'Helpful' trainline reminder confuses passenger into getting on wrong train

[renegademaster]

This is the kind of thing putting the headcodes or some kind of unique train number on the side of the train would help, so you have something other than "12:39 to Grantham" (for a train that says Edinburgh on it) to identify what train you are supposed to get on

 

[WesternLancer]

Third party retail has very little to do with the complexity of the fares defined by the operators.

I don't see third party retail being binned by GBR personally (and I pity us passengers if they do), and if you keep it you can't arbitrary bin or block new retailers based on subjective vibes, that's not how a competitive market works.

Of course third party retail was a thing in BR days. Just delivered by high street travel agents AIUI

 

[Haywain]

This is the kind of thing putting the headcodes or some kind of unique train number on the side of the train would help, so you have something other than "12:39 to Grantham" (for a train that says Edinburgh on it) to identify what train you are supposed to get on

I don't think that it would have made any difference in this case, as he walked past several opportunities to see the train time.

 

[BlueLeanie]

Of course third party retail was a thing in BR days. Just delivered by high street travel agents AIUI

Absolutely, and the key word again is "Agent", nothing really changes.

Would GBR or TOCs go up against the Agents?

I suspect if it ended up in court the railway would be torn apart by lawyers with repeated examples of terrible failures by Government run organisations to provide accurate and resilient fare and routing data-tables and feeds.

Which does make me wonder.

Has anyone checked to see if there was a data-blip at that point? Did Trainline merely pass on dodgy data from National Rail?

 

[yorkie]

Says who? If one of the aims of GBR is a more straightforward ticketing system then some of these sacred cows will have to go.

You've got it the wrong way round entirely.

LNER / DfT's idea of a "straightforward" ticketing system is that Off Peak fares are abolished, thus pushing people onto Advances. This will not reduce instances such as those described; indeed, it would increase such instances. One of the people replying on Twitter highlights that the increasing shift towards Advance fares enables train companies to make such charges:

https://x.com/TraceyBMcM/status/1979821922264498421

I have noticed more and more that the train operators are making passengers select individual trains rather than off peak and peak travel, even when the fare would be the same. No doubt this is because they can profit from situations like yours or when someone misses their train

As for the "sacred cows will have to go", I've no idea what you mean or what your logic is, but it sounds like you are confused.

 

[fandroid]

There are plenty of people whose familiarity with the 24 hour clock would require stopping and thinking (that can apply at time of booking as well as on the day)

This is perfectly plausible. I'm totally familiar with the 24 clock, but occasionally misread it, especially when I've have been dealing with times for other activities which use the 12 hr clock. Combine that with the sudden appearance of the misleadingly worded push notification and that costly mistake is easily made.

 

[etr221]

My thought is that - based on the wording of the notification - the time was rather irrelevant. What it said was 'your train ... is on platform 3' (emphasising the critical word), which was reasonably understood as meaning 'the train on platform 3 is my train'. No further thought required...

 

[Falcon1200]

No further thought required...

Even though it was over an hour before the departure of the train the passenger was booked on?

 

[etr221]

Even though it was over an hour before the departure of the train the passenger was booked on?

Yes. The railway/its agents had said it was there, I might be a bit surprised, but if the the train is there that far ahead (which is what they had said), that isn't something I would worry about, just accept that it was.

 

[The exile]

I would be very surprised if there are many people on here who haven’t at some time (nearly) missed something through losing track of time. This is potentially an example of this working the other way round. Get a “warning” message that your train’s apparently ready to board, think you’ve just got time to catch it and off you go.
This from the perspective of someone who set off 24 hours too early to catch a ferry….

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes. The railway/its agents had said it was there, I might be a bit surprised, but if the the train is there that far ahead (which is what they had said), that isn't something I would worry about, just accept that it was.

Would you go an hour early for the train and not check the time or whether you were getting on the correct one?

 

[Joe Paxton]

Would you go an hour early for the train and not check the time or whether you were getting on the correct one?

Perhaps you could end up thinking, having received the notification, that your ticket allowed you to travel on the earlier train. (Yes, it's muddled thinking, but we all do a bit of muddled thinking from time to time.)

 

[The exile]

Some people's sense of time isn't as reliable as others'. My mother has the uncanny knack of being able to give the time to within 10 minutes almost without fail, no matter how long it is since she's seen a clock or anything. I'd be lucky to get it within an hour. As long as it wasn't at the point of the day when it was just getting dark you could easily fool me into thinking I'd got to rush for a train.

 

[soil]

Would you go an hour early for the train and not check the time or whether you were getting on the correct one?

People might - Trainline is aimed at the mass market, unsophisticated, consumer, including foreign visitors who aren't necessarily familiar with the frequency of British train services or the terms and conditions of sale.

 

[enyoueffsea]

And what can you do once the doors have closed if you are on the wrong train with an Advance ticket. You can’t get off and you’re likely to get charged a walk up new ticket. You could pro actively seek out the Train Manager and some might let you off but others might not. But i suspect relatively few passengers know it can be worth trying to have a word with the TM proactively, offer to get off at next stop etc.

The 20.03 train from Leicester to St Pancras are non-stop. So assuming he got the 20.03, he’d have no option to get off.