E-tickets to London terminals

[hermit]

I often buy tickets from Portsmouth to London. I use the journey planner to find trains from Portsmouth to Waterloo and buy an advance ticket. If I collect the ticket by TOD or post, it shows the destination as London Terminals, which allows me to backtrack from Waterloo to Vauxhall, which is normally what I want to do.

I recently followed my usual procedure but pressed the wrong button and got an E-ticket (from Cross-Country, my usual supplier). However, this showed the destination as WAT, and lo and behold, it refused to operate the gate at Waterloo to access the suburban train to Vauxhall. I had to use my Oyster card.

I would be interested in comments. I could no doubt in future buy a Portsmouth to Vauxhall ticket, but that comes without the flexibility that the London Terminals ticket gives eg to decide to go on to Charing Cross or London Bridge.

 

[paul1609]

I don't think that Portsmouth to London terminals should be available as an E ticket. Charing Cross, Victoria etc don't have e ticket scanners on the barriers

 

[dvboy]

Is backtracking to Waterloo actually permitted?

 

[hermit]

I don't think that Portsmouth to London terminals should be available as an E ticket. Charing Cross, Victoria etc don't have e ticket scanners on the barriers

Thanks, Paul, that sounds like a plausible explanation. Presumably the equipment will be rolled out at the other stations in due course.

Is backtracking to Waterloo actually permitted?

Backtracking from Waterloo to Vauxhall (and v.v.) certainly is permitted. I do it all the time, and the barriers are programmed to accept it. Vauxhall is of course a ‘London Terminal’. Journey planners route you that way, particularly in the case of fast Portsmouth trains. Unlike most other fast services, these do not stop at Clapham Junction, so the only alternative for Vauxhall-bound passengers is a much slower journey changing at Woking, and probably Clapham as well. I have always assumed that the rationale for missing out the Clapham stop on Portsmouth trains is that anyone wanting to go from Clapham to Portsmouth has a direct alternative service with Southern.

 

[35B]

Thanks, Paul, that sounds like a plausible explanation. Presumably the equipment will be rolled out at the other stations in due course.


Backtracking from Waterloo to Vauxhall (and v.v.) certainly is permitted. I do it all the time, and the barriers are programmed to accept it. Vauxhall is of course a ‘London Terminal’. Journey planners route you that way, particularly in the case of fast Portsmouth trains. Unlike most other fast services, these do not stop at Clapham Junction, so the only alternative for Vauxhall-bound passengers is a much slower journey changing at Woking, and probably Clapham as well. I have always assumed that the rationale for missing out the Clapham stop on Portsmouth trains is that anyone wanting to go from Clapham to Portsmouth has a direct alternative service with Southern.

The lack of stops at Clapham Junction is to do with congestion, not the much slower journey via Chichester.

 

[Alex365Dash]

anyone wanting to go from Clapham to Portsmouth has a direct alternative service with Southern.

And on the slow trains to Waterloo as well.

 

[hermit]

The lack of stops at Clapham Junction is to do with congestion, not the much slower journey via Chichester.

Indeed it is, but my question is why it’s the Portsmouth trains, rather than, say, the Weymouth or Exeter trains, that have been singled out to be the ones that help the congestion problem by running through without stopping. Very nice if you if you want to get to or from Waterloo a bit quicker; not so good for people like me who would like to get to Victoria.

 

[Dibbo4025]

Indeed it is, but my question is why it’s the Portsmouth trains, rather than, say, the Weymouth or Exeter trains, that have been singled out to be the ones that help the congestion problem by running through without stopping. Very nice if you if you want to get to or from Waterloo a bit quicker; not so good for people like me who would like to get to Victoria.

It isn't. Off peak only 1 of the 2 up Salisburys stops at clapham and the same for the Weymouths, which also have this in the down direction

 

[hermit]

It isn't. Off peak only 1 of the 2 up Salisburys stops at clapham and the same for the Weymouths, which also have this in the down direction

Ok, but it remains true that the Portsmouth line is the only main line which has no Clapham Junction stops on its fast off peak trains. (I don’t wish to make too much of this - only a minor inconvenience really).

 

[alistairlees]

I don't think that Portsmouth to London terminals should be available as an E ticket. Charing Cross, Victoria etc don't have e ticket scanners on the barriers

Southern and South Western Railway London Terminal stations have barcode scanners. Southeastern ones don’t and there are no plans to fit any.

So Waterloo, Vauxhall, Victoria, London Bridge are all fitted with barcode scanners. I think Blackfriars is too, but I am not sure about City Thameslink. Cannon Street, Charing Cross, and Waterloo East are not fitted.

I expect that the vast majority of customers with Portsmouth to London terminals eTickets will be using them to travel to London Waterloo or London Victoria, and will therefore experience no problems. The ones who are likely to know about validity beyond Waterloo to Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Bridge etc. are likely to be season ticket holders whose season ticket will be on either ITSO smartcard or a traditional paper magstripe ticket, and for whom this will be no problem.

 

[Wallsendmag]

This is all due to Cubic gates not recognizing break of journey for barcoded tickets , pure and simple

 

[hermit]

I expect that the vast majority of customers with Portsmouth to London terminals eTickets will be using them to travel to London Waterloo or London Victoria, and will therefore experience no problems. The ones who are likely to know about validity beyond Waterloo to Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Bridge etc. are likely to be season ticket holders whose season ticket will be on either ITSO smartcard or a traditional paper magstripe ticket, and for whom this will be no problem.

But is it possible to buy an e-ticket for London Terminals? The sites I have tried seem to revert to giving you a ticket to a specified terminal, unlike the paper tickets, where you receive a London Terminals ticket whichever terminal you ask for.

As has been suggested above, this may be because not all terminals have scanners, (and as far as I can see sites will not issue e-tickets to non -SW terminals which do have scanners even if you specify the terminal).

 

[JB_B]

This is all due to Cubic gates not recognizing break of journey for barcoded tickets , pure and simple

Is that a hardware problem or could operators program the gates to handle break of journey correctly if they wanted to?

 

[alistairlees]

Is that a hardware problem or could operators program the gates to handle break of journey correctly if they wanted to?

It’s a Cubic problem that is being fixed

 

[JB_B]

It’s a Cubic problem that is being fixed

OK - thanks. I must admit I don't know a great deal about which manufacturers supply which gates. Do Cubic supply a large proportion of (e-ticket enabled) gatelines?

 

[smsm1]

It’s a Cubic problem that is being fixed

Good to hear. I presume the Cambridge ticket gate are Cubic too, as e-tickets Ipswich-Cambridge North don't work at Cambridge, but smart cards do. Both are any time day returns. I've switched to using the smart card for the return journeys due to this issue. (Joys of a long wait for a connecting train, thus faster to cycle, but that's for another thread).

 

[Wallsendmag]

OK - thanks. I must admit I don't know a great deal about which manufacturers supply which gates. Do Cubic supply a large proportion of (e-ticket enabled) gatelines?

Just about all National Rail gates apart from Newcastle,Darlington,Wakefield and Peterborough, Can you see a pattern there?

 

[alistairlees]

Just about all National Rail gates apart from Newcastle,Darlington,Wakefield and Peterborough, Can you see a pattern there?

I think also Manchester Victoria and a couple of other locations.