ToD machines, screen displays

[trainophile]

I have noticed that quite often when I use a ToD machine, some of the letters and numbers are greyed out. Never had a situation where the ones for tickets I am collecting are affected i.e. un-selectable, so wondered whether there is some sort of code in the issuing of ToD collection references? Noticed it yesterday at Man Picc, but I don't think they all do this so it might be just a particular type of machine?

(If this should be on the Ticketing forum could someone please move, but I wasn't sure.)

 

[alistairlees]

I have noticed that quite often when I use a ToD machine, some of the letters and numbers are greyed out. Never had a situation where the ones for tickets I am collecting are affected i.e. un-selectable, so wondered whether there is some sort of code in the issuing of ToD collection references? Noticed it yesterday at Man Picc, but I don't think they all do this so it might be just a particular type of machine?

(If this should be on the Ticketing forum could someone please move, but I wasn't sure.)

Not all characters are used in CTR references, which are what you type in to collect tickets. I forget which ones right now.

 

[David Goddard]

Was this when entering a destination to buy a ticket, or when entering a collection reference?

I have seen this before when buying a ticket and you can type in your destination, it will only let you use the letters that allow you to type a station name.

Lets say we are at a machine anting a ticket to York:
There are fifteen stations on the network which start with a Y, and for each of these, the only letters which follow the Y are a, e, n, o, and s. Therefore having already pressed Y on the ToD screen, all other letters will be greyed out. This helps the user type the station quicker, and avoids typing errors.

Having keyed Y and then the O, of which only three stations start with, (Yoker, York and Yorton), these three will appear at the top of the screen, while the keyboard will grey out all letters bar k and r. Likewise after keying the r, Yoker drops off at the top, and the keyboard only has k and t available.

 

[30907]

I have noticed that quite often when I use a ToD machine, some of the letters and numbers are greyed out. Never had a situation where the ones for tickets I am collecting are affected i.e. un-selectable, so wondered whether there is some sort of code in the issuing of ToD collection references? Noticed it yesterday at Man Picc, but I don't think they all do this so it might be just a particular type of machine?

(If this should be on the Ticketing forum could someone please move, but I wasn't sure.)

I've noticed this when typing station names (reduces possible misspellings?), is this a similar scenario?
Beaten to it!

 

[trainophile]

No I was collecting pre-booked tickets not making a new purchase. Just one of those things then I guess.

 

[XAM2175]

No I was collecting pre-booked tickets not making a new purchase. Just one of those things then I guess.

As @alistairlees has already said, there are a handful of characters that are never used in collection references - so there's no point in allowing a customer to enter them.

 

[trainophile]

Thanks, that must be it then. I wish 8 and B were among those not used!