0813 Milton Keynes - East Croydon Off Peak

[AlterEgo]

NRE and all ticketing sites suggest this train can be travelled on with an Off Peak Day Travelcard.

The restriction, C0, suggests this train is not valid to arrive into Kensington Olympia before 0950.

Barrier staff have refused me access based on the restriction and not taken into account their own site, and NRE, give this train as valid for the ticket sold. I don’t need anyone to tell me this is the incorrect thing for them to do, as the ticket was sold against an itinerary.

However, any ideas why the ticketing engine seems to have misconstrued the restriction?

 

[IanD]

If it's a Southern only 1 day Travelcard, BRFares is showing that this is not valid on the 0813 until 8th December, maybe the restriction hasn't been updated for the new timetable?

 

[CyrusWuff]

BRFares also shows it's not valid on trains arriving at Watford Junction, Shepherds Bush and Kensington Olympia before 0950, and the train in question arrives at said stations at 0851, 0919 and 0921, respectively.

Checking just now: GWR's site won't offer the Southern Only Travelcard until the 0913 departure from Milton Keynes, nor will Chiltern's new site, Southern's or Trainline, and I can't figure out how to get Raileasy to offer Travelcards.

 

[IanD]

In the unpublished restrictions section, it specifically mentions the 0813 (and some other earlier services) so I'm guessing the way the rest of the restriction has been coded would allow it for some reason without this extra bit.

If you as for a Miton Keynes Central to Clapham Junction return, you're offered the Southern only 1 day TC for the 0813.

 

[IanD]

This is on GWR's mixing desk.

 

[AlterEgo]

Might this be the ticketing system not recognising Kensington Olympia as a London Terminal?

 

[AlterEgo]

If it's a Southern only 1 day Travelcard, BRFares is showing that this is not valid on the 0813 until 8th December, maybe the restriction hasn't been updated for the new timetable?

Possibly. This is the Southern Only One Day Travelcard (Off Peak).

 

[Paul Kelly]

In general time restrictions are only applied to stations at which you board and alight trains; this is the premise behind the way the electronic data restrictions data is coded.

 

[Paul Kelly]

If it's a Southern only 1 day Travelcard, BRFares is showing that this is not valid on the 0813 until 8th December, maybe the restriction hasn't been updated for the new timetable?

This is certainly the specific problem here. I predict there's going to a barrage of such issues starting from this week/last week, as TOCs have not been diligently updating the restriction data since the move to a new fares database system in May, and a lot of the previous, correctly-set restriction data is now expiring as a result of the timetable change.

 

[BluePenguin]

Might this be the ticketing system not recognising Kensington Olympia as a London Terminal?

It could be although it is right in not recognising it as a terminal, as it isn't.

 

[BluePenguin]

NRE and all ticketing sites suggest this train can be travelled on with an Off Peak Day Travelcard.

The restriction, C0, suggests this train is not valid to arrive into Kensington Olympia before 0950.

Barrier staff have refused me access based on the restriction and not taken into account their own site, and NRE, give this train as valid for the ticket sold. I don’t need anyone to tell me this is the incorrect thing for them to do, as the ticket was sold against an itinerary.

However, any ideas why the ticketing engine seems to have misconstrued the restriction?

It all sounds very annoying! Hopefully this problem will be fixed soon. Barrier staff are not known for being knowledgeable on ticket restrictions and when tickets tickets are valid.

Does the ticket allow you through the barrier? If yes, you could put the Travelcard through the barrier and carry on through without conflict from the staff.

If the barrier won't let you through then simply print out your itinary or save it on your phone and show it to the barrier staff. I would be surprised if they don't accept hard evidence.

 

[AlterEgo]

It all sounds very annoying! Hopefully this problem will be fixed soon. Barrier staff are not known for being knowledgeable on ticket restrictions and when tickets tickets are valid.

Does the ticket allow you through the barrier? If yes, you could put the Travelcard through the barrier and carry on through without conflict from the staff.

If the barrier won't let you through then simply print out your itinary or save it on your phone and show it to the barrier staff. I would be surprised if they don't accept hard evidence.

The ticket did not work the barrier and neither the booking office staff nor the barrier staff would accept my printed itinerary, so I will naturally be escalating things, because that’s fundamentally the wrong thing for them to do.