Inconsistent smartcard support on GWR

[sor]

I want to travel between two stations within the GWR network, for the sake of argument let's say St Austell to Plymouth on a Saturday so an Off Peak Day Return is the way to go. I have a GWR card linked to my GWR account, and I try to book on the GWR site. GWR site says this is a ticket that can be loaded onto a smartcard (orange logo thing).

But when I get to the delivery page I don't see a smartcard option at all, just "e ticket" (is that the "good" PDF version or the much maligned m-ticket? it mentions being downloaded to the app) or collect as normal. That's the case even if I log in to my account first so it knows I have a card.

It's not a booking site oddity because when I actually did the same trip a few weeks ago the ticket machine would not offer a smartcard option there either. I didn't try asking at the counter.

All in all, not as impressive as Greater Anglia where there's no problem buying any in-network tickets on ITSO & can even load it via your phone if you wish (and interestingly it is allowing me to do it for this journey, onto my GA card)

On another note, is there any meaningful reason why not all ticket types are even advertised as having smartcard support (eg the Off Peak Return)?

Apologies if it's a duplicate, I did search before posting but couldn't find anything relevant.

 

[Benjwri]

GWR doesn’t have great support for smartcards. Unfortunately you can only buy season tickets for a smartcard online with GWR. For Single/Return tickets you have to visit a ticket office and they can load it on, but this rather defeats the point. Ticket machines similarly will not let you buy non season tickets for a smartcard.

If you really want to use a smartcard you can get a C2C one, who will let you buy a smartcard ticket for any enabled route in the U.K. and load it from your phone. GWR staff have been fine with it when I’ve done it, and it works at the gate line as well. In theory it should also load tickets at an ITSO scanner, but personally I wouldn’t bank on it and would stick to loading by phone.