Hello all 
Me again, with what seems like an emerging theme for my enquiries, but stick with it, please
So, this week I'm needing to go from Maudleth Road to a new tramstop, Velopark, on the new East Manchester Metrolink Line in Greater Manchester.
On Saturday, I gave the guard a right shock asking for a return to "Metrolink Zone M" - information courtesy of barrykas - when I went to check the new line out. That was fine as an off-peak adult, but on Monday morning I asked for another one (at the MAU ticket office) with my scholars pass, issued by TfGM.
I got a normal (expensive) anytime return. When I pointed this out, I was refunded (thanks to him for not charging me a £10 fee!), but the ticket clerk said the appropriate LACON discount didn't seem to be available. When I got on the train, the guard said likewise... the discount which should be applicable wasn't.
Normally, these tickets look like this:
Since its the same price, that was what I got issued with on Monday I think... the wrong zone. Of course, that leaves me vulnerable to the ticket being rejected by Metrolink staff, a situation I'm anxious to avoid.
Today, a very nice guard said he'd give me a child ticket, and just to explain why if asked.
He also said "Hmmm, where are those enthusiasts when you need them? They usually know more about this than I do!"
Anyway, I went to the ticket office at Manchester Piccadilly this afternoon and showed those two tickets, explaining the quandary of why a LACON (Manchester Concession, MCT) discounted ticket is not available on this route. After quite a bit of searching and some assistance from colleagues, I was assured that the tickets below were the ones I wanted.
Now, I know these are wrong. Or at least HHF told me they were, and that tallies with my own observations. But I couldn't very well say that they were the wrong tickets because some bloke I've never met says so, and was compelled to buy them (of course, I didn't realise they had gotten around the problem this way until after the tickets were printed).
So I now have 3 days worth of tickets which have been incorrectly issued, but only in a minor way - better than child.
Is the error localised? Just related to Mauldeth Road? Or related to Metrolink Zone M? What about Zone N? Or J and K? I'm confused. Who should the issue be raised with? Surely this is not Northern's fault? TfGM set the fares and one assumes they cooked up this whole zones thing, but they can't edit the entries in the fares manual can they? I don't relish the prospect of trying to raise this with ATOC, but TfGM are next to useless by themselves. And because Virgin run the Piccadilly ticket office, no help from that quarter either! It means that not only can I not use TVMs to buy tickets, but can't get them from my local ticket office (which leads to buy-before-you-board questions) and not properly on the train either!
Or am I just overthinking it?
Me again, with what seems like an emerging theme for my enquiries, but stick with it, please
So, this week I'm needing to go from Maudleth Road to a new tramstop, Velopark, on the new East Manchester Metrolink Line in Greater Manchester.
On Saturday, I gave the guard a right shock asking for a return to "Metrolink Zone M" - information courtesy of barrykas - when I went to check the new line out. That was fine as an off-peak adult, but on Monday morning I asked for another one (at the MAU ticket office) with my scholars pass, issued by TfGM.
I got a normal (expensive) anytime return. When I pointed this out, I was refunded (thanks to him for not charging me a £10 fee!), but the ticket clerk said the appropriate LACON discount didn't seem to be available. When I got on the train, the guard said likewise... the discount which should be applicable wasn't.
Normally, these tickets look like this:
Since its the same price, that was what I got issued with on Monday I think... the wrong zone. Of course, that leaves me vulnerable to the ticket being rejected by Metrolink staff, a situation I'm anxious to avoid.
Today, a very nice guard said he'd give me a child ticket, and just to explain why if asked.
He also said "Hmmm, where are those enthusiasts when you need them? They usually know more about this than I do!"
Anyway, I went to the ticket office at Manchester Piccadilly this afternoon and showed those two tickets, explaining the quandary of why a LACON (Manchester Concession, MCT) discounted ticket is not available on this route. After quite a bit of searching and some assistance from colleagues, I was assured that the tickets below were the ones I wanted.
Now, I know these are wrong. Or at least HHF told me they were, and that tallies with my own observations. But I couldn't very well say that they were the wrong tickets because some bloke I've never met says so, and was compelled to buy them (of course, I didn't realise they had gotten around the problem this way until after the tickets were printed).
So I now have 3 days worth of tickets which have been incorrectly issued, but only in a minor way - better than child.
Is the error localised? Just related to Mauldeth Road? Or related to Metrolink Zone M? What about Zone N? Or J and K? I'm confused. Who should the issue be raised with? Surely this is not Northern's fault? TfGM set the fares and one assumes they cooked up this whole zones thing, but they can't edit the entries in the fares manual can they? I don't relish the prospect of trying to raise this with ATOC, but TfGM are next to useless by themselves. And because Virgin run the Piccadilly ticket office, no help from that quarter either! It means that not only can I not use TVMs to buy tickets, but can't get them from my local ticket office (which leads to buy-before-you-board questions) and not properly on the train either!
Or am I just overthinking it?
