Where and how do you normally purchase your train ticket?

[mikeg]

I usually use the ticket office for on the day, walk up travel. on the occasions there's a queue I may use the tvm but really don't like tvms and the last time I used one was several months prior so I've not selected that. If I'm booking an advance online I'll typically select an e-ticket as I'm being tracked anyway but there's some situations where that's not available in which case tod it is. The main TOC I use has a penalty fare scheme so buy on board is not an option unless the booking office is closed and the tvm is down.
Despite my wariness of being tracked I tend to pay by card as it simply shows the payee and the amount of money changing hands and earns me cashback.

 

[stevetay3]

TVM machine most times but recently started buying from online TOC apps and Trainline etc, seems quite convenient to me.

 

[Mikw]

Trainsplit or Trainpal for advance tickets. Oyster for TFL

 

[ainsworth74]

Maybe the corona virus has affected this.

It's accelerated it but the trend was already moving in the direction we've gone.

 

[CharlieSpotted]

I am, I would say, roughly 50/50 between buying them on an app on my phone (often as I walk to the station) and buying them at the station on a TVM. The difference is basically only how relaxed I am on the day / how much time I have before my train! If in a rush, then I'll save 5 minutes by doing them on the app as I walk. Either way, it's always card/contactless payment.

I only use cash regularly in one single place... my local Chinese takeaway which doesn't take card! Literally everything else is contactless.

 

[jnjkerbin]

For the commute I buy online/app and load onto The Key via NFC from the Southeastern App. Means I can set off later as I don't need to allow for the inevitable queue at the solitary ticket machine.

For local leisure journeys at off-peak times, I tend to buy from the machine on the day.

For longer distances I tend to book in advance online (even if there's no price advantage to doing so) and collect from the machine.

 

[DanNCL]

Anything that I book in advance I do via LNER's website as, having tried many websites including Trainsplit, LNER's is the one I find easiest to use. When I book in advance I opt for collect at the station unless travelling on a ticket that is only offered as an E ticket.

For journeys purchased on the day, if I've got time I'll go to the ticket office at the station, simply as I prefer buying from a real person than from a machine. If I've not got time or if there's no ticket office I'll usually get an E ticket. The exception is when I want a specific combination of tickets from Newcastle then I'll just get them online - the ticket office staff in Newcastle are lovely but some of them seem to have a habit of trying to talk customers into buying a through ticket (almost always more expensive) rather than the requested split tickets. I actually don't know if this is still an issue as I've avoided buying split tickets from that ticket office for a couple of years now.

On the rare occasions I do have to purchase from a TVM I will only pay by card, I don't trust them with cash after losing a £20 note to a faulty TVM (ie 'modified' by criminals to steal your money) on the Tyne & Wear Metro a few years back.

 

[Mike99]

I use South Eastern or Greater Anglia website for buying Advance tickets to collect at my local fairly rural Suffolk station which is unstaffed but does have a TVM. Oyster in London because my disabled railcard is on my oyster card. I've just recently started using Train Split for tickets, Train Split being mentioned on threads on the forum quite a lot so I decided to give it a try.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I almost always book online using TrainPal and then collect the tickets using a machine at the station.

Occasionally, however, if I have to pay with cash for whatever reason, I'll head to the local ticket office.

 

[trainophile]

Almost always use Advances, which means buying while I can see they are available, so I choose paper tickets (generally) on the TPE website and collect from a ToD machine. I mainly prefer paper tickets as it cuts out the phone juggling at the barriers when I have luggage. Occasionally for short notice purchases, e.g. yesterday when my Morpeth-Newcastle TPE was cancelled and I only found out while having lunch in Spoons with an hour to go, so needed a quick alternative, I get an e-ticket also from the TPE website, saves possibly queuing for a machine or counter.

