BR Fares now selling itinerary-free tickets

[Watershed]

I have just seen that BR Fares is now selling tickets directly from its search results, without needing to search for an itinerary first. Very useful for when the industry reservations system goes down as happened this morning!

It only sells tickets that don’t require reservations (i.e. walk-up singles, returns and Travelcards), but it doesn’t seem to depend on whether the trains on the route in question require reservations according to the timetable data (e.g. LNER and Avanti).

It seems to have a saved card functionality and a ticket office-esque interface as well as an ability to repurchase recently bought fares. Overall an impressive addition to BR Fares and one which I may well try out for my next journey.

 

[tomoufc]

Wow - you seem to be able to buy SailRail walk ups without going to a ticket office!

 

[81A]

BR fares seem to be starting a new ticket service allowing walk up purchase without reservations (link explaining here). It doesn't seem to be working yet though (clicking "buy" just leads to a blank page). Great news in my opinion! It means a "dumb" TVM type interface will live on!

edit-sorry, somehow missed this thread

 

[Paul Kelly]

BR fares seem to be starting a new ticket service allowing walk up purchase without reservations (link explaining here). It doesn't seem to be working yet though (clicking "buy" just leads to a blank page). Great news in my opinion! It means a "dumb" TVM type interface will live on!

Just refresh the page - it should work eventually. There's some stale JavaScript (I'm also pushing an update to fix this too).

 

[81A]

Just refresh the page - it should work eventually. There's some stale JavaScript (I'm also pushing an update to fix this too).

Great, I can see fulfilment/multiple passengers pages now! Playing around a bit, it seems like most of the bonkers stuff is (sensibly) blocked from sale (random bus tickets, etc.).

 

[Adam Williams]

It will only sell fares that, in general, Raileasy is comfortable selling and that are valid for a third-party retailer to sell in the Retail Control Service.

Some "special" fares are sold only when the customer acknowledges the restrictions that apply to their usage (for example, CIV fares).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is it genuinely unreserved sale, or does it check that at least one itinerary is possible that day as I believe some TVMs do?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Wow - you seem to be able to buy SailRail walk ups without going to a ticket office!

Presumably not SailRail Standby tickets via Fishguard or Holyhead though, given reservations are mandatory on the ferry leg? (And you may be turned away if you don't have one.)

 

[OscarH]

Is it genuinely unreserved sale, or does it check that at least one itinerary is possible that day as I believe some TVMs do?

No timetable searches are involved at all

 

[MrJeeves]

Presumably not SailRail Standby tickets via Fishguard or Holyhead though, given reservations are mandatory on the ferry leg? (And you may be turned away if you don't have one.)

It will warn you that you must make a reservation separately, and you may be turned away if you do not.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Is it genuinely unreserved sale, or does it check that at least one itinerary is possible that day as I believe some TVMs do?

It does not need to be able to find a matching itinerary to sell you a fare. Of course you should check yourself trains are running! But it should be particularly useful for fares like Manchester to Euston TfW & LNR only or Liverpool to Brighton LNR & Southern only, which are hard to find in journey planners.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Great stuff!

 

[tomoufc]

It will warn you that you must make a reservation separately, and you may be turned away if you do not.

View attachment 206155

Why raileasy and not the ferry company?

 

[MrJeeves]

Why raileasy and not the ferry company?

Because the SailRail bookings are handled through the industry reservations system as they are rail tickets.

 

[mikeg]

This is great… and a great slap in the face for LNER’s artificial scarcity locktivist policies. Your ticket to freedom, you may say…

 

[Paul Kelly]

Well it's not doing anything you can't do on a traditional TVM! That was kind of my aim, to bring that simple, easy-to-use interface into the internet age. (Admittedly it's only easy-to-use if you're already familiar with the BR Fares site.)

 

[James H]

Any plans to enable purchase of PlusBus tickets (in conjunction with a rail ticket, of course)?

 

[Paul Kelly]

Yes, PlusBus is coming soon; most of the work for it is already done. I also intend to add a Quickfare feature so you can buy your most commonly-used tickets with just a couple of clicks/taps, kind of like a TVM.

 

[walkingsophie]

Oh this is amazing, thank you so much

 

[LittleRedTrain]

This is an excellent development and will prove very useful.

I thought that online retailers wouldn't pass accreditation if they allowed booking of tickets without an itinerary, which is why nobody had offered this feature before.
Has this rule changed or was it not quite as hard and fast as I was led to believe?

Will rovers be coming at any point?

 

[Adam Williams]

The accreditation standards (RSPS7001 specifically) have a set of requirements for fares-only enquiry systems, which TVMs will have been assessed and tested against. The system in question has been assessed against those exact same requirements. Indeed, some other online retailers also offer fares-only purchasing functionality.

Will rovers be coming at any point?

The difficulty with rovers is what you can fulfil them to. Attitudes might be changing here, but I've heard a variety of different stances on what fulfilment methods might be acceptable.. At present, neither E-Ticket nor ToD for the most part.

 

[Mainline421]

Very good news! Almost a shame Uber are currently cheaper otherwise I'd probably switch immediately

Presumably not SailRail Standby tickets via Fishguard or Holyhead though, given reservations are mandatory on the ferry leg? (And you may be turned away if you don't have one.)

Even though that is in the rules, I've used them fair bit, sometimes with a reservation, sometimes without. I haven't ever shown or been asked for a reservation, so I wouldn't say there is any real chance of that happening

 

[MrJeeves]

Very good news! Almost a shame Uber are currently cheaper otherwise I'd probably switch immediately

Well, when Uber inevitably doesn't offer you the right ticket for no apparent reason...

 

[crablab]

Very pleased to see something like this. Thank you for the work to build it.

 

[talldave]

Well it's not doing anything you can't do on a traditional TVM! That was kind of my aim, to bring that simple, easy-to-use interface into the internet age. (Admittedly it's only easy-to-use if you're already familiar with the BR Fares site.)

Thank you! Ticket purchasing for people who just want to buy a ticket. Brilliant.

 

[mikeg]

Well it's not doing anything you can't do on a traditional TVM! That was kind of my aim, to bring that simple, easy-to-use interface into the internet age. (Admittedly it's only easy-to-use if you're already familiar with the BR Fares site.)

The problem is there's not always a traditional TVM and the ticket office isn't always open. This solves that problem.

 

[themeone]

This looks great. I always feel irritated having to select specific trains whilst knowing I can travel on any train that meets the ticket conditions.

Is it possible to load a ticket to a smartcard? Would that work by selecting Ticket on Departure?

 

[Edvid]

Is it possible to load a ticket to a smartcard? Would that work by selecting Ticket on Departure?

I don't believe any of the third-party retailers can fulfil tickets to smartcards.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Very pleased to see something like this. Thank you for the work to build it.

Indeed. I will definitely use this.

 

[Haywain]

I don't believe any of the third-party retailers can fulfil tickets to smartcards.

They can't. Part of the nonsensical set-up of smartcards on the rail network.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jun 2026 ==

I am probably going to be in a minority here, but I prefer the view we've grown used to without the big and obtrusive (on mobile) 'Buy' button. For me it would be better if there was a separate view for buying, which would remove all the seasons, Advance tickets and other stuff that clogs up the ticketing system. However, I am sure that I will use the site to buy tickets because it does present simplicity. The one thing I would like to see added is the ability to pay using GooglePay, as that would help the speed and simplicity of payment.