Ticket Splitting Website - TrainMiser

[TrainMiser]

Hi all,

I've written a ticket splitting website, www.trainmiser.com.

It's still a work in progress, and for now there are no advance tickets and there is no direct ticket-buying capability. For now, it only covers return journeys, although singles will be added soon.

The fares and timetables are up-to-date.

It will find the cheapest split for the fastest journey, and then show slower journeys with cheaper fares if available. It searches many, many possible routes so it can sometimes be a little slow, particularly over longer distances.

All feedback will be greatly appreciated.

 

[FenMan]

I tried a journey with a well known split, but the results weren't correct as the outbound Departure time morphed into an Arrival time when the search was done.

This could be a browser issue - I used Firefox 29.0.1 on Mac OS X 10.9.3.

Good luck!

 

[yorkie]

I tried a journey with a well known split, but the results weren't correct as the outbound Departure time morphed into an Arrival time when the search was done.

What was the search for?

All feedback will be greatly appreciated.

It works well for the two best XC splits I know of.

It also beats Trainsplit for my Knaresborough-Sunderland example which I like to use, but I understand that's something to do with Fujitsu's API rather than the Trainsplit code.

 

[TrainMiser]

I tried a journey with a well known split, but the results weren't correct as the outbound Departure time morphed into an Arrival time when the search was done.

This could be a browser issue - I used Firefox 29.0.1 on Mac OS X 10.9.3.

Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback.

I've tested the departure / arrival logic on Firefox on a PC, so this could be a Mac-specific issue. I'll see if I can get access to a Mac for testing.

Note that the arrival / departure times are paired - this is needed by the search.

 

[FenMan]

Thanks for the feedback.

I've tested the departure / arrival logic on Firefox on a PC, so this could be a Mac-specific issue. I'll see if I can get access to a Mac for testing.

Note that the arrival / departure times are paired - this is needed by the search.

The split I was looking at was Blackwater - Birmingham via Oxford.

I tried again this morning, using Firefox 24.2.0 on Windows 7, and can now see what is happening.

The home page defaults to an outbound Arrival time and an inbound Departure time.

I want to search by departure time for both legs.

If I change the outbound to a Departure time the inbound automatically flips to an Arrival time. When I change the inbound to a Departure time the outbound flips back to an Arrival time. I doubt this is the intended behaviour?

I hadn't noticed this "flipping" when posting on here yesterday, hence the comment about producing unexpected results.

And no, I didn't read the instructions!

 

[overtonchris]

Hi Trainmiser. I've had an interesting "play" with your site this morning and seems to work for me well on the routes that I have tried - nice and easy (I like that!). I am only a casual observer and am not connected with the railway industry in any way - though a frequent traveller.

I will now will be most interested to see how you manage the railcard scenarios.....a bit of a minefield I guess?.... Good for me so far though. If you can knock this confusing conundrum of split-ticketing into a simple format that normal people can understand, perhaps there's a CBE (at least) in it for you! - and the very best of luck!!

 

[LexyBoy]

Looks really good - tried it for a day return for Reading-Stroud and it correctly identified the 3-way split. Also impressed by the suggestions for shoulder peak, where I had an SOS and CDR out and coupled with a SSS and the return of the CDR back.

Where the fastest train doesn't stop at Didcot I got offered a later train with a call there if on the return (i.e. same time from Stroud but later from Swindon), whereas if on the outward journey I don't seem to get offered an earlier departure from Reading which calls at Didcot. Not sure if this is because the time difference was too great, or the algorithm only searches for later trains.

 

[bicbasher]

Some bugs I've found.

Only works with Firefox. Hitting the search button in Chrome and IE doesn't work.

Forest Hill comes up as 'Unknown station'

 

[higthomas]

When I tried to use it, it kept giving me 'Unknown Station.' I tried it with a range of both departure and arrival stations, but all failed.
I had clicked on the stations given to me when I had typed in part of the name, yet it didn't recognise any of them.

 

[Deerfold]

It's disappointing that on a site designed to save passengers money you then suggest they check on one of the most expensive sites for buying them - thetrainline.com

I'm also finding it odd that I can't choose Departure in both directionsm I have to have one arrival and one departure time.

For searches between "Keighley" and "Manchester(all)" and "Huddersfield" and "Manchester(all)" I'm always getting "search unsuccessful".

