What functions cannot be performed by Ticket Vending Machines, and why?

[zero]

TfL accepts Scottish banknotes, and I've also used them at machines in England (not sure which TOCs). I would have thought all machines take them actually. Not sure about NI since the rail system is separate from GB. But supermarket self-checkouts in England take NI notes.

Accepting £100 banknotes would deplete machines of change quickly. Although I did come across a machine in Italy that said it would accept a €500 banknote for a €5 ticket. Even in cash-loving Germany machines will only accept €50s when your ticket is expensive enough.

This is no longer an entitlement, but should be possible if the station en-route is run by the same TOC as the TVM. I have had that done by both WMT and SWR - the original was "non issued" and a replacement issued which covered what I'd done so far and what I wanted to do.

Only possible at a booking office, though.

It "should" be possible in all circumstances as long as you haven't exceeded the validity of the cheaper ticket. Or they could extend the Promise to Pay idea (similar to Japan where as I understand it, in many networks you can just buy any ticket to get in the barriers and adjust it when you leave the system) but in the UK they seem more interested in catching people out than providing good service.

 

[trainJam]

The TVMs I know cannot give banknotes as change - although supermarket self-service has done so for a while.
Hence the endless cacophony of coins when someone puts in £20 for a cheap ticket, probably followed by the machine saying "exact fare only".

 

[Haywain]

The TVMs I know cannot give banknotes as change -

The TVMs I know can give notes in change.

 

[trainJam]

Perhaps there weren't any banknotes left.
Do I dare try it

Out of interest, what would happen if the machine did not have enough change? Does it check before accepting the payment?

 

[kacper]

Perhaps there weren't any banknotes left.
Do I dare try it

Out of interest, what would happen if the machine did not have enough change? Does it check before accepting the payment?

Happened to me the other day at Marylebone. Machine said there’s not enough change in it and returned my note

 

[Wallsendmag]

I don't know if 'Great British Railways' still features in the Sunak New Rail Golden Age, but one very useful change that could be implemented is to have, not just a standard nationwide ticketing system, but a standard design and format for TVMs.

If only someone at GBRTT was working on that very thing

 

[thealexweb]

Sell PlusBus?

 

[Wallsendmag]

Sell PlusBus?

LNER Chiltern and Northern TVMs certainly do

 

[RailWonderer]

The GWR machines at Paddington won't sell me a ticket to anywhere on the GE, I have to go into Paddington Elizabeth line to do that.

Went to Avanti TVM at Rugby Station, which just said no itineraries are available (presumably because via Manchester is not normally a legal route) so no ticket could be bought. Luckily ticket office open to sell ticket and advise route.

Exactly the reason so many ticket offices can't close, because our ticketing system is too complex (unlike Sweden which shut all of thir TOs beside tourist information offices at Stockholm Central) Luckily if you are passing through London the LU machines normally will sell you any kind of ticket to anywhere.

 

[paddy1]

Sell PlusBus?

The TVM I use at Kidsgrove gives you the option to purchase Plusbus if it's available for the destination you are travelling to, in conjunction with purchasing a ticket for that destination.

 

[Oxfordblues]

There's no booking office at Nantes station in western France, all ticket sales being by machine. But they're the most user-unfriendly ticket machines you can imagine. You'd have to go on a training course before tackling them with confidence! There appeared to be no facility for buying a reduced-rate ticket with my railway-staff FIP Card, so on my recent visit I had to pay full-fare.

 

[Meglos]

I don't think any ticket machines can sell boundary zone 6 tickets.

SWR machines certainly sell Boundary Zone Tickets, and I buy them all the time from my local station.

Southern don't so when I travel to home from Gatwick I buy the Gatwick to Boundary Zone 6 ticket as an advance from my local SWR station before I travel.

 

[trainJam]

Sell PlusBus?

The WMR ones do a *very limited* number of PlusBus - e.g Redditch and Worcester. You cannot get one for Chester, for instance.

Quite why it has to be so limited I do not understand.

 

[Fenchurch SP]

SWR machines certainly sell Boundary Zone Tickets, and I buy them all the time from my local station.

Southern don't so when I travel to home from Gatwick I buy the Gatwick to Boundary Zone 6 ticket as an advance from my local SWR station before I travel.

Southern machines sell tickets from but not to Boundary Zones. I only recently realised that tickets to the zones were available to buy, I always believed you could only buy one starting from the zone boundary.
A ticket to Coulsdon South would be the same as one to Boundary Zone 6 anyway.

 

[janb]

There's no booking office at Nantes station in western France, all ticket sales being by machine. But they're the most user-unfriendly ticket machines you can imagine. You'd have to go on a training course before tackling them with confidence! There appeared to be no facility for buying a reduced-rate ticket with my railway-staff FIP Card, so on my recent visit I had to pay full-fare.

