" 'What can I do with my ticket?' tool " ?

[JB_B]

Page 5 of DfT "Action Plan for Information on Rail Fares & Ticketing"

Says this..

(From Aug 2017) "National Rail Enquiries will provide a link directly to the industry 'What can I do with my ticket?' tool . Ticket retailers will embed this service in their online ticket purchase process."


[see https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...r-information-on-rail-fares-and-ticketing.pdf ]

When they talk about a "tool". Are they referring to NRE/RDG's current (far from adequate) systems for checking and explaining validity or some superior system that is yet to come?

 

[Bletchleyite]

It *sounds* a bit like a customer-facing version of BRFares, but one that would show routeing as well as restrictions.

 

[JB_B]

It *sounds* a bit like a customer-facing version of BRFares, but one that would show routeing as well as restrictions.

It does sound a bit like that but NRE's attempt to show routeing was more or less useless ( and I know that it's really a very, very difficult thing to do well both in terms of determining an answer (integrating fares, routeing and timetable data and presenting the results in a usable fashion.)

What I'm worried about is we end up getting just a "Computer says 'Yes' / Computer says 'No' " system.

I'd have concerns about being able to check accuracy ( particularly if the system gives no explanation of it's decision ). Also, most current journey planners lack sufficient input flexibility in terms of specifying connection timings, via(/avoid) and calling points / (extended) BoJ / pax-mix, etc to adequately interrogate a yes/no system.

For any given ticket, it would be nice to get an extensive answer (both in terms of routes and times) - is that likely to happen?

 

[sheff1]

What I'm worried about is we end up getting just a "Computer says 'Yes' / Computer says 'No' " system.

I'd have concerns about being able to check accuracy ( particularly if the system gives no explanation of it's decision ).

Me too. Currently, for the exact same journey, booking sites using Webtis may offer tickets for a particular routing, whilst trainline powered sites will claim 'no tickets are available' (and vice versa) ... and so on with other booking systems.

The implication is that the 'What can I do with my ticket?' tool will be standard across retailers which is all very well if it is 100% accurate, but not if it isn't and there is no other way of buying a valid ticket supported by a valid itinerary.

 

[island]

I expect like much of the proposal it will get shelved as too difficult.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I expect like much of the proposal it will get shelved as too difficult.

It really shouldn't be - we're just talking about a brfares style access to restriction text plus a Google map of permitted routes, aren't we? Shouldn't be hard.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It really shouldn't be - we're just talking about a brfares style access to restriction text plus a Google map of permitted routes, aren't we? Shouldn't be hard.

The restriction text is naff though, and not tailored to the specific ticket (at the moment).
You don't want to wade through a list of peak restrictions out of Marylebone when you only want Shrewsbury-Cardiff.
Or text that says BoJ is permitted in one place but not permitted in another.
Or "ATW and CH Only" tickets which turn out also to be valid on LM on certain route sections (but not others).