Manchester Piccadilly is unrecognised despite being suggested as I typed.

Annoyingly when you return to the previous page all the details you've put in have gone.

 

[scarby]

It keeps giving me Unknown Station in the departure station.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I can get it to accept the stations, but when I hit the search button it can't find anything. I've tried it with a few different combinations, some short distance and some long distance, and it's the same on IE, Firefox and Chrome. I'm assuming it's a server issue, i.e. us lot crashing it.

 

[TrainMiser]

Hi all,

Apologies for the "Unknown Station" and search errors, these have been caused by memory issues on the server.

I've made a config change, and this should hopefully resolve this going forward.

 

[34D]

Like the look and feel. My favourite split involves starting short, so didn't get picked up.

 

[Haywain]

The search seems to demand a return journey. Can't we just travel one way?

 

[SickyNicky]

Can I just say, well done TrainMiser. I know from experience that these are really tricky to get right and it's a great start. The algorithm you're using to find slower trains at a better price shows real promise.

 

[Deerfold]

Had a couple of more successful tries.

A couple of suggestions:

I'd still like to be able to choose a departure time in each direction.

It'd be useful to be given the price for a non-split ticket for comparison so you can see what you're saving.

 

[CallySleeper]

As far as I can see there are a few limitations which can be quite frustrating:

- Has to be a return journey
- No facility for railcards etc

...which I'm sure can be added in the future.

Also, I can understand why one would enter an arrival time for the outward and dep time for the return. However, I don't think this should be forced upon us. At first I didn't notice that when you change one it changes the other automatically until I got results I didn't request. This has obviously been coded in which IMO shouldn't be there. I find splitticketing.com is more to my taste in this regard.

Also, I can see that thetrainline and raileasy links are obviously referral links, generating the site money for every click through. However, I would never recommend anyone use them, so while their supporting the site they're still costing the passenger money.

In addition it may be more helpful to state that advance purchase tickets may save the passenger more money but can't be displayed on your site.

On the positive side, I'm glad the site can display a few different results by time and price using the tab feature.

 

[bicbasher]

The site's now working fine for me using Chrome.

I think all of these splitting sites don't take into consideration Oyster PAYG, which is a shame as when I did Forest Hill to Brighton, one of the splits included a £6.00 Anytime Day Return to East Croydon which is £6 in comparison to two PAYG off-peak singles which is £4.

 

[TrainMiser]

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

If I change the outbound to a Departure time the inbound automatically flips to an Arrival time. When I change the inbound to a Departure time the outbound flips back to an Arrival time. I doubt this is the intended behaviour?

The search is based on Arrival / Departure times or Departure / Arrival, this is needed to find split tickets efficiently.

The search form maybe needs some more work to make this clearer - I'll look at adding a warning if the inbound dropdown is changed.

I will now will be most interested to see how you manage the railcard scenarios.....a bit of a minefield I guess?....

Thanks, I'm looking at adding railcards next - most likely this will start with the national railcards (Senior, 16-25, etc.) and then I'll cover the regional railcards. In principle, it should be possible to pick routes to take advantage of regional railcard savings.

The search seems to demand a return journey. Can't we just travel one way?

I'm going to look at singles after railcards - this shouldn't be too much work to add, although I suspect most journeys are returns?

It'd be useful to be given the price for a non-split ticket for comparison so you can see what you're saving.

That's a good idea, I'd also like to show the price of advance tickets, where these are cheaper. I'll see what I can do...

Also, I can see that thetrainline and raileasy links are obviously referral links, generating the site money for every click through. However, I would never recommend anyone use them, so while their supporting the site they're still costing the passenger money.

If these links are used to buy tickets, it is much appreciated, and it will help to support the hosting and future development of the site. It is, of course, not compulsory.

I hope to have a more streamlined process for buying tickets soon.

 

[strowger]

Wotking fine for me.

Would be useful to be able to search for all possible ticket combinations even if no train calls at the split points, for 19c splits.

 

[Red Dragon]

Hi Trainmiser

I've tried entering some of my regular journeys where I know the splits.

Firstly Ilkley to Aberdeen and the splits your program gave me were absolutely correct.
Taking the early train from ILK to LDS and catching the 0710 from LDS to ABD splitting at BWK because of the 0930 time trip and then again at INK.
By the way, in my experience, these splits work for both classes of travel.
A perfect result, oh and it accepts the short codes too !

