The best and worst countries for railway ticketing.

[nwales58]

So what happens if you need to see someone urgently because of a failure of the railway’s equipment? (Ticket machines down etc)

Bof! (and shrug shoulders, raise hands in the air)

 

[AdamWW]

Yup, happens at Rennes currently (near to my home station), if you pay by cash you can access the machines to do so at any opening time, but you need to make an appointment to see someone.

How does one make such an appointment?

 

[signed]

How does one make such an appointment?

Online

https://www.sncf-voyageurs.com/fr/contactez-nous/service-rendez-vous/

And some stations, in the plan, reportedly allow appointment-free access on Sundays and every morning before 1pm. Don't know whether that applies to Rennes, haven't really read the sign.

Of course the end goal is closing every ticket office, and an appointment system makes it easier to swallow as the first step.

 

[AdamWW]

Online

https://www.sncf-voyageurs.com/fr/contactez-nous/service-rendez-vous/

And some stations, in the plan, reportedly allow appointment-free access on Sundays and every morning before 1pm. Don't know whether that applies to Rennes, haven't really read the sign.

Of course the end goal is closing every ticket office, and an appointment system makes it easier to swallow as the first step.

How odd.

I would have thought one of the important uses of ticket offices would be for people who aren't able to buy tickets on-line.

 

[signed]

I would have thought one of the important uses of ticket offices would be for people who aren't able to buy tickets on-line.

Sorry, you can also call to get an appointment

 

[Bletchleyite]

How odd.

I would have thought one of the important uses of ticket offices would be for people who aren't able to buy tickets on-line.

Compulsory reservation in order to obtain a compulsory reservation is about as SNCF as it gets!

 

[signed]

Compulsory reservation in order to obtain a compulsory reservation is about as SNCF as it gets!

Yup, very ironic twist

 

[Royston Vasey]

Japan almost makes it, but not quite.

The IC system is amazing. As well as the regional JRs, there are countless private railways, tramways, metros (and bus services) and almost all of them accept IC cards, whoever issued them. You can load them on to your phone if it has FeLiCa, and it doesn't even need to be switched on to let you on or off. Fantastic stuff. Except...

...supplements. This is where it gets inconsistent. Let's take Kyoto-Osaka as an example. I have 5 different options for this route (OK, one involves a change, but it's worthwhile for the example). They are:

1. Shinkansen Kyoto - Shin-Osaka. Super fast. As it's the Tokaido Shinkansen, you can book on the Eki Net app or a 3rd party (though this varies for each line) meaning you can get the ticket (base fare plus supplement) as a QR code, or pay the supplement on Eki Net and link it to your IC card so it activates when you tap in on the special Shinkansen barriers.
2. JR Kyoto - Umeda. You can take the Special Rapid (28 min) without a supplement, or the Ltd Express (32 min, confusingly) with a supplement. You have to buy the supplement from the JR website within working hours, or from the station.
3. Hankyu Kawaramachi - Umeda. Very classy trains. You can take any train, including the Ltd Express, there's no supplement. Though you can buy a seat on the Privace car from a little machine on the platform (or online in advance), which is an absolute bargain.
4. Keihan Gion-Shijo - Yodoyabashi. Cheap and chilled, but a bit slower, though centre-to-centre. Like Hankyu, you can take the Ltd Express with no supplement, and you can also buy a Premium Car seat.
5. Kintetsu Kyoto - Namba via Yamato-Saidaiji (or occasionally Nara). All sorts of weird and wonderful special trains and premium cars. You do need a Ltd Express supplement here, which you can also buy online (though all you get is a vague email in response, which they seem happy with). It's particularly confusing if your journey is a mix of Keihan and Kintetsu (e.g from Higashiyama to Nara) as you don't need a supplement on one but, but you do on the other, even for the same train class.
6. JR Haruka Ltd Exp Kyoto - Kansai Airport. A very convenient service, and possibly Japan's least punctual, mostly because it squeezes round the Osaka Loop Line between local trains. Needs a Ltd express supplement, but you can buy a discount ticket package online, though generally not directly from West JR. You end up with a code you redeem on an obscure West JR sub-website ("West QR" - some gentle humour there) and get a QR code back once activated. You then have to make sure you use the correct ticket gate at the correct station for the QR code, as very few of them actually take it.

