How to improve ticket machines

[JulienD]

It would make it easier and quicker to use the ticket machine and avoid mishaps with the wrong station.

For example, instead of typing Henley-on-Thames, we could type HOT.

Instead of typing Burnham (Buckinghamshire), we could type BNM.

Instead of typing London Paddington, we could type PAD.

Eventually the station does come up on the suggested station list but allowing us to use the CRS codes would make using the ticket machine faster!

After this post I made, what are some other ways to improve ticket machines to make them more usable?

 

[fandroid]

To sell excesses.

To provide a printed itinerary if requested (assuming it's a TVM that requires an itinerary to be entered)

To have an override on itinerary based ticket purchase. To avoid the situation where tickets are denied for services where the scheduled departure has passed but the train is delayed enough to still be used.

 

[SuspectUsual]

To be able to just buy a ticket without having to create a bloody itinerary

 

[Halwynd]

To be able to just buy a ticket without having to create a bloody itinerary

Definitely... although getting Northern's machines just to work would be a step forward.

 

[JulienD]

Definitely... although getting Northern's machines just to work would be a step forward.

Even the GWR ticket machines have pretty poor screens that are annoying to use. Surely there's a way to get a better screen on the ticket machines?

 

[zero]

Import ticket machines from Switzerland and reprogram them with GB stations... they could even continue to accept euro notes at a poor exchange rate

 

[MattRat]

Have ticket machines that actually work. It's not unheard of in some places, for all the machines to be not working, and for a large queue to form at the ticket office, with only one poor soul working at it.

If we are going to insist on reducing staff, the machine alternative should be reliable

 

[duffield]

Have a facility whereby you can optionally scan your contactless card or phone at the start of the process and a selection of your most recent ticket purchases using the same card would be shown for quick selection. Given today's storage capacities this would probably take up trivial amounts of space. A simple version would be local storage only, for stations with just one machine, and only storing when the same card had been used for the same ticket twice.

 

[alxndr]

QWERTY keyboards!

 

[I'm here now]

Be able to buy season tix longer than a week for on smartcards

Include a page for buying rovers and rangers (unless it already exists…)

 

[stevieinselby]

To be able to just buy a ticket without having to create a bloody itinerary

Yup. Trying to buy a simple day return ticket to a nearby station becomes a challenge of endurance, puzzle solving, reading comprehension, in-depth knowledge of ticketing rules and bloody-minded determination. I have genuinely seen people stabbing at the machine for a couple of minutes before giving up unable to figure out what they need to do to get a simple ticket. Even as someone who is pretty clued up about railway ticketing, I find them frustratingly complex, so unless there's a long queue I will almost always go to the ticket office counter to get mine. Every iteration of the machines and the software seems to be worse than the one before. Bring back QuickFare machines!

 

[duffield]

Yup. Trying to buy a simple day return ticket to a nearby station becomes a challenge of endurance, puzzle solving, reading comprehension, in-depth knowledge of ticketing rules and bloody-minded determination. I have genuinely seen people stabbing at the machine for a couple of minutes before giving up unable to figure out what they need to do to get a simple ticket. Even as someone who is pretty clued up about railway ticketing, I find them frustratingly complex, so unless there's a long queue I will almost always go to the ticket office counter to get mine. Every iteration of the machines and the software seems to be worse than the one before. Bring back QuickFare machines!

The EMR ones at Nottingham seem fine for simple tickets to popular destinations. As I have a retired staff pass I only buy tickets every three months when my sister visits, so I'm not a regular or experienced ticket machine user, but as I remember it typically goes something like tap screen, select popular destination from list, select ticket type, add railcard, select railcard type, confirm, wave contactless card and done, all in a few seconds.

Are the EMR machines much simpler/better than some of the others perhaps?

 

[stevieinselby]

The EMR ones at Nottingham seem fine for simple tickets to popular destinations. As I have a retired staff pass I only buy tickets every three months when my sister visits, so I'm not a regular or experienced ticket machine user, but as I remember it typically goes something like tap screen, select popular destination from list, select ticket type, add railcard, select railcard type, confirm, wave contactless card and done, all in a few seconds.

Are the EMR machines much simpler/better than some of the others perhaps?

That's definitely simpler than the TPX machines!

 

[JohnofWessex]

Manned booking office at every station with a footfall over a certain value?

 

[styles]

It would be good if they could provide advice on which tickets are best, organise passenger assist, possibly even guide you to your train, give out station toilet codes/keys, and recognise signs of people being suicidal and being able to intervene. If you could make the machine smile that would be an added bonus.

 

[John Webb]

Have the machines under decent cover where the screens are not blinded by the sun when it shines and you're not standing in the wet when it rains!

 

[stevieinselby]

Manned booking office at every station with a footfall over a certain value?

It would be hard to draw a line – in particular, commuter stations might have a very high number of passengers and so a high total footfall value, but hardly anybody needs to go to a ticket office because they've got season tickets, or in London they use contactless or Oyster – while stations in provincial towns might see a lower total value of tickets, but more demand for a ticket office (and a higher value of tickets sold there) because most passengers will need to buy a ticket for their journey.

 

[Halifaxlad]

Definitely... although getting Northern's machines just to work would be a step forward.

I wouldn't bother, why do we need a ticket machine at every station apart from to justify fining people who don't have tickets ?

Just get rid, most people who use them pay by card and they are the sort of people most likely to have a phone too, they pay by that too.

Ticket Offices would also become more cost effective where they already exist.

 

[aron2smith]

Make them sell all tickets including Rangers and Rovers like Northern does.