I favour TPE over Trainsplit for e-tickets because they pop straight into my TPE app, I don't have to do anything other than "refresh tickets". I'm sure someone will tell me that Trainsplit is just as easy but I've never found an alternative to downloading them from the confirmation email into my Apple wallet, which seems longwinded compared to the TPE way.

Never quite sure if because they go into the TPE app they are actually classed as m-tickets not e-tickets, although I don't think so as I don't get told to activate them.

 

[david1212]

My first choice is a ticket office. Staff can issue a three part split ticket within a minute. A poor second for a simple ticket is the station TVM.

Twice because booking office closed on a Sunday I have used TOD for a split ticket. Such as hassle - log into website with username and password, add tickets to basket, go to checkout screen and key in payment card number and CVC. Now no doubt then have to get text with security code. Write down collection code. Prior to the journey at the station trust mackine is working to collect. OK now most tickets available as e-tickets but while plenty including on this forum are happy with using their phone at ticket gates i am not. I would like to see smartcard as the way forward and discussed on other threads.

I have never bought an advance ticket or booked a seat.

 

[Birmingham]

Twice because booking office closed on a Sunday I have used TOD for a split ticket. Such as hassle - log into website with username and password, add tickets to basket, go to checkout screen and key in payment card number and CVC. Now no doubt then have to get text with security code. Write down collection code.

TVMs that allow you to choose tickets starting from other stations are great for this. Don’t have to muck around with ordering online first.

 

[Ken H]

TVMs that allow you to choose tickets starting from other stations are great for this. Don’t have to muck around with ordering online first.

Like the Northern ones dont

 

[Dai Corner]

TVMs that allow you to choose tickets starting from other stations are great for this. Don’t have to muck around with ordering online first.

You have to work where to split though. Surely that takes longer than letting Trainsplit or similar sites do it for you?

 

[Birmingham]

You have to work where to split though. Surely that takes longer than letting Trainsplit or similar sites do it for you?

The person I replied to said their first choice is the ticket office, so they presumably already know anyway. Besides, you only need to work out the splits once!

One may also wish to make use of more creative ticketing rather than straightforward splits, which ticket splitting websites wouldn’t calculate.

 

[PeterC]

On routes with a turn up and go frequency I use Oyster or buy at the station as appropriate. The location of my home and those of my family makes it far more convenient to drive for most other trips.

 

[Haywain]

Like the Northern ones dont

I think you’re wrong about that. If you go to ‘Plan journey’ you can change the origin station.

 

[Essan]

Depends where I am going.

Local/mid distance journeys (usually under £50): pay at ticket office if open (card or cash) or, if not, at ticket machine (card)

Long distance journeys (usually over £50, and involving split tickets) I book online - usually from a TOC - and use TOD Also any tickets for journeys in Scotland (using 50+ railcard).

 

[Ken H]

I think you’re wrong about that. If you go to ‘Plan journey’ you can change the origin station.

I will give that a try. Thanks

 

[dcbwhaley]

Depends where I am going.

Local/mid distance journeys (usually under £50): pay at ticket office if open (card or cash) or, if not, at ticket machine (card)

Long distance journeys (usually over £50, and involving split tickets) I book online - usually from a TOC - and use TOD Also any tickets for journeys in Scotland (using 50+ railcard).

For commuting to Manchester I find the Northern m-tickets vey convenient. Buying them at home avoids the temperamental TVM or the long queue at the ticket office behind the lady wanting to ship an unaccompanied kangaroo from Wick to Holyhead.

Biggest downside is that, unlike paper tickets, they can't be used as a bookmark.

 

[cool110]

I used to use TVMs quite often, but with the move to journey planner based UIs they've become too slow and clunky for me. So now I'm using the ticket office for short-distance turn up and go type journeys, and e-tickets for planned long distance journeys with proper seat reservations.

 

[trainophile]

For commuting to Manchester I find the Northern m-tickets vey convenient. Buying them at home avoids the temperamental TVM or the long queue at the ticket office behind the lady wanting to ship an unaccompanied kangaroo from Wick to Holyhead.

