Boarding the train with no ticket in hand

[danchew]

I was out on my bike in Pembrokeshire again, this time getting the train back from Clunderwen to Cardiff. Annoyingly, TfW app doesn't let me reserve a bike space and also use an e-ticket - I have to use a machine which prints both the ticket and a reservation note which you're meant to stick on your bike. (No one does this though and it's highly pointless, but that's beside the point.) Anyhow, you may already know that Clunderwen doesn't have a ticket machine. So I had to go to a different station to get my ticket.* In this case, I cycled further to Narberth only to find out that there's no machine there either and came back.

I didn't have any problem on board though, as the conductor quite happily printed it for me.

But it did make me wonder two things. First, am I technically breaking a rule by not having a ticket in hand at the time of boarding? I know that they don't like people trying to buy a ticket on board. But is what I did also discouraged? I wasn't sure as the conductor didn't seem to mind at all.

Second, related to this, imagine I lived in Clunderwen or Narberth or wherever the nearest station doesn't have a machine. I take my bike on trains every week. So either I have to get paper tickets posted to me at cost every week which seems crazy (because I can't maintain that level of organisation, I've got other things to worry about) or cycle 25 miles (to Tenby and back) every week just to get tickets which also seems crazy. Realistically, I'm not going to bother reserving a space for my bike or do what I did (board without a ticket). So is there anything wrong with doing the latter?

*just to clarify, I had booked the ticket online, I mean getting it printed.

 

[yorkie]

If you are going to be boarding at a station without any facilities, the best thing to do - if you can't get an e-ticket - is to buy your ticket on board the train.

Where did you buy the ticket? I am guessing not from the forum's ticketing site?

When you obtain a "ticket on departure" (TOD) collection code, the retailer should warn you if your origin station does not have facilities to print the ticket.

Are you getting Advance tickets or walk-up tickets? The latter would cost the same on board, with no hassle.

 

[danchew]

If you are going to be boarding at a station without any facilities, the best thing to do - if you can't get an e-ticket - is to buy your ticket on board the train.

Where did you buy the ticket? I am guessing not from the forum's ticketing site?

When you obtain a "ticket on departure" (TOD) collection code, the retailer should warn you if your origin station does not have facilities to print the ticket.

Are you getting Advance tickets or walk-up tickets? The latter would cost the same on board, with no hassle.

I bought the ticket on the TfW app, as I usually do. The app did warn me there's no machine at Clunderwen so go to a different station to get it printed.

It was an advance ticket, I think I paid around £11 for the journey. I always thought that this is not available on board, and I'll have to buy an off-peak single which is more expensive?

 

[yorkie]

I bought the ticket on the TfW app, as I usually do. The app did warn me there's no machine at Clunderwen so go to a different station to get it printed.

It's not possible to do a direct comparison with the ticket you bought now, as the journey is in the past.

However, I did a quick search for a journey for a future date, and our site did offer an e-ticket. It may be the case that the TfW app isn't offering e-tickets, or it may be the case that the specific ticket type you bought isn't available.

Next time, you could try our site, to see if we offer an e-ticket?

If an e-ticket isn't available then unfortunately you are supposed to go out of your way to get it printed; in practice, a friendly Guard will print it for you, but I am not sure if some Guards may charge you for a new ticket.

It was an advance ticket, I think I paid around £11 for the journey. I always thought that this is not available on board, and I'll have to buy an off-peak single which is more expensive?

That's right.

 

[danchew]

Oh sorry I misunderstood what you wrote. I thought you were saying that advance tickets and tickets on board would cost the same, but of course you meant that it costs the same whether I buy an "anytime single" or "off-peak single" online or on board.

I can get an e-ticket on the app as well, but I can't reserve a bike space AND also use an e-ticket. It seems that I MUST get paper tickets because the app insists on me getting those silly notes that are meant to go on the bike itself.

If, as you say, it's against the rule to try and get it printed on board, then I guess I just won't bother with bike reservation next time. It's not like Clunderwen is likely to see lots of cyclists waiting to board!

 

[nwales58]

You could get the bike reservation independently on FGW first and show the booking code if the TfW guard asks

 

[redreni]

Given the bike reservation has to be printed, which prevents a ticket issued with a bike reservation being fulfilled as an e-ticket, I would be inclined to just turn up without a ticket and buy onboard.

If TfW want you to buy your ticket and make your bike reservation before boarding, they should provide facilities to enable you to get your ticket and bike reservation before you board.

I'm not sure if you might encounter a problem whereby the guard would take exception to you bringing a bike onto the train without a bike reservation. I suppose there's a risk, if you don't reserve a bike space, that the bike spaces could be reserved and full when the train arrives.

The guard could not object to your boarding without a ticket if there were no ticketing facilities at the station where you got on (it doesn't matter if you could have got an e-ticket or not - you're not obliged to). For the same reason, I would have thought, the guard ought not to object to your not making a bike reservation if there were no e-ticket option for a booking with a bike reservation and no collection facilities at the station where you intended to board. If, on the other hand, you buy the ticket and make the bike reservation online, then you are supposed to collect the ticket from a station with facilities (or pay to have it posted to you) before you travel.