Now I love me a good train journey and speak a little Japanese, and I can just about figure this out. I can only imagine how irregular travellers, particularly those who are new to the country, would fare (no pun intended).

But the IC system itself is great.

One thing about the Japanese system is that it is a truly walk up railway. You arrive at the station, tell the clerk or machine you want a Shinkansen to Osaka, you're given a choice of the next few trains with different levels of availability and stopping patterns, you pay a fixed price and head to the platform. Although reservation only, there is always a train with a seat within a reasonable timeframe. At worst you need to wait out 40 minutes in the excellent sushi restaurants under Tokyo Station. Once you know the tickets to buy, which is where the complexity lies as you beautifully demonstrate, there's actually no stress!

I do wonder if they ever truly sell out on the evenings before national holidays, for example?

 

[jpl]

Finland is pretty much ryan air for rails nowadays thanks to digital revolution. Dynamic pricing that is driven by an AI isn't the best system for passengers. The resulting fares are very inconsistent and not transparent (i.e. commercially sensitive and not released as open data). An almost empty train can be the most expensive of the day, so clearly there is a disconnection to factors like demand.

And now after covid you have to pay supplement to get in a compartment, or a single seat on an 1+2 arrangement. A single seat is 2.90 - 5.10 eur more for a Tampere-Helsinki journey depending on class. VR has stated this additional fee is due to single seats being popular among passengers. Serial tickets can be used to work around this, but VR reduced the validity of serial tickets from 6 months to 4 months recently.

The trend of closing ticket offices continues: the office in Tampere will be closed soon. Only office in Helsinki will remain, but with reduced staff. Ticket machines have a printing fee of 0.50 eur. This is pushing people towards mobile app. VR also aims to reduce staff responsible for handling disruptions stating passengers want to use digital channels.

Prices in Finland are still quite good compared to Nordic countries.

Good system is for example in Czech Republic, as they have distance based pricing you always know how much a train is going to cost, and they have 1st and 2nd classes on trains (with the exception of private operators). And they still have traditional ticket offices, although the staff don't always speak in english.

 

[Watershed]

I do wonder if they ever truly sell out on the evenings before national holidays, for example?

They do, and more trains are made reservations compulsory around that time of year too.

 

[Tester]

One thing about the Japanese system is that it is a truly walk up railway. You arrive at the station, tell the clerk or machine you want a Shinkansen to Osaka, you're given a choice of the next few trains with different levels of availability and stopping patterns, you pay a fixed price and head to the platform. Although reservation only, there is always a train with a seat within a reasonable timeframe. At worst you need to wait out 40 minutes in the excellent sushi restaurants under Tokyo Station. Once you know the tickets to buy, which is where the complexity lies as you beautifully demonstrate, there's actually no stress!

I do wonder if they ever truly sell out on the evenings before national holidays, for example?

Don't undersell it - it is a truly walk up railway!

From Tokyo to Osaka, every train has non-reserved carriages, which if you have an appropriate ticket you can use.

So you can always travel on the very next train, subject of course to not being guaranteed a seat.

They can't truly sell out, but there are certainly seasonal dates which are well worth avoiding.

There are a few trains which really are reservation compulsory, e.g. Hayabusa trains heading north from Tokyo, but even then the slower Yamabiko trains on the same line have non-reserved carriages.

Another big plus is that there are no passholder reservation quotas. If you are using a pass and a reserved seat is available on your chosen train, it is yours at no extra charge.

 

[tadzio]

(+) Poland is really decent these days. PKP Intercity app is straightforward - pick route, pick train, buy ticket. Fixed prices for most trains, dynamic pricing only on the premium EIP (Pendolino) services. One app covers the main operator.

(-) The mess starts with regional trains - different apps for different regions (Koleje Mazowieckie, Koleje Śląskie, etc.). No single ticket if you're mixing operators. But for long-distance it's pretty painless compared to what I hear about UK's fare complexity.

