paul1609
Established Member
All the Marshlink halts (GTR) have had a card only TVM with TOD for at least 5 years and ITSO card readers for the last couple of years.There are hundreds, if not thousands, of fares from stations beyond Paddington to destinations beyond Reading (using permitted routes) valid for travel during the peak where the through fares are lower than the price of GWR's peak fares between Reading and Paddington. There may be trouble ahead.
Coming back to the non-interchange North Downs Line stations - AFAIK none have yellow or pink readers excepting (possibly) the handful of stations served by the SWR services between Wokingham - Reading and Aldershot South Junction - Guildford, plus Reigate.
My local station, Blackwater, has an ITSO button on the home screen of the TVMs, but the reliability of these machines is poor, so it would be optimistic to rely on them alone. Sandhurst doesn't have a TVM (and likely never will, due to its location) while Farnborough North does not have an accessible TVM for passengers arriving on Platform 1 via the cycle path from Frimley Green. Determining the correct fares for many journeys to/from NDL stations could be "interesting" unless pink readers are installed at all NDL interchange stations.
In the case of Doleham which only has 4 trains per day the comms are provided by satellite as there is no landline available.
There really is no excuse for every station not having a TVM in 2021.