Maybe it's worth asking a guard which they prefer: no ticket and no bike reservation and buy on-board, or no ticket in hand but a ToD reference. Those are, as you've set out, the only practicable options available to you.

 

[Krokodil]

If there is no TVM at the station you intend to board then you cannot be expected to fulfil the ToD before boarding. TfW conductors should have no issue printing off most ToDs (though their machines cannot handle cross-London or SailRails). Some may not have time to do it (or there may be an unreliable signal on the move), especially if the train is busy so if they don't print it for you, you should just print it off when you do get an opportunity, such as if there is a TVM at your destination or interchange stations.

 

[danchew]

You could get the bike reservation independently on FGW first and show the booking code if the TfW guard asks

Sorry, what does FGW stand for? I think I remember sending a Whatsapp msg to one of the train companies and making a bike reservation separately to the ticket - I didn't think of this option. This was a while ago, not sure if TfW will let me do that now?

 

[Horizon22]

Sorry, what does FGW stand for? I think I remember sending a Whatsapp msg to one of the train companies and making a bike reservation separately to the ticket - I didn't think of this option. This was a while ago, not sure if TfW will let me do that now?

I think they are refering to the old term for Great Western Railway (GWR).

 

[danchew]

I'm not sure if you might encounter a problem whereby the guard would take exception to you bringing a bike onto the train without a bike reservation. I suppose there's a risk, if you don't reserve a bike space, that the bike spaces could be reserved and full when the train arrives.

Well, once I arrived on the platform very close to the departure time and there were three bikes on board already. I had a reservation so clearly one or more of those bikes were there without a reservation (which is fine). But as the train was about to leave, I was told to get the next train with my bike (rather than staff trying to find out whose bikes they were, etc.). There was another train leaving a few minutes later so it wasn't a problem. But if that hadn't been the case, this could have been a bit annoying for me - since technically, I did arrive on time, made a reservation and so on. So making a reservation doesn't always guarantee that you'll be let on with a bike.

 

[Watershed]

One solution would be to make a bike reservation separately from buying your ticket. You can do this by contacting the operator (TfW) or online through the GWR website (create an account or login, then go to My journeys -> Make a seat/bike reservation).

In theory you should still be printing that bike reservation out but in practice, having proof of making the reservation would tend to be sufficient.

 

[danchew]

One solution would be to make a bike reservation separately from buying your ticket. You can do this by contacting the operator (TfW) or online through the GWR website (create an account or login, then go to My journeys -> Make a seat/bike reservation).

In theory you should still be printing that bike reservation out but in practice, having proof of making the reservation would tend to be sufficient.

I think this is what I'll do from now!

 

[johnr57]

When you obtain a "ticket on departure" (TOD) collection code, the retailer should warn you if your origin station does not have facilities to print

Not in my experience , eg LNER app sells TOD from Garve but there is no machine there nor any warning . TM have generally taken a dim but sympathetic view ( should be using ScotRail app) and insisted that ticket to be printed at Kyle

 

[MrJeeves]

TM have generally taken a dim but sympathetic view ( should be using ScotRail app)

Customers should be using whatever app they prefer.

TMs should instead be reporting this back to their employer's retail team who can then raise this with LNER (or TIS accreditation) to resolve within their app.

 

[Haywain]

The LNER app doesn't tell you anything about where you can collect a ticket until the purchase has been completed. On the bright side, at that point it will give a full and immediate refund.

 

[Krokodil]

I've just tried a booking on TfW's app using a station with no TVM and it says when choosing a fulfillment method that there are no facilities provided and to collect ToDs from another station (with a link to a list). However TfW have previously posted on social media (I'm no longer on Facebook so can't go and find it) that ToDs can be collected from the guard (with the usual exclusions like cross-London and SailRails). As a guard myself I print off plenty of these, usually when people are travelling to Merseyside and haven't realised until after boarding that the ticket was only available as a ToD. Where they boarded at a manned station I do remind them that the ticket should have been collected there.

Where a passenger has a ticket that I cannot fulfill with my machine, I do make an effort to make use of conveniently-located TVMs (at some stations they're right on the platform) to get the ticket printed during a dwell time, so that the passenger won't be rushing to sort it out between trains at an interchange. In one case with an unstaffed station, a cross-London ToD, and a connection that required a sprint due to late running I did speak to the guard of the connecting service (another operator) to vouch for the passenger.

 

[styles]

One solution would be to make a bike reservation separately from buying your ticket. You can do this by contacting the operator (TfW) or online through the GWR website (create an account or login, then go to My journeys -> Make a seat/bike reservation).

In theory you should still be printing that bike reservation out but in practice, having proof of making the reservation would tend to be sufficient.

On the WCML on Avanti trains you do run the risk of being refused service on the basis of your cycle reservation not being printed.

I know this from unfortunate experience.