However, in most cases, you can wait for the conductor to come and buy a ticket from him in the carriage.

 

[AdamWW]

Good system is for example in Czech Republic, as they have distance based pricing you always know how much a train is going to cost,

Though also with cheaper fixed-train tickets. But as an addition to regular fares, rather than replacing them as in some countries.

And they still have traditional ticket offices, although the staff don't always speak in english.

I've found buying tickets on-line very easy, except for when I've had mobile data connectivity problems (and no station wifi).

They don't seem to be very keen on ticket vending machines. Or I'm not very good at spotting them.

VR also aims to reduce staff responsible for handling disruptions stating passengers want to use digital channels.

I hope they've found a way of providing accurate information online during disruption.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Nov 2025 ==

(+) Poland is really decent these days. PKP Intercity app is straightforward - pick route, pick train, buy ticket.

And seat selection up until departure, rather than Romania's system where seat selection gets turned off the day before travel (or maybe it's 24 hours ahead - I forget).

 

[tadzio]

And seat selection up until departure, rather than Romania's system where seat selection gets turned off the day before travel (or maybe it's 24 hours ahead - I forget).

Oh yes, I forgot about that, thank you @AdamWW it's very important, not every country has it! + The app sends reminders when we have a ticket for a route, but that's not really about ease of purchase, it's just an additional cool feature.

 

[jpl]

Talking about seats Finland's VR got something right: Seat selection in the mobile app shows occupied and free seats in real-time. You can even change your seat on board after departure if you suddenly want to switch places. Just open the seat map in the app and tap on your new seat, and you can upgrade to premium classes and pay the supplement as well.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Talking about seats Finland's VR got something right: Seat selection in the mobile app shows occupied and free seats in real-time. You can even change your seat on board after departure if you suddenly want to switch places. Just open the seat map in the app and tap on your new seat, and you can upgrade to premium classes and pay the supplement as well.

VR's whole online retail system is absolutely amazing. It's fast, simple and clear to use yet powerful, and the seat maps even include important stuff that's often left out like window positions. One could only hope, but doubt, that GBR's could be this good.

 

[geoffk]

If you focus on the easy part the Netherlands should be pretty high as you don't even need to buy a ticket, you can tap in and out with your bank card. You do need to consider tapping in at the right validator if there are multiple operators at a station, and if you change operator you need to tap out and back in. Prices are fixed, and for long journeys there is a price cap. The cap is per journey though, so return journeys are simply two singles. This makes traveling by bank card generally not the cheapest option when travelling off-peak. Obtaining the best value tickets in the Netherlands can be a bit more tricky though, specially for visitors.

Earlier this year, I had an Amsterdam Travel Ticket (ATT) for 3 days, cost €30. The ATT covers GVB, Connexxion, AllGo, and EBS buses, including night buses, plus trams and metro, also local trains to Schiphol, they say, but I had no difficulty using it on an NS train from Centraal to Sloterdijk.

The publicity states that a voucher purchased online must be exchanged for a physical ticket from a public transport ticket machine or other designated location (e.g. at the airport). I had a problem with this as, although downloading the voucher was easy, I couldn't find a machine at either Schiphol or Zuid station to exchange it for a ticket. I enquired at an information point at Zuid and was told the only machines were at Centraal. However, the assistant produced the ticket for me after making a phone call.

 

[eldomtom2]

They do, and more trains are made reservations compulsory around that time of year too.

Actually on the Tokaido Shinkansen at least major holidays are the only time some trains require seat reservations - outside them all trains have some coaches for passengers without seat reservations.

 

[AdamWW]

and the seat maps even include important stuff that's often left out like window positions.

That's good.

I find it somewhat frustrating when I have to pick a seat before travel and in principle have the ability to choose one which actually has a view, but no way of knowing which one I should pick.

I have ended up at times up trying to work it out from interior photographs for journeys where it was particularly important to me, though with limited success.

To purchase a ticket you have to go to a supermarket or convinience shop. Sometimes you have to walk a good distance from the station to find a shop that sells tickets. Then the service in the shop varies and some staff take ages to work out how to sell one. I have sometimes spent twenty or thirty minutes in these shops while the cashier works out how to sell one.

