Portable ticket machines that guards use

[strange6]

Not once but twice today, I have had guards announce that the batteries in their ticket machines were flat and they were unable to dispense tickets so could anybody who came from a non-ticket office station please buy a ticket when you get to your destination. The TOC in question was Northern and I have experienced this situation before with them. Who is responsible for keeping these machines in working order for the day?

 

[Rhondda Rudie]

Not once but twice today, I have had guards announce that the batteries in their ticket machines were flat and they were unable to dispense tickets so could anybody who came from a non-ticket office station please buy a ticket when you get to your destination. The TOC in question was Northern and I have experienced this situation before with them. Who is responsible for keeping these machines in working order for the day?

Here in South Wales we use Avantix machines.They require one battery for the PDA unit and two of a different type for the printer.Problems arise when the PDA batteries get older.On main line diagrams with minimal stops they last the shift quite well but on more local stopping service like the ones I work (often with more than 100 stops in a shift) they can run out well before the end of the turn.To give you some sort of comparison I would estimate that,in the 7 years or so since we started using Avantix,I've made announcements like those you describe about 50 times.In the 17 years in which we were using Portis/Sportis machines the situation only cropped up about 7 or 8 times.It's certainly not a situation I relish,it means loss of commission.

 

[barrykas]

Varies by TOC, but when Avantix first came in we always used to give the TMs a spare PDA battery and two spare printer batteries when they took a machine, just in case.

I managed to get through something like three PDA batteries and two lots of printer batteries in a shift once, though that was an extreme situation. (Working an excess window and all of the ticket office machines had died that day).

Cheers,

Barry

 

[Solent&Wessex]

Our PDA batteries are getting to the point where they won't always last a full 9.5 hour busy shift now, and will need changing part way through. Printer batteries aren't so bad, as there are 2 of them and they get used at an un-equal rate so if it gets low you just swap them over.

PDA batteries are different though, and there are no spares either. There is only 1 per PDA and they won't buy any spares as they are too expensive apparently. We just phone control who try and arrange to swap the battery over en route somewhere.

The other day I only started a 9.5 hour shift with 65% PDA battery. The PDA had only just come back in shortly before and hadn't had a chance for full charge but there were no more available as quite a few are away for repair at the minute.

 

[route:oxford]

Given that many trains now have laptop&mobile suitable mains sockets...

Can you not just plug them in and give them a 10 minute juice-boost from time to time?

 

[142094]

Thought that they all go back to a charger at the offices, AFAIK they don't carry the chargers around all day?

 

[scrapy]

Given that many trains now have laptop&mobile suitable mains sockets...

Can you not just plug them in and give them a 10 minute juice-boost from time to time?

No chance even with charger. The OP was talking about Northern. Laptops and mobiles weren't even invented when most of their trains were built. No sockets on trains.