Virgin Trains East Coast franchise to end 24 June 2018 and is temporarily re-nationalised

[SaveECRewards]

You aren't correct there. The default interface is now rather Trainline like. RedSpottedHanky, which is operated by Atos directly, now uses that interface. You have to use a specific URL (like with the others) to get the Mixing Deck - and further to that if you've accessed the Trainline like interface even if you use the direct URL you won't get the Mixing Deck unless you clear your cookies.

I had a look on RedSpottedHanky their interface (seemingly called Faresview) is built into WebTIS (you can tell as the URL is still on tickets.redspottedhanky.com) whereas the GWR website is hosted on www.gwr.com and doesn't switch to WebTIS (tickets.gwr.com) until you select your services. Also they both look quite different. MixingDeck is still the default interface for WebTIS on all the TOC variants... The default interface is what you get if you go to tickets.tocdomain with GWR it'll redirect to MixingDeck with RSH it'll redirect to Faresview.

So perhaps Atos was promoting Faresview as an alternative to MixingDeck but none of the operators jumped at it and decided to roll their own solution while keeping WebTIS as a backend.

Currently c2c still use Mixing Deck primarily so presumably that's a good enough reason to maintain it. If they drop WebTIS or develop their own front end then it may disappear.

 

[ole17]

They leave the station 'open' at Westgate? My experience of it is that the barriers are almost always in use, but usually with no staff in attendance because all of them are round by the ticket counter having "workplace banter" with their colleagues behind the glass! Anyone with a smart card (and this is a PTE area so there are many) has to shout "EXCUSE ME!" several times before one of them comes over, often sighing and chuntering...

They've been doing that for at least the past 6 months when I've frequently passed through it. Sometimes, including yesterday, the barriers are also open during evening rush hr too.

I've noticed yesterday that there was a guy in suit sitting at the help desk facing the barriers as well, instead of the typical station staff. Not sure if thats a sign that VTEC is winding down.

 

[Starmill]

It seems clear to me that the Mixing Deck is deprecated.

It's still the default for Hull Trains, and for TrainsPennine, who are my primary retailer of choice because of that fact, and also because I find their web support is good (much better than my experiences with trainline's web support, which I believe they do for Virgin Trains and CrossCountry?). If you accidentally book for the wrong date, call Web Support straight away and they've been pleased to do a straight refund and rebook, even on an Advance.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Currently c2c still use Mixing Deck primarily so presumably that's a good enough reason to maintain it. If they drop WebTIS or develop their own front end then it may disappear.

c2c are supposed to be moving to a new Trenitalia-sourced platform by the end of the year.
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/...logy-for-c2c.html?sword_list[]=c2c&no_cache=1

 

[3141]

I don't know what mixing desk you're looking at but the mixing desks I've seen list all the times of the trains and when you click a price all the valid services appear.

I'd never heard the term "mixing deck" (or is it "desk?) in connection with booking a train ticket till a couple of days ago on this thread. The thing I'm no longer looking at was on FGW/GWR.

I'd suspect that user/customer testing probably suggested that mixing desk wasn't that usable vs the more common list of fares as you get with airlines (or the trainline).
Mixingdesk makes more sense as a booking by price tool rather than a booking by service/time, latter is I'd suspect the most common use case. TBH both options really should be presented with mixing desk as "best fair finder".

Exactly, I'm most likely to be wanting to travel at a certain time of day. The trainline interface shows me times in the range I want and the fares available at each of those times. If I really wanted the cheapest fare possible I could move forward till I found one - or discovered there wasn't one - and then I could decide whether cheapness was more important to me than arriving at a later time than I'd been hoping to. I'm sure there are some people who find the GWR booking site marvellous (eg post #960), but I find it extremely unhelpful. If TOCs are now making it less prominent that suggests a lot of people share my opinion of it.

 

[Starmill]

Exactly, I'm most likely to be wanting to travel at a certain time of day. The trainline interface shows me times in the range I want

Hang on... That's the same thing that the mixing deck does? They are quite small, but they don't offer you anything less in terms of information than what Trainline does?

The problem with trainline is only displaying 4 results at a time - and taking forever to load the new ones.

 

[3141]

Hang on... That's the same thing that the mixing deck does? They are quite small, but they don't offer you anything less in terms of information than what Trainline does?

The problem with trainline is only displaying 4 results at a time - and taking forever to load the new ones.

On the trainline I can see times and the fares that apply to each of them. The relationships between times and fares are clearly laid out. On the other thing, assuming we're talking about the same thing, i.e. the one that GWR use (or did, because it's a long while since I've been there), they are presented very differently and much less clearly.

As for the trainline taking "forever" to load the next set of times...well, perhaps you live a very high-pressure life, and I don't mind waiting a few seconds!

 

[Starmill]

On the trainline I can see times and the fares that apply to each of them. The relationships between times and fares are clearly laid out.

I don't at all agree. For example, if you are looking for a return journey from Doncaster to London you will see a huge mess of fares, including some that only 1 of the up to 8 trains (outward and return) have available. They are very unlikely to all fit on your screen, so you will have to scroll to compare the prices for multiple different fares on the same train, which will obscure the times. You can only see 4 trains at a time, so you can only know about some of the fares that exist. If no trains within the 4 trains window (which may be only around half an hour on some routes) have one of the cheaper fares available, trainline won't show it to you. If you know you want an Advance, you have to look down at the 'Advance single' row to find it.

On Mixing Deck, you can see all of the fares, pressing left and right will reveal more while not obscuring the times. If you see a train you want to take you just click on it, and it will show you what fares are available. If you know you want an Advance, you click on the button at the top which is for Advance tickets, and the prices for all of the trains on your screen appears.

As for the trainline taking "forever" to load the next set of times...well, perhaps you live a very high-pressure life, and I don't mind waiting a few seconds!

