I’m interested in people’s views on default options for ticket machines particularly at times of day / days of the week where certain ticket types are not required.
The other week I was behind someone in the queue for the TVM at Worksop and they were purchasing 2 Day returns to Sheffield, one of the most popular tickets from there no doubt. i overheard them questioning the price with each other and deciding that it must just be more expensive to buy it from the machine. I helped them find the Off Peak Day return which involved typing in Sheffield from the ‘other destinations list’ and then selecting the ticket type. This all seemed counterintuitive and this made me wonder if machines should be a little more customer friendly in this respect.
The list of ‘popular destinations’ has the anytime day return on it but not the off peak day return. Would it not make more sense to show the anytime day return until the time when the off peak day return becomes valid? There are no evening peak restrictions on that flow so anyone boarding the 0908 or later can purchase the off peak ticket. Likewise at the weekend, why would the machine even offer the anytime day return as there is simply no need for it. I’m not suggesting that the TOC (Northern in this case) is deliberately programming it like this to make more money though I’m sure many people would suggest that. I think it’s likely a case of ‘that is just how it is’or a mere oversight. It’s not limited to this TOC of course, just using it as a known local example.
I am specifically talking about Day returns here.
The other week I was behind someone in the queue for the TVM at Worksop and they were purchasing 2 Day returns to Sheffield, one of the most popular tickets from there no doubt. i overheard them questioning the price with each other and deciding that it must just be more expensive to buy it from the machine. I helped them find the Off Peak Day return which involved typing in Sheffield from the ‘other destinations list’ and then selecting the ticket type. This all seemed counterintuitive and this made me wonder if machines should be a little more customer friendly in this respect.
The list of ‘popular destinations’ has the anytime day return on it but not the off peak day return. Would it not make more sense to show the anytime day return until the time when the off peak day return becomes valid? There are no evening peak restrictions on that flow so anyone boarding the 0908 or later can purchase the off peak ticket. Likewise at the weekend, why would the machine even offer the anytime day return as there is simply no need for it. I’m not suggesting that the TOC (Northern in this case) is deliberately programming it like this to make more money though I’m sure many people would suggest that. I think it’s likely a case of ‘that is just how it is’or a mere oversight. It’s not limited to this TOC of course, just using it as a known local example.
I am specifically talking about Day returns here.
