Given that compatible barriers have now been installed at Lime Street, could the standalone validators which were previously there not now be moved to the accessible gate at the Chester gateline?
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Merseyrail Tap & Go
- Thread starter Fawkes Cat
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Presumably it involves Merseyrail and TfW talking to each other? If it had been up to me I wouldn't have balkanised the railway.
Is this the poster you referred to earlier?
This one I spotted at Bidston, and there was another at James Street. I've no idea where else it is but after 5-6 months they really should have it at every station.
In case you're still wondering they need Listed Building Consent to make any modifications to Chester station. An application for new Vix gates there (ref 26/01795/LBC) is going through the planning process.
Technically they already did install a standalone validator. It's right there on platform 7.
Like the existing gates it's not compatible with contactless Tap & Go (unless anyone can prove otherwise). There are no references in Merseyrail's printed or online literature to a standalone validator at Chester where contactless journeys can be opened or closed.
MetroCard Tap & Go is unaffected and presumably can be used at said validator but it's not what I was referring to.
I didn't say it was, just that it's a software / policy driven restriction, as clearly the hardware is already there in two different places. To put it another way, technically it's a very easy fix, it's just that they don't want to do it.
RichardAsh1981
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I believe the issue is that even if you close the contactless journey on platform 7, you have no way to get out of the station ticket barriers.
Technically it may work to travel to Chester on a bank card, tap out, and then make an onward train journey on another ticket, but it is a rather niche use case I am not about to test!
It would be easy to test by arriving on a train at Chester with a ticket to Chester, and then attempting to tap in. If it didn't work you'd just exit and buy another one. I'm not sure there'd be any point in doing so though.
Is it the same new model installed by TfW / Merseyrail elsewhere recently, or an older one?
I know some older Cubic validators have been replaced by new models as part of Project Oval; extrapolating from that example, if fixing Chester's validator(s) requires more than a software update or ISAM change then Listed Building Consent may be a factor (it certainly is for the gates).
The same Vix ones as all the other stations, so just a configuration change.
Northerngirl
Member
It really sums up how helplessly disconnected our railway is, imagine shop not being able to take loyalty cards because it's a different franchise owners location. Would it really be that difficult to have a validatior next to the gates and a member of staff to open the barrier if someone needs it
Well that does happen. Store loyalty cards are sometimes not accepted at motorway locations.
It's been two weeks since I used my Android to make Tap & Go journeys and there's no record of the transaction value in my Google Wallet listings (same goes for TfW's North Wales PAYG).
Just to be clear this isn't a complaint. All the transaction details are listed correctly in my Merseyrail & TfW accounts / bank account and the taps (e.g. MEL LVL LIME ST) also appear in my listings. I'm just curious about whether the lack of a transaction value listing in Google Wallet is normal for Littlepay-associated rail PAYG systems given the transaction values for bus journeys (most of them also linked to Littlepay) do appear in my listings.
Just to be clear this isn't a complaint. All the transaction details are listed correctly in my Merseyrail & TfW accounts / bank account and the taps (e.g. MEL LVL LIME ST) also appear in my listings. I'm just curious about whether the lack of a transaction value listing in Google Wallet is normal for Littlepay-associated rail PAYG systems given the transaction values for bus journeys (most of them also linked to Littlepay) do appear in my listings.
JBuchananGB
Established Member
This does happen. Blue Light Card often refused at Costa Coffee because "it's a franchise".
To answer my own question the records appeared after I bought something else today, 3 weeks and change after travel. A bit odd, but there we go.
Charges were dated the day after travel as expected.
RyanOPlasty
Member
I have two Co-Op stores within walking distance. My loyalty card is only valid at one of them because it is a different co-operative society. The branding of both shops is identical and makes no reference to the operating society.
It can be done. It just requires motivation to do so.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Likewise in this area where some Co-Ops are operated by the main group (Manchester) and some are operated by the Southern Co-Op (for the time being). You can't use a Southern Co-Op card in a Group shop or vice versa.
Likewise other locations have different Co-Op society operating them, some will accept the group loyalty card, some won't.
RichardAsh1981
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Travelled through Chester today for work.
New Vix gate line is in place - like-for-like replacement of the old one, except the Aztec code readers are lower down and flat on the gate front, so more stooping to read etickets than with the previous bolt-on ones.
This is the bottom of the stairs to Platforms 4-7B: Merseyrail validator on the left (with poster board for "no bank cards at Chester"), on the other side of the staircase an unlabelled Pink validator which I presume belongs to the TfW North Wales scheme, but there is no signage ...
New Vix gate line is in place - like-for-like replacement of the old one, except the Aztec code readers are lower down and flat on the gate front, so more stooping to read etickets than with the previous bolt-on ones.
This is the bottom of the stairs to Platforms 4-7B: Merseyrail validator on the left (with poster board for "no bank cards at Chester"), on the other side of the staircase an unlabelled Pink validator which I presume belongs to the TfW North Wales scheme, but there is no signage ...
I don't think the pink ones are in operation yet at Chester (or increasingly Caer!)
The Costa at Heathrow Terminal 5 Premier Inn hasn't accepted the Costa loyalty app for at least 3 years due to a "temporary issue".
I do wonder if they just assume few people use them regularly enough to realise they don't seem to be doing anything about it.
waveyswirley
Member
I had to double-check the rules on a journey the other day: I got a train from James Street to Hooton, then walked to Neston via the Wirral Way, then got the train back to James Street from Neston changing at Bidston. For the outward journey I tapped in and out with my bank card, and for the return I bought an off peak single on my phone for the Neston - Bidston leg and then tapped in and out with my card for the Bidston - James Street leg. I assume there isn't an easier/cheaper way to do this?
If you had been travelling off peak or the weekend you could have bought a Saveaway (£6.80 adult, under 19 half price no railcard required) for everything except for the Neston to Heswall (£2.20 single without railcard) bit.
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Fawkes Cat
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If I've understood https://tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/rail/ticket-types/pay-as-you-go/north-wales correctly, @waveyswirley could have tapped in at Neston and out again at Bidston on the TfW North Wales PAYG scheme, before tapping in on a (separate?) reader to use the Merseyrail scheme from Bidston to James Street.
What I don't have to hand is what the various tap and go options would have cost.
Fawkes Cat
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Available on the webpage that I quoted in #205 above.
Ah okay. If I have calculated this correctly the Tap and Go approach works out a little more expensive than a Saveaway coupled with a Neston to Heswall single.
My goodness, that's a ridiculous number of signs around the Merseyrail one.
Someone just needs to take 90% of those down and just put a big "Merseyrail pay-as-you-go validator ->" sign there instead rather than that mess.
Move the other signs to somewhere else.