BanburyBlue
Member
- Joined
- 18 May 2015
- Messages
- 878
Hi all.
I've been using a Chiltern Smartcard to load my tickets for my regular commute. I used to download the tickets and use the barcode to get through the barrier, but always had that concern that my phone would fail, or we'd be in a mobile blackspot, when the train manager came round to check the tickets. I originally got a Smartcard as my company upped our attendance requirements, and so a Chiltern Flexi-season looked like it would cost in. However, as you cannot apply a railcard discount it doesn't. All irrelevant, but it did mean by the time I worked all this out, I had applied for and received a Chiltern Smartcard.
It seemed a great idea, just having to present the card, but it seems to be very unreliable. This week I went to Birmingham Snow Hill on Wednesday, and Oxford on Thursday. The Smartcard worked as it should and happily let my through the barriers. However this morning, I got to Banbury Station, presented my card to the reader and nothing happened (not the first time this has happened). The barriers were open and there were no Chiltern staff near the gateline (there was some alarm going off somewhere, so I'm assuming otherwise engaged). I did the NFC ticket loading thing on the Chiltern app on my phone, and it shows the ticket is on there (saying Pending??), however when I got to Birmingham Snow Hill, it wouldn't let me through the ticket gates. It wasn't a problem as I showed my Smartcard to the guy on the gate who let me through, but worried about the 'you must show a valid ticket on demand' if the Smartcard isn't activating the gates.
So am I doing something wrong, or are Smartcards just unpredictable? And if so, is it my Smartcard, is it the system?
Thanks.
I've been using a Chiltern Smartcard to load my tickets for my regular commute. I used to download the tickets and use the barcode to get through the barrier, but always had that concern that my phone would fail, or we'd be in a mobile blackspot, when the train manager came round to check the tickets. I originally got a Smartcard as my company upped our attendance requirements, and so a Chiltern Flexi-season looked like it would cost in. However, as you cannot apply a railcard discount it doesn't. All irrelevant, but it did mean by the time I worked all this out, I had applied for and received a Chiltern Smartcard.
It seemed a great idea, just having to present the card, but it seems to be very unreliable. This week I went to Birmingham Snow Hill on Wednesday, and Oxford on Thursday. The Smartcard worked as it should and happily let my through the barriers. However this morning, I got to Banbury Station, presented my card to the reader and nothing happened (not the first time this has happened). The barriers were open and there were no Chiltern staff near the gateline (there was some alarm going off somewhere, so I'm assuming otherwise engaged). I did the NFC ticket loading thing on the Chiltern app on my phone, and it shows the ticket is on there (saying Pending??), however when I got to Birmingham Snow Hill, it wouldn't let me through the ticket gates. It wasn't a problem as I showed my Smartcard to the guy on the gate who let me through, but worried about the 'you must show a valid ticket on demand' if the Smartcard isn't activating the gates.
So am I doing something wrong, or are Smartcards just unpredictable? And if so, is it my Smartcard, is it the system?
Thanks.