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This might seem brutal, but ticketing rules/validity checking etc is probably a job AI would do well in seeing as there is so many different routes or unusual validities on tickets
Given how well AI ticketing advice went for Trainline, I am not convinced.
Now, if you drop the term "AI" and consider if you could apply basic logic to evaluate a ticket's use, I'd be much more positive about the idea! There will always be difficult areas (e.g. insufficient scan data, machine-readable data not matching human-readable ticket restrictions, BoJ where it's not known which direction a return is being used in etc) but you could probably get reasonably far.
Yes, a day version of the North East Rover (which is effectively a Yorkshire Ranger with Northumberland, the Tyne Valley line and the rest of the S&C added on) would be very useful.
More useful overall I'd have thought to let someone through if not sure, then go and check when they have time so they know what to do if it happens again.
Yes, a day version of the North East Rover (which is effectively a Yorkshire Ranger with Northumberland, the Tyne Valley line and the rest of the S&C added on) would be very useful.
Is there a definitive official resource that recalcitrant staff can be pointed too. Barry Doe’s excellent Rail Rover is authoritative but if someone is making up rules in their head, they are unlikely to take it seriously.
Special offer: Cheshire Day Ranger. The portal into UK rail travel, including information on ticket purchase and promotions, train times and delays, and more.
Absolutely knocked me for six, fair enough. Everything is down in writing somewhere, there's just quite a few different sources, especially when you handle ticket barriers on behalf of a few TOCs.
Both the Cheshire and Lancashire day products are really useful for a journey where the customer lives in the area and wants to visit two different destinations on the same day. For example a person who lives in Nantwich and wants to go walking in the countryside from Northwich, then out for drinks and a meal in Manchester in the afternoon, then come back home late in the evening. It's not particularly easy to offer a return ticket that allows that unless the Cheshire Day Ranger exists. A Nantwich to Manchester return isn't permitted to be used to Hartford usually, although if the customer explained to the conductor where they were going and why they may get lucky. Three singles costs around £10 more than the day ranger and around double the Nantwich to Manchester return.
On the same theme, there is no option to go between Greenbank and Manchester using a Hartford <> Manchester ticket. Even though that costs quite a bit more. This comes up regularly because for example on Sundays the very limited service from Greenbank and Northwich means going back by way of Crewe may be the only option. Manchester - Chester tickets can be used in this way but most people probably don't know that, and it's still not valid between Hartford and Crewe. Unofficially the conductor might be willing to allow the more expensive ticket to be used on the cheaper route, if asked nicely. Tickets from Buxton / Dove Holes / Chapel-en-le-Frith to and from Manchester are regularly accepted to Chinley instead, but again it appears that's completely unofficial goodwill. I once used the return half of my Cardiff Central to Aberdare ticket from Merthyr Tydfil and the conductor said that was regularly accepted. At the time, prices were the same.
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Is there a definitive official resource that recalcitrant staff can be pointed too. Barry Doe’s excellent Rail Rover is authoritative but if someone is making up rules in their head, they are unlikely to take it seriously.
Yes, one has to click a drop-down under 'Validity' to see the list stations, and a further link to see the map (and it would be better to have both on the front page), but it's all there.
Yes, one has to click a drop-down under 'Validity' to see the list stations, and a further link to see the map (and it would be better to have both on the front page), but it's all there.