This particular trip demonstrates you are trying to build in lots of the drivers many of us use all the time when splitting.

I tried ILK to DBY off peak and this correctly gave me SHF as the split.

I then tried ILK to SHR which I also do, and again it correctly gave me a split at SPT - one would instinctively go for a split at MAN but it's more expensive than splitting at SPT !

I finally tried ILK to CDF but wasn't sure about this one as I've found, in the past, it's usually best to split at HUD and MAN. The prog just gave HUD but perhaps that's now the place to split.

I agree with some of the comments from OPs above, eg the outbound and return arrive and depart options, and Advance Purchases would be good too.

I'm sure there is much more you would like to do, but well done so far keep up the good work, and get some advertisers on board to support your efforts when you're ready!

 

[LateThanNever]

Very good - taught me a few tricks!

Could I suggest the layout of the text would impart a more overt and 'obvious' choice if you put "either" on the next line so it provides a flagrant alternative with the "or". Indeed I would suggest both should be in bold!

Due to the way the search works, choose
either:

◦Arrival time going out, and


◦Departure time coming back


e.g. if you are travelling to work from 9am to 5.30pm,
you could choose Arrive: 08:30, Depart: 18:00

or:


- just my 3pworth...

 

[splashsquelch]

This is a cool website!

I tried my commute, for which I know there are no splits: Clapham Junction to Basingstoke, anytime day return. Unfortunately, it told me to buy a LONDON NOT UND ticket for £25.10, when the correct ticket is NOT VIA LONDON for £19.30.

I am not immediately sure what would cause that.

 

[tractakid]

Llandudno to Delamere- misses the split at Mouldsworth
Llandudno to Patricroft- Suggests split at Warrington Bank Quay- misses cheaper split at Abergele and Pensarn & Newton le Willows

 

[TrainMiser]

This is a cool website!

I tried my commute, for which I know there are no splits: Clapham Junction to Basingstoke, anytime day return. Unfortunately, it told me to buy a LONDON NOT UND ticket for £25.10, when the correct ticket is NOT VIA LONDON for £19.30.

I am not immediately sure what would cause that.

The site is applying the following logic:

Wimbledon is a London station for "Via London" purposes, and
Trains from Clapham Junction to Basingstoke pass through Wimbledon

It looks as though this may need tweaking, but I'm not sure what exactly the rule should be?

Looks really good - tried it for a day return for Reading-Stroud and it correctly identified the 3-way split. Also impressed by the suggestions for shoulder peak, where I had an SOS and CDR out and coupled with a SSS and the return of the CDR back.

Where the fastest train doesn't stop at Didcot I got offered a later train with a call there if on the return (i.e. same time from Stroud but later from Swindon), whereas if on the outward journey I don't seem to get offered an earlier departure from Reading which calls at Didcot. Not sure if this is because the time difference was too great, or the algorithm only searches for later trains.

The earlier train does stop at Didcot (at 09:13), but is too early for the £10.60 DID-SWI CDR. Instead it would be the £21.00 SVR.
Because of this, the split wouldn't be any cheaper than £37.

Could I suggest the layout of the text would impart a more overt and 'obvious' choice if you put "either" on the next line so it provides a flagrant alternative with the "or". Indeed I would suggest both should be in bold!

That's a nice idea, will do.

 

[SickyNicky]

The site is applying the following logic:

Wimbledon is a London station for "Via London" purposes, and
Trains from Clapham Junction to Basingstoke pass through Wimbledon

It looks as though this may need tweaking, but I'm not sure what exactly the rule should be?

It means that the journey must not pass through any member of the London terminals group - this list is available in the routeing guide.

 

[TrainMiser]

It means that the journey must not pass through any member of the London routeing group - this list is available in the routeing guide.

Cool. It was based on the list of "London Stations" in the Routeing Guide data - the pdf is a little unclear on this, but I'll change this to be London Terminals only.

 

[SickyNicky]

Cool. It was based on the list of "London Stations" in the Routeing Guide data - the pdf is a little unclear on this, but I'll change this to be London Terminals only.

Ah - careful here - you don't want "London Terminals" you want the London routeing group. The list is available here.

Yes - London Terminals is correct. See my later post.

 

[TrainMiser]

Ah - careful here - you don't want "London Terminals" you want the London routeing group. The list is available here.

It's the same list?