems"

Viewing this through a slightly different lens ....perhaps these passengers are acting on the assumption that they have a contract with the train operating company ...and no relationship whatsoever with Network Rail. It may be network rail's fault but it's GWR that have a responsibility to their passengers.