TPE website not finding Merseyrail through journey

trainophile · 19 May 2019

I am just checking timings at present (to connect with onward services from/to Lime Street), for Sunday 30th June, returning Monday 1st July, for Southport to Liverpool Central and back. It keeps returning "sorry no services found". There's nothing on Merseyrail about closures, and trains appear to be running as normal on their journey planner.

I then tried on the TPE site Southport to Formby, Formby to Hall Road, Hall Road to Sandhills and Sandhills to Central, and it gave me results for all of those, but can't seem to manage a through journey.

Is this another of TPE's "improvements", or is there something going on that only they are aware of?

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M28361M · 19 May 2019

Is it the same problem as mentioned in this thread? I notice from BRFares that Southport-Liverpool tickets are now routed "VIA SANDHILLS" which I'm sure never used to be the case. If the routing has changed maybe the TPE website is getting confused again.

Bear in mind, if you're travelling off peak and not using a Railcard, a Merseyrail Day Saver will be cheaper than any ticket you can buy online for Southport to Liverpool.

trainophile · 19 May 2019

Oh haha, it was me who started that other thread too :oops:

. Yes I am getting a bit cheesed off with TPE's weird ticket buying arrangements. Time to look for another WebTis site, if any remain.

As for the routing, there's only one line in and out so I don't see how they can mess that up!

I have a senior railcard but yes those Day Savers are good value, especially if you want to cover a lot of ground!

alistairlees · 19 May 2019

trainophile said:
Oh haha, it was me who started that other thread too . Yes I am getting a bit cheesed off with TPE's weird ticket buying arrangements. Time to look for another WebTis site, if any remain.

As for the routing, there's only one line in and out so I don't see how they can mess that up!

I have a senior railcard but yes those Day Savers are good value, especially if you want to cover a lot of ground!

Each time a new route code is created in the fares data it has to be manually added to worldline’s webtis product. In each version. Otherwise fares won’t work for that route at all. Nice, eh?

tony_mac · 19 May 2019

trainophile said:
Time to look for another WebTis site, if any remain.

That's all I could see...

Code:

                 Via Runcorn     Via Sandhills
SouthWestern     Yes             Yes
Hull Trains      Yes             Yes
RSH              No              Yes
TPE              No              No
GWR              No              No

yorkie · 19 May 2019

trainophile said:
Oh haha, it was me who started that other thread too . Yes I am getting a bit cheesed off with TPE's weird ticket buying arrangements. Time to look for another WebTis site, if any remain.

Technically any Ticket Issuing System (TIS) that is built into a website is a 'WebTIS', but I assume you mean a site provided by Worldline (formerly Atos).

trainophile said:
As for the routing, there's only one line in and out so I don't see how they can mess that up!

It's not a routeing issue.

trainophile · 20 May 2019

Thanks everyone, Hull or Southwestern it is in future then.

I was never quite sure that I was using WebTis in the right context - it’s the user interface I like, don’t know much about the background operation. Thanks for clarifying.

mallard · 20 May 2019

yorkie said:
Technically any Ticket Issuing System (TIS) that is built into a website is a 'WebTIS'

That's like saying every car (or even train or any other form of transport) is a "People Carrier" because they all carry people. In reality a "People Carrier" is a term well understood to refer to specific type of car, also known as a "minivan" or MPV and "WebTIS" is a term well understood to refer to a specific type of ticket-selling website.

CaptainHaddock · 20 May 2019

mallard said:
That's like saying every car (or even train or any other form of transport) is a "People Carrier" because they all carry people. In reality a "People Carrier" is a term well understood to refer to specific type of car, also known as a "minivan" or MPV and "WebTIS" is a term well understood to refer to a specific type of ticket-selling website.

It's like people who say Tannoy when they mean public address system......

JBuchananGB · 20 May 2019

I realise you are just checking timings, but if you were looking for fares, being a Railcard holder, and travelling out on one day and back on a different day, then the best deal is the off peak day single to/from Halewood for £3.45 each way. Finish short & start late at Liverpool Central. If you were to buy ticket to Liverpool Central itself it would be £4.45 each way, because Merseyrail do not offer off peak single tickets in their own network.

trainophile · 20 May 2019

JBuchananGB said:
I realise you are just checking timings, but if you were looking for fares, being a Railcard holder, and travelling out on one day and back on a different day, then the best deal is the off peak day single to/from Halewood for £3.45 each way. Finish short & start late at Liverpool Central. If you were to buy ticket to Liverpool Central itself it would be £4.45 each way, because Merseyrail do not offer off peak single tickets in their own network.

Gosh that's a good tip. Would the tickets be okay at the barriers in Central?

JBuchananGB · 20 May 2019

Absolutely. I’ve done it a few times albeit with ticket to Edge Hill (same fares), which is a bit more plausible as a reason for getting off at Central. I happen to be going to Hunts Cross this week, for which a ticket to Halewood is more plausible. But both are valid for break of journey at Central.

trainophile · 20 May 2019

That's great, thanks.

To go back to the original question, surely it's a nonsense that you can't buy a ticket from Southport to Liverpool Central on the TPE website. If they were alerted about this might they get it fixed? Other people who don't understand about all this "via Sandhills" stuff and don't read this forum are going to be bewildered. Same with the Crewe to South Parkway situation.

Joe Paxton · 20 May 2019

mallard said:
yorkie said:

Technically any Ticket Issuing System (TIS) that is built into a website is a 'WebTIS'

Click to expand...

That's like saying every car (or even train or any other form of transport) is a "People Carrier" because they all carry people. In reality a "People Carrier" is a term well understood to refer to specific type of car, also known as a "minivan" or MPV and "WebTIS" is a term well understood to refer to a specific type of ticket-selling website.

The industry - or at least the RDG - does use the term 'webTIS' to refer to online ticket issuing systems (see this RDG document and also this Google search of the RDG website).

I remember being a bit surprised when I first saw Yorkie pointing this out, but he ain't wrong.

JBuchananGB · 20 May 2019

While it may be of academic interest that the TPE web site is unable to sell tickets from Southport to Liverpool, in practice few people will buy such tickets online, because almost no Merseyrail stations have facilities to collect tickets ordered on line (The exceptions have TVMs provided by other TOCs), and I have not been able to persuade the apps of VTWC, AGA, or Northern to sell me an m-ticket for such a journey. There is a very long separate thread elsewhere on the lack of TOD from Merseyrail.

TPE website not finding Merseyrail through journey

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