Build your own Rover!

[mrcheek]

Many of the greatest new ideas in human history have simply been the combination of two existing things.

So, seeing as how we were discussing rover tickets in one thread, and combine that with the fact that my place of work (Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare) is in the process of getting one of those "Build your own Bear" places (where you design and create your own teddy bear from scratch), I suddenly got the idea that will revolutionize rover tickets!

Computer technology should now allow this to happen: Instead of having to buy the rover tickets as offered by the TOCs, you should be able to create your own. Enter into a website the number of days you wish to travel, how much you wish to pay, and what station you wish to start from, and it will then tell you how far you can travel. And for every extra £10 or so you wish to pay, you will get an extra few miles! As an example, based on current rovers, I can get a 3 day rover ticket for £40 to take me as far north as Worcester. For an extra £10, I could be able to reach, say, Birmingham. And you should be able to extend this as far as you like, until the entire network is covered.

This may cause problems for guards (sorry, "train managers") trying to check tickets, but hey, this system would mean FAR more people using rovers, so the whole thing could be overhauled. Give travellers some kind of smart card, with a chip on it storing the entire valid route, and the ticket checker could have some kind of reader that will tell him how far the passenger can actually travel on that particular train! Frankly, this could be done very easily. Computers are wonderful things these days.

Thoughts?

 

[Galvanize]

Yeah i like it! :d Could mean you pay less, but travel further, rather than going for Adv purchase!

 

[eezypeazy]

A brilliant idea!

Offer it up to whoever looks after Network Ticketing....

Regards

eezypeazy

 

[Andy]

Sound like a greate idea, could be a lot cheater than many tickets

 

[yorkie]

This is for the year c.2020? yep, sounds good In the mean time... no chance!!!

 

[me123]

I agree iwth everyone: it's a fantastic ticketing idea, but sadly no-one will impliment this in the near future.

 

[TEW]

That would be really useful, but I don't think it will happen in the near future, as you say they will be hard to enforce and regulate.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Yes, a home made rover would be a great idea as you can then chose the routes you want to travel on. It can be annoying for some, say, wanting to by a FOSS (Freedom of Severn and Solent) but only using half the routes valid!

Extensions will also save the need to keep buying CDRs or whatever to bolt-on to the rovers boundry.

I would'nt say you should set a price, maybe it should be a 'basic' start fee withing a certain distance radius (say 5 miles around Trowbridge could start at £5-£10 depending on days etc) and then price extensions after.

Very good idea though, I hope this would work!


Cheers,

James.

 

[mrcheek]

of course, my main reason for suggesting this is that Im bored with travelling the southwest every year. Last year I did an All Line Rover, but I cant afford to do that again this year. So Ill be back on the all too familiar southwest routes. Although things have changed. the first rover I ever did was a "Severn, Avon and Wessex", extending betwen Weston-super-Mare. Cardiff, Gloucester, Swindon, Salisbury and Weymouth. Since then, the price has increased, but so has the coverage area, with Worcester, Southampton, Portsmouth, and Weymouth to Southampton now included. But it would be nice to be able to go beyond Swindon and link it with a Thames Valley Rover.