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FASTTicket machines GONE at Euston
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They will likely be replaced by Avanti's new TVMs that use the godawful Trenitalia Pico system. Though at other stations they've been replaced on rather less than a 1:1 basis, with some pretty major stations now only having a couple of TVMs.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
Has the building work at Euston finished or is it still ongoing?
Which part? There's going to be works there for many years to come for HS2.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
There were works around the entrances/exits to Euston Square when I was there in December.
That's all HS2 stuff. Will be there a while. Makes the walk between the two a little quicker as you don't have to cross a road.
They've already been replaced with the machines visible on the left in the second photo.
It's certainly more than speculation, the proportion of tickets sold on paper is now very low. Through ticket offices even lower.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Thankfully the last time I passed through there was still a couple of the older style London Northwestern TVMs in that area (plus a couple more dotted around).
Useful for those who want something quick and simple from a TVM, rather than wasting 5 minutes attempting to get an Avanti TVM to sell a simple day return to say Milton Keynes
AlbertBeale
Established Member
A simple day return to MK? Last time I went to Euston to do that they wouldn't sell me one until I told them what colour train I wanted - two different-colour trains, same price tickets, similar journey times, and no indication which type I'd get if I just bought a ticket and went for the next train; nor what I ought to do if, coming back, I had the "wrong colour" ticket for the next train that came. Competition on the railways ... wonderful. No wonder people don't like train travel.
Indeed. The capacity is perfectly adequate to offer the ticket at that price on any service (subject to the time-based restrictions that is). Therefore they should just do that and stop needlessly trying to
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Those abominations are visible on the other side. I've never seen long queues for tickets at Euston so it probably makes sense. Most people are making a return journey to London and so already have a ticket, and people are increasingly booking online anyway.
If you hate those abominations as much as I do, there are also three LNR (Scheidt & Bachmann) machines - one at the top of the 8-11 ramp and two on the right at the bottom. These may also prove useful if an Avanti train you want to use is showing as "full".
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LM did actually fix that shortly after I pointed out how stupid it was to David Whitley when he was running the Twitter. It seems that due to asymmetric fare increases it's crept up again. I'm not sure I have enough faith in Abellio's competence for them to fix it if I bothered pointing it out again, but it's worth noting the MKC fares have no break of journey restriction.
Sadly it affects loads of the intermediate flows. For example the cheapest single from Milton Keynes Central to Watford Junction is £20.20, or Bletchley to Harrow & Wealdstone even more at £21.90, but at the Super Off Peak times the Super Off Peak Single to London at £15.70 is perfectly valid for that.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Yes, those ones have been around for a good while and LM didn't fix them.
I suppose you could argue that it's the fare from MKC that's artificially cheap due to the competition. That a "LNR only" fare even exists is a historical accident from the days when ICWC/Virgin set the fares for that flow.
Haywain
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As @Starmill mentioned above, this is not speculation. The usage of TVMs has dropped off considerably in recent years and the main thing stopping significant numbers being removed across the network is likely to be the existence of contracts with several years to run, meaning there is little or nothing to be saved.
Round these parts Greater Anglia have only relatively recently finished installing TVM's at every station.
Haywain
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There has been a push in recent years for TVMs at more stations, and the contracts for these were likely to have been signed up to a couple of years ago. The move towards eTickets has accelerated during the pandemic.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
Ensuring there's a ticket selling facility at every station is a different matter. As there's another thread about ticket office closures it might be some stations see more machines as the ticket office closes, while larger stations see a reduction in the number of machines.
Many of the stations haven't had a staffed ticket office, or any ticket selling facilities at all, for many years.
I do almost always use paper tickets, for a variety of reasons.
Haywain
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There's your reason for installing TVMs.
Unless it's a very lightly used station (somewhere like Pevensey Bay for example) two or more platform stations with more than one entrance which aren't nearby really need a second machine for customer service reasons. At the very least if that's not practical they need signage at every entrance which gives directions to the location of ticket machines - this latter has been installed at quite a few Northern stations recently, it's rumoured to have been in response to the decisions of the penalty fares appeals panels but that's not something I currently have hard evidence for. Either way it's something that I've suggested for years.
As suggested above by a few people this means that although very busy stations now need far fewer machines, a few medium ones which only have one may need a second. Southern and SWR already had 2 machines at nearly every station anyway, with the only exceptions places that only have one entrance or one platform, and very little used stations.
As suggested above by a few people this means that although very busy stations now need far fewer machines, a few medium ones which only have one may need a second. Southern and SWR already had 2 machines at nearly every station anyway, with the only exceptions places that only have one entrance or one platform, and very little used stations.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I'd agree that each separate part of a station should have a TVM of its own. Most importantly any station where the only crossing is a level crossing, where someone buying a ticket in plenty of time could be stuck unable to reach their train.
It should also not be possible to enter any station through any public entrance without passing a clear and prominent sign stating what the ticketing arrangements are and where to find them.
Will stick this graph from the National Rail Recovery Conference here in absence of a better spot!
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I'm guessing most of the magstripe tickets are for journeys involving London and Travelcards where no choice exists - my experience on Avanti is of whole coaches in which 100% of the passengers produce an e-ticket.
Nearly all Advance tickets now come as etickets, obviously not including ScotRail and Southeastern or any cross-London. This means that for LNER and Avanti where almost everyone on the train is using an Advance ticket you get the predictable results.
Runningaround
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Tell me about it, try getting a ticket on the day to Gillingham for eg that needs to go through London, from an unmanned, non TVM station, where your first option to buy is either the guard or your phone. To avoid hassle you need to again pay with a card to operate the ticket barriers on the Underground.
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