Also make them more responsive to input. They always bloody freeze on me. The big screen ones like Chiltern uses are amongst the worst!

If I see a ticket office open and there's no queue, I always go to them instead.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Make them sell all tickets including Rangers and Rovers like Northern does.

Also make them more responsive to input. They always bloody freeze on me. The big screen ones like Chiltern uses are amongst the worst!

As an aside Chiltern, LNER and Northern all use the same Parkeon/Flowbird/Arrive TVMs.

 

[Energy]

The big screen ones like Chiltern uses are amongst the worst!

As an aside Chiltern, LNER and Northern all use the same Parkeon/Flowbird/Arrive TVMs.

I'm not a great fan of the Chiltern/Northern/LNER ones.

The screen being completely upright makes it far harder to use than one that's slightly angled back. I dislike the feeling of someone being able to look over my shoulder, and the large screen is pretty bad for this since you have to stand fairly far back to see all of it. The West Midlands Metro's newer units have gotten the screen angle size about right, big enough to easily read yet small enough to easily see the entire screen.

 

[CarrotPie]

As an aside Chiltern, LNER and Northern all use the same Parkeon/Flowbird/Arrive TVMs.

Ah, so that's why're they're so bad - Parkeon.

 

[stadler]

TVMs should start accepting 1p and 2p coins. It is ridiculous that none of the TVMs are able to accept these 1p and 2p coins. The self service checkout machines in shops and supermarkets do so i see no reason why the TVMs can not.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wouldn't bother, why do we need a ticket machine at every station apart from to justify fining people who don't have tickets ?

Just get rid, most people who use them pay by card and they are the sort of people most likely to have a phone too, they pay by that too.

Ticket Offices would also become more cost effective where they already exist.

I've started a speculative thread on this separate from the improvement of TVMs because I think it's an interesting point.

Could we get rid of ticket vending machines (TVMs) at quieter stations?

I wouldn't bother, why do we need a ticket machine at every station apart from to justify fining people who don't have tickets ? Just get rid, most people who use them pay by card and they are the sort of people most likely to have a phone too, they pay by that too. Ticket Offices would also...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[stevieinselby]

TVMs should start accepting 1p and 2p coins. It is ridiculous that none of the TVMs are able to accept these 1p and 2p coins. The self service checkout machines in shops and supermarkets do so i see no reason why the TVMs can not.

If you want "ridiculous" then I think you've just made the winning post of the year...

They should "start" accepting coins that ought to have been phased out before now? 1p, 2p and 5p coins have no business even existing now!
The ha'penny was withdrawn in 1984. Inflation puts its value at about 2.5p today.

The cost of accepting coppers is significantly more than their monetary value, especially on machines that aren't designed to accept them and so would need a fix in order to do so.
With the vast majority of purchases now being made by card, and all ticket prices rounded to the nearest 10p (adult) or 5p (child), the benefits of changing machines to accept coppers are so close to nil that you would need an electron microscope to see them and the cost would be significant.

And apart from Coinstar, which charges a hefty fee to convert coppers into actual money, what machines in widespread use accept pointless shrapnel? None of the ones I've seen!

 

[Bletchleyite]

TVMs should start accepting 1p and 2p coins. It is ridiculous that none of the TVMs are able to accept these 1p and 2p coins. The self service checkout machines in shops and supermarkets do so i see no reason why the TVMs can not.

1p, 2p and arguably 5p coins should be abolished completely, with rounding as the Dutch do for small eurocent coins. They are just not worth having any more, as nothing is sold for that value.

The railway of course already prices in 5p increments.

 

[SuspectUsual]

The ha'penny was withdrawn in 1984. Inflation puts its value at about 25p today

Think there's a maths error here!!

Things are not fifty times more expensive now than they were in 1984!

According to the Bank of England website, £1 in 1984 is worth £3.30 today, so a ha'penny would be worth about 1.65 pence

 

[ChrisC]

To be able to just buy a ticket without having to create a bloody itinerary.

Definitely. I’m so pleased that the old fashioned EMR TVM at my local station just sells tickets without having to select an itinerary. It‘s also good that it will allow you to purchase tickets from another station and for future dates. I wish it would also sell rangers and rovers.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Out of interest what happens if Joe Public turns up at a station and there’s no ticket office but there is a ticket machine. It is card only but he intends paying by card.

He tries to buy his ticket but it’s a Northern machine and as far as he can tell it requires him to create an itinerary.

But he doesn’t know exactly which trains he’s going to get, so in his view he cant buy a ticket

On the train an RPI is checking tickets….

Does he get reported for prosecution?

 

[stevieinselby]

Think there's a maths error here!!

Things are not fifty times more expensive now than they were in 1984!

Oops, you're right, clearly didn't have my right head on at the time , have now corrected it.

Out of interest what happens if Joe Public turns up at a station and there’s no ticket office but there is a ticket machine. It is card only but he intends paying by card.

He tries to buy his ticket but it’s a Northern machine and as far as he can tell it requires him to create an itinerary.

But he doesn’t know exactly which trains he’s going to get, so in his view he cant buy a ticket

On the train an RPI is checking tickets….

Does he get reported for prosecution?

Probably yes.
If someone doesn't have a payment card of any sort then I'm sure they could make a case for not buying a ticket beforehand if there was no way to do so with cash.
The machines will sell you a flexible ticket that is valid on any (anytime/off-peak) train, so even if you don't know your itinerary you can buy an appropriate ticket – I don't know where the courts would stand on "the machine was too confusing", when it is an entirely plausible argument for someone who isn't a regular passenger!