APTIS Local Program Cards

[Hassocks5489]

An obscure technical question which sits somewhere between "General Discussion", "Fares Advice and Policy" and "Railway History and Nostalgia"! Please move if appropriate.

Can anybody familiar with the APTIS ticket issuing system help with decoding some fields on the attached scan?

I have unearthed some of these "Local Program" tickets from deep in my collection. My understanding is that they were printed out when some sort of special fare/ticket/product, such as a temporary promotional fare or a ticket specific to a local area, was set up in the APTIS memory. (If anybody has any more background info on them, I would be grateful; the limited info I've found derives from passing mentions in BR Sales Circulars held at the National Archives.)

Taking it line by line, can anybody help with the "???" queries?...

Top line

• LOCAL PROGRAM - self-explanatory
• 10.MAY.91 - date of issue
• 13.38 - time of issue
• 4520 - APTIS machine number
• 073 - ??? possibly staff ID ???

Second line

• BALCOMBE - station of issue
• 5492 - National Location Code
• BFS - ??? three-letter code for this fare type ??? Is this the code used internally?
• 1 - ??? not sure; the tickets I have show either 0 or 1, so this is presumably a yes/no indicator

Third line

• AS ADVERTISED - Validity description, but ??? why printed twice?
• 2 PART - presumably this means it is a two-part ticket (OUT and RTN coupons)

Fourth line

• PSN D1 - ??? something to do with the button on which the fare was programmed ???
• WINDOW 01 - presumably the window number identity of that APTIS machine
• SENIOR NOV BGN - the ticket type, as it appeared on the actual ticket when issued
• 00 - ??? no idea!

Any info gratefully received!

 

[Paul Kelly]

I think BFS looks like the CAPRI code. Used for accounting purposes - different ticket types can be grouped together under the same CAPRI code. The first two characters of the CAPRI code are also encoded on the magnetic stripe.

I think the two different "AS ADVERTISED" texts refer to the outward and return validity.

 

[CyrusWuff]

I can't remember what the 073 means as it's been over 10 years since I last set up a local program, but the BFS is indeed the CAPRI code (current codes can be found in the .TTY file in the fares database download from the ATOC data site), D1 is which local key has been programmed (from 1 to 8), and I believe the "00" and "0" refer to the encoding on the LU part of the magstripe regarding the sort of ticket (almost always "00", which I believe just meant an ordinary Single or Return) and time restriction (generally "0" for unrestricted, though I believe it's also possible to set it for 0900, 0930 or 1000).

It's worth noting that instructions for setting up local programs warned against setting the UTS Ticket Type and Time Restriction codes to anything other than 00 and 0, respectively, as APTIS had a "feature" whereby you'd lose the local program next time the machine received a fares update.