ATOC guide to tickets

[maniacmartin]

The old airline-style tickets that Trainline issued used to show connecting services on the coupon. I wouldn't be surprised if the new-style tickets do too. It makes it easier for most passengers - but alas not for us.

 

[bb21]

I pity the staff with poor eyesight though! It's not needed often but when it is, it's bound to slow things down at least a wee bit. Don't see why it has to be sooo tiny!

I always say that you cannot always have clarity in a restricted space. My views haven't changed. Unfortunately we are constrained by the physical size of the ticket, and trying to cram everything into one coupon is worse than having loads of coupons which display information clearly.

There are certainly things that could be improved, such as not printing reservation details for only one train per coupon, but trying to accommodate everything on one coupon is overdoing it imo. Is it really that bad carrying two coupons for your journey? Out and return can both be printed on the same coupon, so only one ticket is required. All reservations should fit on one coupon, in most cases, so only one is required. This would mean most people only having to carry two coupons.

I get the feeling that the industry has gone from one extreme to the other without properly thinking through the impact for all stakeholders.

Also, I think they've missed a trick by not putting the RSID (Retail Service ID) of the train in next to each reserved service. The train in the example (1043 London Euston to Birmingham New Street) is a Virgin service so will very likely have the RSID (in this case VT5140) displayed on the side panels. I think it could reduce confusion and encourage these very handy unique train IDs to be more widely used.

I am of the same opinion on this one. It is a good opportunity for something to be implemented that could benefit everyone by making things clearer, yet there doesn't seem to be a will to do this.

It is common practice on the continent for a train to be distinguished from another by its unique ID. This brings a host of benefits at all stages of the passenger's experience. Definitely an opportunity missed.

I've been told a season ticket between narborough and whatstandwell isn't valid at leicester on more than 1 occasion!!!!

You keep going on and on about break of journey being denied, however Leicester's gates are programmed to accept Wigston and Narborough tickets, with the only exception being Advances. In which case, if shown to the gateline assistant, I have never been refused entry/exit, and almost all my travels utilise tickets to/from Wigston/Narborough, so it sounds very odd to me that you would experience this problem on a persistent basis.

Are you only experiencing problems with one member of staff in particular?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I dont see how these new tickets will work for the +connections part of an advance ticket. It would not be helpful (to us) to add in suggested connecting trains.

Surely only booked trains will appear on reservation coupons.

Presumably would only list trains on which you actually have a reservation (and perhaps a line that says "and then by any train to Whereverington").

Well, the wording used on the example shown says that it is only valid on the trains shown, so unless the wording on the &Connections fares are different not putting a connecting train could cause confusion.

 

[34D]

Interesting, useful guides.

 

[yorkie]

Many of the larger style tickets used to say 'Suggested service' for connections, which is not too bad as it demonstrates its only a suggestion.

If the wording is that it is only valid on the trains shown, and they then show the connecting services, that will cause immense confusion (especially for people travelling from places like Clapham Junction, and what about Merseyrail - I don't think their screens show the actual departure times anyway!)

 

[Paul Kelly]

Hmm; how many stations are there where there is more than one train leaving at the same time going to the same destination? I guess Clapham Junction is an obvious one, but another one I have noticed is Romford; for most of the day there are two trains to Liverpool street at xx28; a fast one from Platform 2 and a slow one from Platform 4.

Using the RSID would make this much clearer, but clearly indicating that the train is only a suggested service is obviously more important than that.