Ticket machines - tell me about the problems you've faced.

[Perns1972]

Hi there,

What are the most common problems with train ticket machines in the UK? And what do you think they do very well?

Are some TOCs ticket machines better than others?

Are there any very good ones? Are there any very bad ones?

Let me know what your experiences of ticket machines are.

Many thanks,

Matt

 

[BenCoulson]

Hi there,

What are the most common problems with train ticket machines in the UK? And what do you think they do very well?

Are some TOCs ticket machines better than others?

Are there any very good ones? Are there any very bad ones?

Let me know what your experiences of ticket machines are.

Many thanks,

Matt

I haven't used a National Rail machine for years, but in the days before Chip & Pin the note acceptors were very tricky: a slight fold on one corner and it would spit your tenner back out. Take too long putting cash in and it would reset itself and your money would come back out of the change slot and you had to start again.

As a PRIV holder in those days I had to get my tickets via a Booking Office.

Last year I travelled on the Tube and the touch screen machines were easy to use, although selecting 2 adults at the start of the process only gave me (and charged for) a ticket for one, and I had to do the whole thing again.

I think it would be useful (If not already available) to have advanced options such as buying a ticket that starts from another station other than the machine's location, or tickets for a future travel date)

 

[calc7]

Not sure of the brand names, but I much prefer the "posh" ones that the likes of East Coast and Virgin use; over the slow-printing ones that you find on the "cheaper" TOCs (c2c, LM etc.)

For me, the most annoying things are screens being slow/jamming, not being able to purchase 2 railcard-discounted tickets in one transaction and general terrible-to-use interfaces.

 

[maniacmartin]

The most annoying machines I have used are the FCC TVMs at Finsbury Park, 1-2 years ago before the per-platform gatelines were installed.

They all seemed to have defective touchscreens which didn't register your touches unless you pushed extremely hard (and I was worried about cracking the glass). Some of the touchscreens hadn't been calibrated, so when you pressed on a button on the screen, it would register a press 1-2 cm above where you pressed. If you didn't pay attention you'd get a ticket to the wrong destination.

Some of these machines were also placed in the main subway between the platforms so that people queueing to use the TVM got in the way of passengers interchanging.

 

[Deerfold]

Many of the Northern ones are rather annoying in not accepting anything bigger than a £10 note - as many cash machines are fond of issuing 20s that can be fun when you're in a hurry.

 

[wintonian]

The most annoying machines I have used are the FCC TVMs at Finsbury Park, 1-2 years ago before the per-platform gatelines were installed.

They all seemed to have defective touchscreens which didn't register your touches unless you pushed extremely hard (and I was worried about cracking the glass). Some of the touchscreens hadn't been calibrated, so when you pressed on a button on the screen, it would register a press 1-2 cm above where you pressed. If you didn't pay attention you'd get a ticket to the wrong destination.

Some of these machines were also placed in the main subway between the platforms so that people queueing to use the TVM got in the way of passengers interchanging.

SWT machines located outside that have the anti-glare film over the top are incredibly had to use, I always end up with ore thumbs after literally thumping the glass with then. Have to admith they are calibrated quite well though and now you can buy tickets to Freshford and Avoncilff from Southampton Central (regular direct train but weren't on the machines even though you buy tickets to half of Scotland) or anywhere else they are quite good.

Having said that a bug bare is that they aren't always programmed to sell off peak tickets when they are valid, for example tickets to Kingham etc. from the SWML are valid at any time if travelling via Oxford (which is the most logical route) but the machines will not sell them until 09:00 or whenever it is the main restriction is lifted.

 

[maniacmartin]

I've noticed that RJ refers to TVMs by their brand names (FastTicket etc). It would be useful if someone in the know could make upload a picture of each style with the name next to it, so we know which is which.

 

[GodAtum]

I cant purchase a ticket starting from another station which is very annoying!

 

[wintonian]

Current

Shere FASTticket

Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket XPress


Redundant

Avantix B8070 "MultiTicket" (I haven't seen one for a few yeas so I assume there are none left)

Ascom B8050 Quickfare


Permit to Travel

PERTIS

List is a quick grab from Wikipedia.

 

[island]

I think the biggest issue is nonresponsive touchscreens, followed by lack of remote ticket purchasing (Southern excepted), not accepting all railcards, and not always doing multiple discounted tickets in the one transaction or mixing discounted and full-fare tickets.

 

[AndyLandy]

I find the machines at Southampton Central really irritating for collecting pre-booked tickets. Having to enter an 8-character arbitrary text string on an alphabetic (i.e. not QWERTY) on-screen keyboard is hard enough, and then they go and print stuff on the screen as yellow text on a light green background, which is almost impossible to read!

 

[wintonian]

I find the machines at Southampton Central really irritating for collecting pre-booked tickets. Having to enter an 8-character arbitrary text string on an alphabetic (i.e. not QWERTY) on-screen keyboard is hard enough, and then they go and print stuff on the screen as yellow text on a light green background, which is almost impossible to read!

Is that the new collection machines or the older TVM's?

I agree on the older TVM's that the alphabetic keyboard is a PITA and does occasionally result in me cursing the machine.

 

[AndyLandy]

Is that the new collection machines or the older TVM's?

I agree on the older TVM's that the alphabetic keyboard is a PITA and does occasionally result in me cursing the machine.

Probably the older TVMs. I wasn't aware that there were newer collection machines. Is this since the refurb? My last few journeys I've booked far enough in advance to have tickets delivered, so not used a machine for collection in a good many months.

 

[ess]

Having to bend down to read the chip and pin display is annoying.

 

[FenMan]

Any machine that is not adequately shielded from the elements, so touchscreen fun when it's been raining and wild guesswork in bright sunshine.

