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Can't TVMs be set to sell certain railcards?

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TubeMapCentral

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With many ticket offices closing locally, surely an ability to purchase a Network Railcard from a machine woukd be straightforward to arrange, even a temporary one that has to be exchanged at a ticket office within, say, two weeks.

This could also cater for very occasional rail users, who might not even be aware of them by offering a card with ticket purcase.

I know there are alternatives, but I want to maximise validity by buying one that starts on the day that it is first needed. Luckily, guards at XXX will usually let passengers travel to YYY for free if they need a ticket office service.
 
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TubeMapCentral

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Not really because

1) I presume I can't post-date a card that I apply for.

2) I don't necessarily know when I am going to need it, there was a five week gap between expiry of my last card and purchase of my new one. None of my rail travel qualified in the intervening five weeks.

3) The website requires setting up an account with a password. WHY? Yet another unnecessary password to remember, and potential for a security breach, I've personally had one, I don't want another.

4) There are many people out there who barely use trains and don't know about railcards, the ticket office at a busy station can do a brisk trade in railcards on a Saturday morning, I've seen it. How can people who don't know about railcard benefits buy them in advance on a website?
 
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Someone who travels only occasionally is unlikely to need a Railcard. If they can make use of one for an expensive single trip then losing a few day’s validity isn’t likely to be a problem given the frequency of travel.

Most railcards require a photocard which would become problematic. To be fair season ticket holders are able to enter their photocard number when purchasing at a TVM but the sort of issue you describe is aimed at people who are unlikely to have a photocard.
 
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swt_passenger

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Hadders said:
Someone who travels only occasionally is unlikely to need a Railcard. If they can make use of one for an expensive single trip then losing a few day’s validity isn’t likely to be a problem given the frequency of travel.

Most railcards require a photocard which would become problematic. To be fair season ticket holders are able to enter their photocard number when purchasing at a TVM but the sort of issue you describe is aimed at people who are unlikely to have a photocard.
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...also those that have a requirement to show some evidence of entitlement.
 
Haywain

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Wallsendmag said:
Believe me I have experience in overly complex TVMs and we didn't even think of this. The main problem would be the ticket stock.
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Actually, we did (I can't remember who suggested it but think zones). The extra complexity required, even using common stock, would have been horrendous and I fought back very strongly against such a daft idea.
 
Wallsendmag

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Haywain said:
Actually, we did (I can't remember who suggested it but think zones). The extra complexity required, even using common stock, would have been horrendous and I fought back very strongly against such a daft idea.
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Must have missed that one lol. We need to catch up about the zones release, I was south of the river last week it wasn't fun.
 
Haywain

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najaB said:
Just don't sell those ones.
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So we're restricting it to Family & Friends and Network railcards? In which case the numbers are not sufficient to warrant developing the functionality (the same problem as Rovers and Rangers).
 
ac6000cw

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Haywain said:
So we're restricting it to Family & Friends and Network railcards? In which case the numbers are not sufficient to warrant developing the functionality (the same problem as Rovers and Rangers).
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What's the problem with issuing at least the rangers/rovers that are printed on normal 'orange' ticket stock from TVMs?
 
Haywain

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ac6000cw said:
What's the problem with issuing at least the rangers/rovers that are printed on normal 'orange' ticket stock from TVMs?
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Because it requires the development of functionality to provide the necessary information to sell them. Maps, for example.
 
Haywain

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Bletchleyite said:
It doesn't, not any more than it requires maps to show what you can do with an Anytime Return from Penzance to Wick.
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Well, that's your opinion but it differs from that of RSP who would be responsible for accreditation. In any event, the volumes sold ar very small so it is a very long way from being a priority, or being worth any expenditure.
 
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Haywain said:
Well, that's your opinion but it differs from that of RSP who would be responsible for accreditation. In any event, the volumes sold ar very small so it is a very long way from being a priority, or being worth any expenditure.
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Another option, of course, would be to sell them online for TVM collection or even self-print. As they are generally niche products this would also solve the problem, and maps are already displayed on the Web so it would be a fairly simple e-commerce application to do so.
 
Haywain

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Bletchleyite said:
Another option, of course, would be to sell them online for TVM collection or even self-print. As they are generally niche products this would also solve the problem, and maps are already displayed on the Web so it would be a fairly simple e-commerce application to do so.
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That would still have development and accreditation costs for both the web front end and TVMs, so the business case is not likely to stack up.
 
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TubeMapCentral

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It is so tedious when a bunch of lazy insiders come up with a load of petty excuses to try and justify their lack of creativity.

1) Network railcard, no photocard, type in initial, surname, house number, postcode. Ten minutes? I don't think so!

2) Take infrequent rail users travelling together, a network railcard can easily pay for itself on just one single journey. The service of offering them that option had gone from many places. On Wivenhoe station alone on any Saturday morning, you would see that happening every week, fortunately Wivenhoe retains a staffed ticket office.

By all means come up with reasons not to put any effort into making it work, but at least have the decency to admit you are doing this for selfish reasons rather than rationalising that these are trivial issues not worth addressing. How many ticket offices has AGA clsed last year?
 
causton

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TubeMapCentral said:
It is so tedious when a bunch of lazy insiders come up with a load of petty excuses to try and justify their lack of creativity.

By all means come up with reasons not to put any effort into making it work, but at least have the decency to admit you are doing this for selfish reasons rather than rationalising that these are trivial issues not worth addressing. How many ticket offices has AGA clsed last year?
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It is not selfish, the privatised railway is a business to make money, not to 'be creative'. Sorry about that, but it would require a lot of work and who will pay for it?
 
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causton said:
It is not selfish, the privatised railway is a business to make money, not to 'be creative'. Sorry about that, but it would require a lot of work and who will pay for it?
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Exactly and Railcards or not a TOC specific item(bar the devon one I think) so it would have to be implemented across all TOCs and their varying TVMs and would be expensive!
 
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I’m no insider but I do think we need to realistic.

I’d rather have TVMs highlighting off peak fares at appropriate times and groupsave consistently offered.

People who travel infrequently will either be well briefed and buy a Railcard in advance (even if TVMs could sell then they’re unlikely to be able to offer them as part of a transaction). Poorly prepared people won’t bother to buy a Railcard however easy you make it or whatever the saving.
 
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Haywain said:
Well, that's your opinion but it differs from that of RSP who would be responsible for accreditation. In any event, the volumes sold ar very small so it is a very long way from being a priority, or being worth any expenditure.
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London Overground TVMs already sell rovers...
 
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Perhaps the answer is to abolish the family railcard entirely and just sell "family" tickets with the same validity instead?


edit: the "just" is added, because I know some tickets like this are available
 
Haywain

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Mainline421 said:
London Overground TVMs already sell rovers...
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JaJaWa said:
And TfL Rail. And the new LU machines.
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I wasn't aware of that, I'll have a look next time in the area of any of those machines. However, it doesn't alter the fact that each manufacturer/software provider would have to develop the functionality and get it accredited which all carries costs, and the costs are passed on to TOCs who don't want to pay more than they need to especially for something they don't see themselves as needing.

And, for what it's worth, I think Rovers and Rangers are a good thing and would like them to be easier to purchase.
 
Haywain

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gordonthemoron said:
do TOCs even like railcards?
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National railcards are part of the fares structure so I would expect them to have a neutral view. However, the Network Railcard and Gold Card not universally liked - the minimum fare on the former is believed to have come about because some TOCs were threatening to pull out of the railcard, and some do not accept the Gold Card even withing its normal validity area.
 
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