I think you have misunderstood. Mixing Deck loads up to 20 trains at once, and can load the whole day if you scroll. Trainline can only show you 4 results at a time. So if you ask for Doncaster to London at 0900, it won't even show you up to 1000. If you press next, it will then remove those results and replace them with the other ones. So you will have to remember them.


The only really useful thing about trainline is the option at the bottom that lists all of the fares. But it doesn't do any live checking on them if you ask for that.

 

[3141]

Thanks very much for telling me all that. But I'm quite content to use the trainline, which does what I need, and I don't feel any urge to experiment further with a mixing deck, after having found it so problematic.

 

[47271]

We seem to be quite off topic here, isn't there a separate thread devoted to the subject of VTEC's useless website?

Meanwhile, does anyone know when they're going to get the boot? I'd like to plan a celebratory last awesome journey, unable to choose my seat, feasting on James Martin 'gourmet' sausage rolls and dancing down the aisle with a non existent buffet trolley.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thanks very much for telling me all that. But I'm quite content to use the trainline, which does what I need, and I don't feel any urge to experiment further with a mixing deck, after having found it so problematic.

Don't use the Trainline, they charge you extra fees.

If you like the Trainline UI, use the VTWC site, that's based on Trainline without the fees.

 

[Chrism20]

We seem to be quite off topic here, isn't there a separate thread devoted to the subject of VTEC's useless website?

Meanwhile, does anyone know when they're going to get the boot? I'd like to plan a celebratory last awesome journey, unable to choose my seat, feasting on James Martin 'gourmet' sausage rolls and dancing down the aisle with a non existent buffet trolley.

I need a ticket for that service.

 

[AlterEgo]

We seem to be quite off topic here, isn't there a separate thread devoted to the subject of VTEC's useless website?

Meanwhile, does anyone know when they're going to get the boot? I'd like to plan a celebratory last awesome journey, unable to choose my seat, feasting on James Martin 'gourmet' sausage rolls and dancing down the aisle with a non existent buffet trolley.

Nobody knows when they will get the heave-ho, but I’d like to travel on the last day...

 

[Starmill]

Don't use the Trainline, they charge you extra fees.

If you like the Trainline UI, use the VTWC site, that's based on Trainline without the fees.

They use a rather modified version of trainline which adapts based on whether or not any of the results of your search are VT trains. It is almost worse! It does not allow you to pick which fare you actually want, it just chooses one based on the train you select and forces you to accept that (very bad if you are looking at a flow where there is a route Chiltern Only and a route High Wycombe at the same price, as you clearly want the latter).

 

[IanXC]

Don't use the Trainline, they charge you extra fees.

If you like the Trainline UI, use the VTWC site, that's based on Trainline without the fees.

100% agree with the first part, Trainline will never be cheapest.

However VTWC's version shows their own priorities rather then giving you an impartial view. There are plenty of other TOC versions which don't do that, such as Northern's.

 

[FQTV]

I need a ticket for that service.

I’d much prefer a ticket on the next one!

 

[SteveP29]

Nobody knows when they will get the heave-ho, but I’d like to travel on the last day...

I bet the on board staff are super happy and super helpful that day!

 

[Tetchytyke]

Nobody knows when they will get the heave-ho, but I’d like to travel on the last day...

I'm guessing we'll know when they're about to get the heave-ho when they launch a ridiculously cheap seat sale, even on peak time trains, about two weeks beforehand. A bit like NXEC's leaving present with the pre-1000 London trains being filled with £9 advance tickets

 

[westv]

Nobody knows when they will get the heave-ho, but I’d like to travel on the last day...

How long has it been "in a few months"?

 

[urpert]

Don't use the Trainline, they charge you extra fees.

If you like the Trainline UI, use the VTWC site, that's based on Trainline without the fees.

Unfortunately the iOS app is excellent (and supports Apple Pay - it still appears to be the only ticket purchasing app which does).

 

[backontrack]

Here's what one guard said to me in a DM, there was more than this but some of the other things would have revealed where he's based.

That is very revealing of VTEC's awful attitude.

 

[The Ham]

How long has it been "in a few months"?

Based on the first posts on here; 4 months (getting on for 5 months).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Expect the DfT is waiting for a suitable day , when there are other items in the news to "cover it" ....

 

[transmanche]

Expect the DfT is waiting for a suitable day , when there are other items in the news to "cover it" ....

Probably when there's a certain wedding taking place in Windsor...

 

[Chrism20]

Expect the DfT is waiting for a suitable day , when there are other items in the news to "cover it" ....

In that case the last 48 hours would have been ripe for that with Windrush, anti semitism and now a defeat in the lords on Brexit.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Wait for President Trumps visit to Aberdeen for the opening of his belated golf course perhaps......

EC must have burned through a fair bit of money by now ....so there must be some course of action fairly soon ...

 

[centraltrains]

Was a decision made on the franchise?

 

[sheff1]

They leave the station 'open' at Westgate? My experience of it is that the barriers are almost always in use, but usually with no staff in attendance because all of them are round by the ticket counter having "workplace banter" with their colleagues behind the glass!

A nice shiny new building but a staff culture that frankly stinks.

I don't recall ever finding the barriers in use at Westgate, although you are probably there a lot more frequently that me. What I do often find, though, is the gaggle of VTEC 'banterists' who give out a very unprofessional image.

 

[pt_mad]

Expect the DfT is waiting for a suitable day , when there are other items in the news to "cover it" ....

Would there need to be an announcement if it was just a management contract with Virgin Stagecoach? Or are we anticipating it will more than likely be DOR anytime now?

 

[Nick66]

What happens to booked tickets stored as m-tickets in the VTEC app? I’m booked up to mid-July