Liverpool Stations

[Ianigsy]

Just done a little experiment. Booking a National Rail journey (i.e. not a Merseyrail only journey) to destination Lime Street offers e-tickets, presumably as it's a Northern operated station, but booking to Liverpool South Parkway, which is a Merseyrail station despite serving other operators too, offers ToD only.

Interesting- I’d have thought that any ticket to Liverpool Stations from beyond Liverpool South Parkway would be equally valid for transferring to Merseyrail at LSP. There are quite a few hotels around the Pier Head area where it would be an advantage to be able to take Merseyrail to James Street.

 

[trainophile]

Another experiment - if you pick e.g. Birmingham New Street to the Liverpool group (Lime St, Central, James St and Moorfields) instead of just to Lime St it does offer e-tickets! at least it does on Trainsplit.

 

[6Gman]

Much of central London is less than that distance from Euston, but many people prefer to use the tube. It's handy just to hop on a train to James Street, especially if it's raining, or you've got luggage, or just believe in getting your money's worth! Though it does depend on whether your destination is beyond James Street or on the Lime Street side of it - in which case it's probably a bit pointless.

Or if you want to tick off your 507/508s for haulage.

 

[urbophile]

If doing an intra-Liverpool journey from Lime St on Merseyrail, always use the lift. Certainly going Lime St to Central I'm sure you walk further through the tunnels to go via the non-lift route than you would if you just walked down the street.

Which of course most people would. Though after 19.00 or so when the Clayton Square mall is closed you're forced to walk past the multitude of raucous and sleazy karaoke pubs – not a pleasant experience and certainly a far from welcoming experience for visitors.
A travelator between the two stations would be ideal.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Which of course most people would. Though after 19.00 or so when the Clayton Square mall is closed you're forced to walk past the multitude of raucous and sleazy karaoke pubs – not a pleasant experience and certainly a far from welcoming experience for visitors.

You're not forced to walk past those pubs, the distance is about the same if you go down the main road and turn right at the Adelphi. It's really not a problem that needs solving; anyone who really doesn't want to walk can use Merseyrail.

 

[Statto]

By the time you've got down the escalator at Lime Street, along the passageway, then through the Merseyrail gateline and down to the platform, you could just about be at James Street!

Not really, Lime Street to James Street is still a bit of a hike (at least it's downhill though), it'll take about 10 to 15 minutes to walk it for those not familiar with the route, & that's without heavy luggage.

 

[Watershed]

Interesting- I’d have thought that any ticket to Liverpool Stations from beyond Liverpool South Parkway would be equally valid for transferring to Merseyrail at LSP. There are quite a few hotels around the Pier Head area where it would be an advantage to be able to take Merseyrail to James Street.

So long as it's not a TOC specific ticket, in 99% of cases it would be valid on Merseyrail to Central, Moorfields etc.

I suspect the lack of e-ticket availability to South Parkway is due to the fact that Merseyrail manage this station and haven't got any e-ticket readers.

 

[Djgr]

I don't think many locals would dream of not walking from Lime Street to James Street! Seriously get some steps in! Enjoy the atmosphere.

However, nobody on Merseyrail will bat an eyelid if you get the train because a ticket to Liverpool Stations is (with no great surprise-clue is in the name) valid to the Liverpool stations of Lime Street, Central, James Street or Moorfields.

 

[OscarH]

Tickets are set up to allow fulfilment as eTickets depending on:
- origin
- destination
- route code (e.g. any permitted)
- ticket type

It doesn't depend on the itinerary.

So a London Terminals to Liverpool Stations Off-Peak Single ticket will show as enabled for eTicket whether you go direct or via Chester, and whether you go to Liverpool Lime Street or to Liverpool James Street.

Though many systems do have special sanity checks in some cases, to account for the usual data quality issues, like only offering TOD if there's a tube leg even if the ticket is eticketable according to the rules (which gives you the London equivalent of the behaviour to the parent post)

That said, I don't know if anyone does that for Merseyrail

 

[317 forever]

I have visions of wanting to go to Liverpool from Manchester Piccadilly (or nearby) next year, and changing at Liverpool South Parkway onto a Merseyrail 777 to Liverpool Central. I would have a flexible e-ticket and get a local bus ticket there.