And presumably there might not be a shop open when you need it.

I suppose that's one way in which different countries vary. If you can't buy a ticket at the station, are you permitted to travel anyway?

With variations such as allowing people to board and pay cash even though there was a machine taking credit cards, etc. I got caught out in the US once at a station with dire warnings of the severe consequences for travelling without a ticket - and a ticket machine that didn't seem to take foreign credit cards and wouldn't take cash either.

 

[Bletchleyite]

With variations such as allowing people to board and pay cash even though there was a machine taking credit cards, etc. I got caught out in the US once at a station with dire warnings of the severe consequences for travelling without a ticket - and a ticket machine that didn't seem to take foreign credit cards and wouldn't take cash either.

That's not uncommon. On Swiss regional services, for example, if there's no working TVM/booking office at a station it is in effect closed (unless you use your phone) - purchase on board is never allowed. I think similar issues may exist or have existed in the Netherlands.

 

[Watershed]

Actually on the Tokaido Shinkansen at least major holidays are the only time some trains require seat reservations - outside them all trains have some coaches for passengers without seat reservations.

Yes, that's what I was alluding to.

 

[AdamWW]

That's not uncommon.

I wasn't suggesting it was, though the only other example I could think of was Switzerland.
I'd be interested to know what other countries put people in this position (and this thread seems like an appropriate place for it).

I think similar issues may exist or have existed in the Netherlands.

Last time I looked at the rules, there was a large penalty to be paid on board regardless of circumstances, to be possibly refunded if you could convince them after the event that it was due to there being no way of purchasing at the station.

But I think that was before the PAYG system and certainly before they started accepting contactless bank/credit cards for PAYG.

 

[Mainline421]

Finland is pretty much ryan air for rails nowadays thanks to digital revolution. Dynamic pricing that is driven by an AI isn't the best system for passengers. The resulting fares are very inconsistent and not transparent (i.e. commercially sensitive and not released as open data). An almost empty train can be the most expensive of the day, so clearly there is a disconnection to factors like demand.

And now after covid you have to pay supplement to get in a compartment, or a single seat on an 1+2 arrangement. A single seat is 2.90 - 5.10 eur more for a Tampere-Helsinki journey depending on class. VR has stated this additional fee is due to single seats being popular among passengers. Serial tickets can be used to work around this, but VR reduced the validity of serial tickets from 6 months to 4 months recently.

The trend of closing ticket offices continues: the office in Tampere will be closed soon. Only office in Helsinki will remain, but with reduced staff. Ticket machines have a printing fee of 0.50 eur. This is pushing people towards mobile app. VR also aims to reduce staff responsible for handling disruptions stating passengers want to use digital channels.

Prices in Finland are still quite good compared to Nordic countries.

Good system is for example in Czech Republic, as they have distance based pricing you always know how much a train is going to cost, and they have 1st and 2nd classes on trains (with the exception of private operators). And they still have traditional ticket offices, although the staff don't always speak in english.

Definitely agree regarding dynamic pricing, although at present the fares are affordable at least, even for the last few reservations (I normally buy <10 minutes before departure). Technically VR does function as a walk-up railway though since reservations aren't required and tickets can legitimately be purchased on board as an advertised option (the price appears roughly equivalent to the "Advance" fare).

Kosovo are probably simplest, no online booking, no machines, no ticket office. Cash on board only.

 

[Three-Nine]

There isn’t always a seat on Shinkansen services; I’ve stood on them before. However, this was at the tail end of “Golden Week” which is a holiday period when many Japanese travel back to their home towns. As a rule, the Japanese fares system is usually straightforward to understand but does tend to get fiddly with - as has been pointed out - supplements, private operators and the like. I suspect many visitors to Japan use JR Rail Passes (or did, before the prices were whacked up) and don’t travel off the routes where the pass is valid as much. I also had a hard time getting my head round the various IC cards on my last visit (its actually simpler than it seemed but from the outside looking in… ).

