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Smartcard season tickets - multiple TOCs

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Fawkes Cat

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As I have mentioned on another thread, my season ticket is due for renewal. Travelling from Merseyside to Manchester, my journey involves Merseyrail and at least one of Northern, TPE or EMR (it varies from day to day and by route). I suppose it could also involve TfW.

Various of the train companies are pushing smartcards quite hard. If I have understood things properly, any company's smartcard should be able to be loaded with an appropriate season ticket. But is this true in theory? And if so, is it true in practice - that is, will my (for example) Northern issued smartcard be recognised by the barriers at Liverpool Lime Street and Central as well as Manchester Oxford Road and Victoria, and be accepted by ticket inspection staff on all the operators? And has anyone any comments on ease of replacement if the card fails?

Thanks all!
 
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Haywain

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But is this true in theory? And if so, is it true in practice - that is, will my (for example) Northern issued smartcard be recognised by the barriers at Liverpool Lime Street and Central as well as Manchester Oxford Road and Victoria, and be accepted by ticket inspection staff on all the operators?
The barriers will be reading the 'ticket' and will be agnostic as to the card provider. So your ticket can be loaded on to the smartcard of any TOC and will be read by the barriers. The only potential restriction will be whether the flow as been enabled for fulfilment to smartcard but the likelihood is that it will have been.
 

Fawkes Cat

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The barriers will be reading the 'ticket' and will be agnostic as to the card provider. So your ticket can be loaded on to the smartcard of any TOC and will be read by the barriers. The only potential restriction will be whether the flow as been enabled for fulfilment to smartcard but the likelihood is that it will have been.


Thanks.
 

Fawkes Cat

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Merseyrail could be a problem.
In what sense? I do realize that they take a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to national standards. But as a daily commuter, I don't want to line myself up for 250 days of hassle next year.
 

M28361M

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Not long ago, I saw a Twitter exchange between a passenger and Northern and Merseyrail's twitter team. She had a Smartcard season ticket from Warrington Stations to Liverpool Stations and was trying to use it to travel around the Loop (which is perfectly valid with a paper ticket).

Although the Merseyrail barriers opened for her, one day she was stopped by an RPI who told her the smartcard wasn't valid on Merseyrail.

Here is part of the exchange. The full thread starts here.
@northernassist Hi team, I was stopped at Liverpool Lime Street yesterday by @merseyrail staff and told that this pass isn’t valid to go from Moorfields to Lime Street. Despite it working fine on the barriers! Staff were pleasant but unhelpful. Any ideas?

@NorthernAssist said:
Unfortunately scanners on MerseyRail services are not yet able to read our smart tickets, and we're waiting for this to be updated. It should work on other operators services, but at this stage not with MerseyRail. If you would prefer a paper ticket you can arrange this from a Northern ticket office. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
 

Fawkes Cat

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Not long ago, I saw a Twitter exchange between a passenger and Northern and Merseyrail's twitter team. She had a Smartcard season ticket from Warrington Stations to Liverpool Stations and was trying to use it to travel around the Loop (which is perfectly valid with a paper ticket).

Although the Merseyrail barriers opened for her, one day she was stopped by an RPI who told her the smartcard wasn't valid on Merseyrail.

Here is part of the exchange. The full thread starts here.
Thanks. I think that this is pretty decisive. Paper it is.
 

Hadders

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If the ticket is routed 'Any Permitted' then Merseyrail have to accept it whether they like it or not. We had this with The Key and LNER between Stevenage and London.

That doesn't, however, mean that you won't have a hassle free journey if you do use a Merseyrail train due to staff not being briefed correctly and management being in denial.
 

Fawkes Cat

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If the ticket is routed 'Any Permitted' then Merseyrail have to accept it whether they like it or not. We had this with The Key and LNER between Stevenage and London.

That doesn't, however, mean that you won't have a hassle free journey if you do use a Merseyrail train due to staff not being briefed correctly and management being in denial.
Precisely. If the choice is between a trouble-free journey with a paper ticket (which may need reprinting part way through the year - although I have been able to avoid that this year) and constant hassle with a smartcard that should last forever (but may not - I have previously destroyed an Oyster by sitting on it) then I must go for the trouble-free option - even though there is a risk of needing a reprint at some stage.
 
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