 

[urbophile]

I have visions of wanting to go to Liverpool from Manchester Piccadilly (or nearby) next year, and changing at Liverpool South Parkway onto a Merseyrail 777 to Liverpool Central. I would have a flexible e-ticket and get a local bus ticket there.

I'm glad you said next year because the 777s won't be running from S Parkway until well into 2024. If you bought a Saveaway ticket there it would give you free travel on all buses and trains for the rest of the day.

 

[317 forever]

I'm glad you said next year because the 777s won't be running from S Parkway until well into 2024. If you bought a Saveaway ticket there it would give you free travel on all buses and trains for the rest of the day.

I have used Saveaway tickets a few times before. As a bit of a traditionalist, I enjoy getting paper tickets on the buses rather than topping up my Walrus card.

As regards the subject matter on this thread, I wonder what they would say if I reached Liverpool Central with such an e-ticket. They should not moan because it is surely still valid on that route.

 

[L401CJF]

I had somebody board my train on the Wrexham-Bidston line this week with a mobile ticket (pdf format) from one of the stations on the line - I can't remember which, may well have been Wrexham - to Liverpool Lime Street.

He was using it via Bidston then on Merseyrail. The destination on the ticket was LIV (Lime St) rather than Liverpool Stations. The itinerary was for the direct TFW service later in the evening however it was an "Anytime day Single" ticket with route "Any permitted" and no operator restrictions so in my mind perfectly valid to travel via Bidston using Merseyrail - regardless of their inability to provide scanning equipment.

I've seen similar from Stations along the North Wales coast, in which an itinerary is produced to Liverpool (Lime Street) using the TFW Chester-Liverpool service but the mobile ticket provided is an Any route permitted type. Of course most go straight for the Merseyrail service at Chester.

 

[Gathursty]

This is already dead, most of them have closed, only leaving a few in Liverpool city centre. They're bad convenience stores coupled with bad ticket offices with a longer queue than necessary. Curiously though the Liverpool Central one remains, despite there being a Sainsburys Local directly outside.

They do need to bite the bullet and close the smaller booking offices (could be done by natural wastage as people leave) and move to TVM, e-ticket and contactless. The booking office at Aughton Park, for instance, is just a waste of space. They've decided to keep guards, so people can ask them for assistance if they need it.

Agreed. Bache and Capenhurst are unstaffed and people seem to not be fussed about it. Straightaway I'd close Bank Hall ticket office but definitely worth another thread.

 

[gordonthemoron]

E ticket to/from Liverpool Stations was accepted without question at both Lime Street and James Street stations in both directions

 

[Djgr]

E ticket to/from Liverpool Stations was accepted without question at both Lime Street and James Street stations in both directions

To be fair, this is the most expected outcome of the Summer!

I know that there was an incident involving a jobsworth and an e-ticket some time ago but they (and Merseyrail) got their knuckles rapped so hard by the local community that they can never play tennis again.

 

[Wallsendmag]

To be fair, this is the most expected outcome of the Summer!

I know that there was an incident involving a jobsworth and an e-ticket some time ago but they (and Merseyrail) got their knuckles rapped so hard by the local community that they can never play tennis again.

They most certainly don’t want to play ball with the rest of the network.

 

[JBuchananGB]

I have used Saveaway tickets a few times before. As a bit of a traditionalist, I enjoy getting paper tickets on the buses rather than topping up my Walrus card.

Another option would be to buy the Saveaway from a Northern TVM and wave it at the bus driver. No Walrus involved.

 

[L401CJF]

Another option would be to buy the Saveaway from a Northern TVM and wave it at the bus driver. No Walrus involved.

Unfortunately a lot of bus drivers wrongly reject perfectly valid rail ticket issue Saveaways.

 

[yorkie]

Another option would be to buy the Saveaway from a Northern TVM and wave it at the bus driver. No Walrus involved.

Yep, I got a Saveaway from Lime Street just very recently and avoided paying for a ridiculous 'Walrus' card (which Liverpool Central were going to issue).

I used it to get to the airport, dump my stuff at the hotel, back into Liverpool for the evening and then back to the airport before I left the UK, and had no problems on any of the buses.