Japanese railways have also been considering introducing peak time pricing, which I think would be a step backwards but…

 

[43096]

VR's whole online retail system is absolutely amazing. It's fast, simple and clear to use yet powerful, and the seat maps even include important stuff that's often left out like window positions. One could only hope, but doubt, that GBR's could be this good.

But... is there any way of just reserving a seat if you're using an Interrail? I can't find one.

 

[stut]

One thing about the Japanese system is that it is a truly walk up railway. You arrive at the station, tell the clerk or machine you want a Shinkansen to Osaka, you're given a choice of the next few trains with different levels of availability and stopping patterns, you pay a fixed price and head to the platform. Although reservation only, there is always a train with a seat within a reasonable timeframe. At worst you need to wait out 40 minutes in the excellent sushi restaurants under Tokyo Station. Once you know the tickets to buy, which is where the complexity lies as you beautifully demonstrate, there's actually no stress!

I do wonder if they ever truly sell out on the evenings before national holidays, for example?

While there are *some* non-refundable, discount tickets available on some routes (Tokaido Shinkansen, for example) they are very much the exception, and hardly anyone uses them.

I have been caught out in the past in the week leading up to Obon, trying to head from Kyoto down to Hiroshima. All the trains we're booked out! They were hugely apologetic and ended up offering me... A journey with a connection in Osaka (the Sanyo-only services tend to be that bit quieter).

 

[jpl]

But... is there any way of just reserving a seat if you're using an Interrail? I can't find one.

Yes, you can book through the VR call centre. That is because the app/website can't handle Interrail reservations. And I think ACP Rail doesn't do Finland anymore.

Definitely agree regarding dynamic pricing, although at present the fares are affordable at least, even for the last few reservations (I normally buy <10 minutes before departure). Technically VR does function as a walk-up railway though since reservations aren't required and tickets can legitimately be purchased on board as an advertised option (the price appears roughly equivalent to the "Advance" fare).

Walk-up is quite possible, yes. I've done that a few times on a "fully booked" service and there are always few unoccupied seats to sit on. The walk-up fare was 27 euros for Tampere-Helsinki last year, not bad at all. I *think* it is still distance-based, at least they charge a service fee based on the distance.

 

[rvdborgt]

Yes, you can book through the VR call centre. That is because the app/website can't handle Interrail reservations. And I think ACP Rail doesn't do Finland anymore.

VR seat reservations are now 25% of the available regular ticket price. IMO that's a supplement with included reservation. Still optional fortunately.
Sleepers are 50% of the the available regular ticket price.

But... is there any way of just reserving a seat if you're using an Interrail? I can't find one.

As always, check Seat61.

 

[43096]

Yes, you can book through the VR call centre. That is because the app/website can't handle Interrail reservations. And I think ACP Rail doesn't do Finland anymore.

So, actually the answer is no. You can’t reserve on the website, so it is utterly useless if you are stood on the platform and wanting to reserve.

 

[Beebman]

Japan almost makes it, but not quite.

The IC system is amazing. As well as the regional JRs, there are countless private railways, tramways, metros (and bus services) and almost all of them accept IC cards, whoever issued them. You can load them on to your phone if it has FeLiCa, and it doesn't even need to be switched on to let you on or off. Fantastic stuff. Except...

I discovered another IC system exception back in April while I was staying in Nagoya and travelling around the network of the Meitetsu Railway company - although I had no problems using it on most of their lines there was one route where it wasn't in use, the Gamagori Line between Kira Yoshida and Gamagori itself. This is a rather quiet self-contained extension of the Nishio Line with unstaffed halts and driver-only trains. In order to travel on it you have to buy a paper (Edmonson size) ticket at either terminus which you must give to the driver on alighting at an intermediate station. AFAICS if you board at an intermediate station you pay the driver unless you're going to either terminus in which case you're told to pay there.

Elsewhere on the Meitetsu network the μSKY Limited Express to and from the airport requires a supplement which can be bought as a paper ticket or online but you still tap in and out with your IC card for the base fare, and there's slower trains which only require use of an IC card.

One other thing to mention (in the Tokyo area) is that the Chiba Urban Monorail only accepts Suica and PASMO cards and not any other type of IC card.