TfGM concessionary passes and National Rail ticket gates

ENCTS passes issued to TfGM residents, and which offer free off-peak rail and Metrolink travel within Greater Manchester, will now operate the ticket gates at Piccadilly, Manchester Airport, Rochdale, Salford Central, Salford Crescent, Bolton and Wigan Wallgate. They don't work at Victoria and Oxford Road, where the gates were installed earlier and they don't have the correct software.

This is giving rise to the following situation. If I "touch in" at Rochdale station for a trip to Manchester, and then get passed through the gate at Victoria, the Metrolink card reader will not accept my pass - there is a message "ticket not valid from this stop". The card thinks I am still on the rail network.

This happened to me today. Later I entered the non-gated platforms at Piccadilly past the ticket checkers and left again "touching out" at the gate. The pass was then accepted by Metrolink!

I couldn't find any Metrolink staff to raise this with. Is this an ITSO issue? No doubt when the gates at Victoria are updated it will be resolved.

I am a holder of a Gmpte Disabled concessionary card, it can be used to open the gates at Stockport station, and when I travel to Manchester Piccadilly’s station. And if show my card at the gates. IE not swapping out. I can still use it on the Manchester metro tram system.. so unsure how your card is not working.

Paul’s said:

I am a holder of a Gmpte Disabled concessionary card, it can be used to open the gates at Stockport station, and when I travel to Manchester Piccadilly’s station. And if show my card at the gates. IE not swapping out. I can still use it on the Manchester metro tram system.. so unsure how your card is not working.

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That's odd as someone else from Rochdale has had the same experience as me. I didn't know about Stockport as the gates are always left open when I'm there.

I had the same problem two weeks ago, i touched in at Bolton, got off at Deansgate and the metro at told me that my pass was not valid at that stop. I tried to touch in on the metro at Piccadilly and Victoria, with the same result, but touched out successfully at Bolton. I rangTfGM who only advised that I had the pass checked at a travel shop, I did this and was told that there was no problem with the pass.

I have also had this problem if I use pass to go through gate at Bolton to start trip then it wont work on the metro so I now show pass at Bolton and ask them to let me through the gate by only showing pass then it will work all metro touch readers

Isn't it the same system as Merseytravel? Having touched in doesn't seem to need a corresponding touch out at the end of the journey. Station barriers and buses can read the passes, but it's possible, indeed more common, for a train journey to involve only one set of barriers (central Liverpool and other major stations have them, but most don't).

Not sure if this is a hardware or software issue. Also who to contact - TfGM, Metrolink, Network Rail or the relevant TOC? Probably the former, but that's not easy and I used to work them. Do they have a systems manager?

As I understand it, touching to enter a gateline will put a 'transient ticket' on your card, which then gets taken off or replaced when you touch out again to exit. It sounds like the Metrolink card readers have been misconfigured and they think this means your electronic 'ticket' is not valid when it of course is.

Its not a Metrolink problem.

You cant have two active tickets on an ITSO card with the same date.
I have the same Issue if I try to use two different bus tickets on one card.

I have a concessionary plus pass, so far, no problems with it, use it regularly through Bolton.

RWill35396 said:

I have a concessionary plus pass, so far, no problems with it, use it regularly through Bolton.

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I really hope so, as I will be travelling via train & Metrolink on Wednesday, using my TfGM Bus Pass, which I am told is valid on all public transport in the TfGM area.

I see that Andy Burnham has announced that a £10 annual charge will be applied to age concessionary passes to permit travel by rail or metro from next year. National concessionary bus only passes and disabled persons' passes will still be free to Greater Manchester residents.
Not clear what will happen to TfGM bus passes that have an expiry date beyond the start of the rail/metro charges (can a pass have two expiry dates one for busses and one for rail) or will you require two cards?