Barriers detect time on tickets

[Cmred]

Hi. Just curious. Can a machine detect if a super saver ticket is used prior to 6.30pm as it is intended to be.

 

[AlterEgo]

Hi. Just curious. Can a machine detect if a super saver ticket is used prior to 6.30pm as it is intended to be.

It depends on how the barrier is programmed, but if the ticket is invalid it ought to be rejected, in theory.

I assume by super saver you mean a super off peak return here? Super saver tickers are long defunct.

 

[Cmred]

Forgot to add 2nd leg of journey from Birmingham new st to international . They have discounted price for travelling after 6.30

 

[mangyiscute]

I think barriers can be set up to reject off peak tickets, for example in the morning most stations won't let you through with an off peak ticket to London until close to when it is valid.
How come you want to be able to do this? As long as you have a reasonable explanation, the barrier staff will just let you through if the ticket doesn't work.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Yes is the simple answer

 

[yorkie]

Hi. Just curious. Can a machine detect if a super saver ticket is used prior to 6.30pm as it is intended to be.

The programming depends on the machine manufactuer, model etc. Generally speaking the answer is "yes" but it's not easy - or in some cases even possible - to get a perfect implementation.

 

[island]

Forgot to add 2nd leg of journey from Birmingham new st to international . They have discounted price for travelling after 6.30

Ticket barriers can in principle be set to prevent the use of tickets at a time they are not valid, yes.

The implementation of this varies widely.

 

[plugwash]

Hi. Just curious. Can a machine detect if a super saver ticket is used prior to 6.30pm as it is intended to be.

My understanding is that for mag stripe tickets some but not all of the information on a ticket. Exactly what information is encoded on a ticket doesn't appear to be published, but based on posts from insiders here, I understand this includes the origin, destination, ticket type and railcard discounts but not the restriction code or route. For smart tickets (e-tickets, m-tickets, paper roll tickets etc) I belive all the information from the ticket is available.

The barriers then apply a set of rules to that data to decide whether to accept the ticket or not. I understand that some barriers use the same rules for magstripe and smart tickets, and others have seperate sets of rules.

The result is that some time restrictions are enforced by barriers, but the enforcement is far form perfect. Valid tickets may well be rejected, and tickets may be accepted even if the passenger would have to wait a long time for a service on which they would be valid.

For "smart tickets" there is a "scan database", which records when and where the ticket was scanned. I don't think there is anything similar for magstripe tickets. In principle at least, this could be used to pick up that someone had violated the time restrictions after the fact, but I suspect that would only happen if there was otherwise reason to investigate the scan record.

 

[Wallsendmag]

I know that at least one TOC is looking at having the equivalent of an eTVD for CCST

 

[Haywain]

I understand this includes the origin, destination, ticket type and railcard discounts but not the restriction code or route.

The route is encoded to the mag stripe, and the ticket type is a compromise because the code is 3 characters and only two are on the mag stripe.

The result is that some time restrictions are enforced by barriers, but the enforcement is far form perfect.

Time restrictions are part of the manual programming of barriers and should, ideally, make an allowance for getting to trains as well. For example, an 'after 09:30' restriction would allow access through the barriers before 09:30 but at a time late enough, where possible, to prevent access to trains where a ticket would be invalid.

I know that at least one TOC is looking at having the equivalent of an eTVD for CCST

Given that CCST tickets don't contain enough information to be considered unique, that seems rather pointless to me.

 

[Watershed]

I know that at least one TOC is looking at having the equivalent of an eTVD for CCST

Seems a waste of time when you consider the fact that CCST is being used ever less, as e-tickets continue to be rolled out across more routes! Plus without major changes to the magstripe or standard, they're not easy to uniquely identify. I can't begin to imagine how much Cubic et al would charge for that!

The long string of numbers on the bottom right that can (in theory) uniquely identify CCST tickets is often poorly printed, misaligned or faded - so any suggestion of OCR on that seems hopeless.

 

[Wallsendmag]

I think it’s more image based that reading the mag stripe

 

[Haywain]

Any form of image reading would need investment in equipment, software and storage. This seems utterly pointless.

 

[lkpridgeon]

I know that at least one TOC is looking at having the equivalent of an eTVD for CCST

For local tvd at gate, are you sure it wasn't for e-ticket first, with basic CCST 'support'? Last I heard it was too slow to process the tickets using image recognition on gate (local implementation) whilst also being able to meet passenger flow requirments.