And yes, I'm looking at you FGW ....

 

[district]

I think it would be useful (If not already available) to have advanced options such as buying a ticket that starts from another station other than the machine's location,

I cant purchase a ticket starting from another station which is very annoying!

Some new TVMs from Southern allow you to buy tickets with an origin different to the station the machine is at, and also sell Boundary Zone tickets.

 

[John @ home]

I cant purchase a ticket starting from another station which is very annoying!

Why not? I thought you travelled from Croydon. Tickets for travel the same day from any National Rail station are available from Southern machines including those at East Croydon.

 

[CC 72100]

I think the biggest issue is nonresponsive touchscreens, followed by lack of remote ticket purchasing (Southern excepted), not accepting all railcards, and not always doing multiple discounted tickets in the one transaction or mixing discounted and full-fare tickets.

Having (attempted?) to help a woman use a TVM at Honiton when the station building was locked and nobody had they key for it, I can vouch for this. Felt like you needed to hit it with a hammer to get any results, it was so unresponsive.

I generally avoid them, and given that I buy most of my tickets at a well-staffed station, I've never had to use them due to too big a queue for the 'real' ticket office. Well, not yet...

 

[MattRobinson]

My local station, Sandal and Agbrigg, has a new TVM (I think fast ticket) on platform 2, but I barely ever use it (I think I've used it about twice since its been installed) because I can buy tickets on the train and they even accept rail cards. It's much easier to buy tickets on the train, anyway, rather than mess about with a TVM (especially if you have to make a detour to get to it). Sheffield has the Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket XPress machines, which are good, but there's not enough of them, so there's always a massive queue. Conductors don't accept railcards out of Sheffield, though, so you have to use them (or the ticket office, which has even longer queues)...

 

[317666]

The TVMs at Shelford really annoy me, you have to practically punch the screen to get it to work and they don't seem to accept payment! Not just myself but others have had their notes, coins and cards all refused by them and therefore have been unable to buy a ticket because the office is only open during the morning peak.

Cambridge's TVMs work fine, but annoyingly only one of them out of four accepts cash and while the queue is usually shorter for them than the ticket windows, it's actually much much slower because many people struggle to understand how the TVMs work. The queue for the ticket windows is longer (more people) but actually moves much more quickly, so the trick there is to go to the windows if you're in a rush!

Another thing that really bugged me when I was still under 16 is that London Underground TVMs are very hit or miss regarding whether they have a 'child ticket only' option. I've actually seen it appear and disappear on the same machines on the same day!

 

[NathanPrior]

The ones at New Eltham seem to have a personal vendetta with £1 and 20p coins

 

[jon0844]

The most annoying machines I have used are the FCC TVMs at Finsbury Park, 1-2 years ago before the per-platform gatelines were installed.

They all seemed to have defective touchscreens which didn't register your touches unless you pushed extremely hard (and I was worried about cracking the glass). Some of the touchscreens hadn't been calibrated, so when you pressed on a button on the screen, it would register a press 1-2 cm above where you pressed. If you didn't pay attention you'd get a ticket to the wrong destination.

Some of these machines were also placed in the main subway between the platforms so that people queueing to use the TVM got in the way of passengers interchanging.

A lot of the FCC machines are still like that. I think the newest ones at King's Cross (EC branded) use capacitive touchscreens and are pretty sensitive, but many (most?) of the FCC ones are resistive (pressure sensitive) and a nightmare to use.

And they won't work if it's wet or even quite damp, as that causes problems with touchscreens (although there are ways to make them work in the wet, as some smartphones now do).

The biggest problem for me was when I had a Gold Card and wanted a ticket extension. TVMs don't do them, so I've often had to queue up for ages to get a ticket when I know exactly what I want and would use the machine given a choice. That and many other types of tickets you can't get from them.

TVMs have their place for the obvious tickets (like a return/Travelcard to London) but should never replace ticket offices OR if they do, must be able to work like machines abroad that will sell you anything. If you decide to buy an invalid ticket, that's up to you - as you'll pay the price when caught.

 

[bkhtele]

The cheapest ticket not being available & having to buy it at the ticket office.
Generally they are very good be good, be better if all tickets were available including non advance sail rail for example

 

[thelongestroad]

Most common problem: people who leave tickets in the machine and insist they were not printed.

 

[wintonian]

Most common problem: people who leave tickets in the machine and insist they were not printed.

Or in my experience finding a load of uncollected card receipts instead of your ticket.

 

[MattRobinson]

A lot of the FCC machines are still like that. I think the newest ones at King's Cross (EC branded) use capacitive touchscreens and are pretty sensitive, but many (most?) of the FCC ones are resistive (pressure sensitive) and a nightmare to use.

Resistive touch screens aren't anything to do with pressure, they work in pretty much the same way as capacitive touch screens, apart from they work out where your hand is by working out the resistance of the screen, rather than the capacitance.

 

[jon0844]

They rely on pressure to make a circuit. That's why you can use a plastic stylus, fingernail or anything non-conductive to operate them.

There have been hybrid screens and even screens that can be operated with no touch (hovering a centimetre above is enough) but I doubt any TVM uses anything clever like that!

 

[MattRobinson]

Ah, a quick google has confirmed they do actually work in completely different ways. You learn something new every day...

 

[12CSVT]

Ticket machines on Manchester Metrolink used to be a nightmare to use. Present day ones are better but still not exactly the most user friendly.

 

[Harbon 1]

Get given a £20 for tickets and food, £2.50 ticket. Excellent if you like pockets full of £1 coins....

And they don't take Scottish outside of Scotland. A nightmare when my dad works in Glasgow 5 days a week