SNCF website suggests that there is https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/...ntes/services-shops/guichets-ventes-gare-nord

 

[GardenRail]

A pity our machines don't sell PRIV tickets like some countries in Europe.

On a more local note, living in West Yorkshire where we have brilliant all day tickets in the form of Metro Day Rover, Family Rover etc, why oh why can these not be bought from a ticket machine.

We seem so lackluster compared to Europe. Having just been to Hamburg, Berlin, Krakow, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, even Lille, you can buy all day tickets from the machines.

 

[Bungle965]

On a more local note, living in West Yorkshire where we have brilliant all day tickets in the form of Metro Day Rover, Family Rover etc, why oh why can these not be bought from a ticket machine

They're available on the Northern machines are they not?

 

[themeone]

I've never got a ticket machine to do a Boundary Zone ticket, even the ones which supposedly do.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've never got a ticket machine to do a Boundary Zone ticket, even the ones which supposedly do.

I've had them from Waterloo TVMs several times.

 

[Haywain]

I don't think any ticket machines can sell boundary zone 6 tickets.

Greater Anglia machines do, but Great Northern don't.

 

[island]

Does any TVM sell station car park tickets? That would be a great help to those of us who dislike using phone-based systems where cash and/or card-based machines have been withdrawn.

Iarnród Éireann TVMs all do.

I've never got a ticket machine to do a Boundary Zone ticket, even the ones which supposedly do.

I've had them from GWR, Southern and LO TVMs, as well as from an LU POM having presented an Oyster card with the Travelcard in question loaded.

 

[Class83]

I think this thread is showing that it's fundamentally possible to SELL almost all products from a TVM if programmed correctly. Human interaction, or some advanced AI in the future is more useful for the customer service aspects.

Journey planning for advance purchase tickets is possible, but more usefully and commonly done online in advance.

Ticket office staff in my experience have ranged from knowledgeable and helpful, to ignorant with most combinations in the middle also featuring.

Websites and ticket machines should enable a uniform standard of service to be provided across the network, provided the government mandates appropriate standards, which will also help users as they will become familiar if all operators use the same interface.

 

[sammyg901]

Worse than that exists. Aylesbury Vale Parkway is free on Sundays, as a result no sales point (other than possibly the booking office which doesn't open on Sundays) can sell car park tickets for departing Sunday and going back Monday. The only suggestion Chiltern's Twitter was able to give me was to buy one first thing Monday as nobody would check at breakfast time, but it's ANPR so unless it'd only be checked on exit that seems not to work either. I set my alarm and bought one at exactly midnight on RingGo and a ticket didn't result, but that really is a silly omission.

It is almost certainly only on exit (or not at all ) a couple of times I've only remembered during the day and haven't had a fine

Design flaw in RingGo though , should allow you to select 2 days and charge you £3

 

[frodshamfella]

They can't point you in the direction of the platform or anything else you might want while in a station....the loos, atm ...

 

[Haywain]

They can't point you in the direction of the platform or anything else you might want while in a station....the loos, atm ...

That's because they are ticket vending machines and it's not what they, or ticket offices, are there for.

 

[CharlieSpotted]

They can't point you in the direction of the platform or anything else you might want while in a station....the loos, atm ...

I feel quite sure that the touchscreen devices at least could be programmed to display a map with key features, and perhaps routes, indicated. Like the Store Finder function you sometimes see in shopping centres.

But yeah... that's not what a ticket machine is for.

Ironically, if you believe the narrative about ticket office closures, it should mean there are more people available on the concourse / platforms to help you find the loo.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ironically, if you believe the narrative about ticket office closures, it should mean there are more people available on the concourse / platforms to help you find the loo.

Accepting that there are people who are hard of sight or may need assistance generally, if you can't find the loo then the signage needs improving.

 

[satisnek]

I would have expected TVMs to hold every station in the UK (and more) in memory (after all, APTIS machines did in 1983), but the one at Kidderminster doesn't recognise Willington (WIL). It seems to know all the obscure suburban stations in London, Glasgow and elsewhere, but not another place in the Midlands. Go figure. (Although in practice it's the same as the Derby fare.)

 

[dk1]

LNER Chiltern and Northern TVMs certainly do

I presume that’s only if purchasing a ticket to destinations? I’ve only been able to purchase a stand alone PlusBus as an add on to an existing ticket via the conductor or booking office.

 

[Wallsendmag]

I would have expected TVMs to hold every station in the UK (and more) in memory (after all, APTIS machines did in 1983), but the one at Kidderminster doesn't recognise Willington (WIL). It seems to know all the obscure suburban stations in London, Glasgow and elsewhere, but not another place in the Midlands. Go figure. (Although in practice it's the same as the Derby fare.)

I'm not sure any TVM has Belfast available as a destination