I don't go to Cambridge that often, but found that when gateline staff were issuing tickets and dealing with people it meant they weren't able to let me out when I had a FCC day pass/voucher as part of having an annual season ticket.
Thus, I've been made to queue up simply to exit the station more than once.
Quite often when rush hour trains arrive there's such a crush at the barriers in both directions they just have to open them up.
The machine on the right, that takes cards and cash, seems not to offer off-peak tickets in the morning peak. THe three others, that only take cards, offer all tickets at all times of day as far as I can tell.
Spot on that man! I was trying to use the machine on the far right.
And yes, the queue problems are still rife, especially on Saturday late morning. Very often all six office windows open, all four machines in action and two or more revenue staff with portable equipment and the queues still fill the hall and spill out the door- sometimes down to the bus stops.
I've seen a large number of people queued out the door mid morning during the week as well. Recently one window has been out of action too (though it's open again now).
When the problems started to get bad I started buying tickets online and trying to pick them up the evening before, but the perfect time for me to try and pick up tickets on the way home was the exact time the TVMs have some kind of hairy fit because they're updating, so I had to give up on that. I tend to arrive at the station about 30 mins before my intended train, which after finding somewhere to leave my bike usually allows about 20-25 mins to buy a ticket. Even this sometimes sees me running for the train, which is annoying because of course it's a huge addition to the journey time (and time robbed straight from my time in bed!).
the card-only TVMs are as compact as needs be. Pretty sure Virgin used to have collection-only machines at Edinburgh Waverly (and elsewhere?).
The problem at Cambridge is that currently there's no space for more machines of any type. It needs the development pronto!
In fact, what it needs is a second entrance on the eastern side. And possibly even a couple of TVMs and a small gate-line on a connection from the upcoming multi-story bike park...
The development is both needed and coming, but I think they gave up trying far too long ago because they know the development is coming.
There is room for more TVMs in the ticket hall if they tried (the ones they installed recently are narrower and shallower than what they replaced, they could have squeezed an extra one in by squishing them together a bit. They could have squeezed a lot more in by turning them 90 degrees and putting pairs back to back). They could also have brought both sets of exits near bay platforms back into use if they'd wanted to. They could have more staff with portable machines if they wanted to.
But the development is coming, so they're just waiting for it.
I think there was a suggestion of an entrance on the other side (where there was room for all the multi storey car-parks the station needs...), but the residents were set against it; they reckoned all the streets around would get filled with commuter's cars.
The other thing that will help will be the north Cambridge station, which will hopefully take some of the strain off Cambridge. I would love to also see a south Cambridge station, with a park and ride site somewhere in the region of Addenbrooke's. I think that would finish the job.
Reply Received from Greater Anglia Customer Relations said:
I can confirm that our Off Peak ticket only become available on our ticket machines once the last peak time service has departed from the station.
I'll try this out next time I'm in the station at that time, but I don't think it's correct. Based on the time I know I left the house at, and given the time it took me to find somewhere to leave my bike, and given the time I bought the ticket at the window, I'm certain I would have been trying to buy the ticket from the machine after 0844.