Biggest downside is that, unlike paper tickets, they can't be used as a bookmark.

 

[Runningaround]

big step from social media to doing financial stuff online.

But registering yourself on an Internet forum isn't vastly different to registering an account on ticket site. And you already have the technology to do so as proven by posting on here.

 

[Dai Corner]

For commuting to Manchester I find the Northern m-tickets vey convenient. Buying them at home avoids the temperamental TVM or the long queue at the ticket office behind the lady wanting to ship an unaccompanied kangaroo from Wick to Holyhead.

Biggest downside is that, unlike paper tickets, they can't be used as a bookmark.

But you could read an e-book instead of a paper book

 

[pitdiver]

Ticket Office as both myself and my wife have Priv facilities. Worksop being my nearest staffed Booking Office.

 

[Deerfold]

Ticket Office as both myself and my wife have Priv facilities. Worksop being my nearest staffed Booking Office.

Online retailing is being introduced for those.

News

This page contains our important messages, most recent first. Smart-enabled status passes - now working smartly! July 2016 Abellio Greater Anglia is the first

www.raildeliverygroup.com

RST Online - retailing of priv tickets - updated 20 April 2022
Rail Staff Travel (RST) discounts are to be available online via a new website, RST Online. Invitations to register are now being sent out, a small number at a time, and this process is expected to take several weeks. We will send details to all active and retired employees for whom we hold an e-mail address during April and May.

 

[pitdiver]

Online retailing is being introduced for those.

News

This page contains our important messages, most recent first. Smart-enabled status passes - now working smartly! July 2016 Abellio Greater Anglia is the first

www.raildeliverygroup.com

Excellent news but our PTACs are issued by TfL. Will they be included.

 

[317 forever]

I use a variety of ways. If it's a journey on Avanti, I'll go to the local ticket office and buy advance tickets, because Avanti don't have the option of buying online and collecting a ticket at the station. If I'm planning a trip online, a few weeks in advance, I'll probably buy the tickets online to collect, unless it's where I need something a bit more complicated, such as, for example, instead of buying a return from Lancaster to Stoke-on-Trent, I need a Lancaster-Manchester return and a Manchester-Stoke return (cheaper), so I either buy those at the ticket office, or buy online and collect at the different departure stations.
A run down to Preston, or a day out that I've decided on a few days beforehand, I'll buy in advance at the ticket office. Not very often that I buy a ticket on the day of travel, as I try to be organised, but it does occasionally happen, and they're always bought at the ticket office.

Oh don't they anymore?

I booked Avanti fast tickets on April 16th for June 4th. Although the default was E-ticket, I did see the Fast Ticket option.

I usually book Advances as Fast Tickets rather than at the station. This way I do not risk the tickets going astray before my journey. When I qualified for £48 Delay Repay following the delay on my Cardiff/Barry Island journey in March I requested a cheque rather than travel vouchers for effectively the same reason.

I also book flexible tickets online when it is likely to save time. A recent example was when I set off from Heaton Chapel to Huddersfield before the ticket office had opened, and knew I'd find this simpler than the machines. Otherwise flexible tickets bought from the ticket office means we relax while the ticket clerk selects our ticket for us!

 

[DelayRepay]

For longer journeys I usually use Trainsplit and, where available, use E-tickets. Sometimes I'll use another retailer, e.g. if one of the TOC sites has a decent cashback offer on my credit card.

I'm quite a recent convert to e-tickets (previously used ToD). Realising that I can print a copy of the E-ticket to keep in my bag in case of phone/battery problems was a lightbulb moment! Although I always have my paper backup, I've never needed to use them as my phone's always been working when needed.

For short/local journeys I usually use the TVM, but sometimes use the booking office if their queue is shorter.

 

[Snow1964]

How do the percentages on the poll work
seems to add up to nearer 200% than 100%