Unable to buy a Season ticket commencing Tuesday 5th

[MML]

Moderators note: split from Thameslink Services/Timetable from May 20th'

Me: can I have a weekly season ticket from Luton to Blackfriars commencing Tuesday 5th please ?
Ticket office: I can't sell you that, you'll have to come back on Monday evening.
Me: Aye ?
Ticket office: yes I can only do it if you start on Monday 4th.
Me: but I don't want it Monday, I want it 7 days starting Tuesday.
Ticket office: no sorry sir not possible. It's Saturday, I can only sell you a ticket for Monday. You'll have to come back then.

I won't be around Monday as that's why I don't need the ticket, the train I take on Tuesday is before the ticket office opens which is why I plan ahead and attempted to buy a weekly season ticket today.
Her colleagues have been selling me these tickets for the past 6 months and correctly applying a start date on Tuesday.

Madness !

 

[Hadders]

Me: can I have a weekly season ticket from Luton to Blackfriars commencing Tuesday 5th please ?
Ticket office: I can't sell you that, you'll have to come back on Monday evening.
Me: Aye ?
Ticket office: yes I can only do it if you start on Monday 4th.
Me: but I don't want it Monday, I want it 7 days starting Tuesday.
Ticket office: no sorry sir not possible. It's Saturday, I can only sell you a ticket for Monday. You'll have to come back then.

I won't be around Monday as that's why I don't need the ticket, the train I take on Tuesday is before the ticket office opens which is why I plan ahead and attempted to buy a weekly season ticket today.
Her colleagues have been selling me these tickets for the past 6 months and correctly applying a start date on Tuesday.

The ticket office is correct in this instance. You can't purchase a weekly season ticket that far in advance.

 

[talldave]

Me: can I have a weekly season ticket from Luton to Blackfriars commencing Tuesday 5th please ?
Ticket office: I can't sell you that, you'll have to come back on Monday evening.
Me: Aye ?
Ticket office: yes I can only do it if you start on Monday 4th.
Me: but I don't want it Monday, I want it 7 days starting Tuesday.
Ticket office: no sorry sir not possible. It's Saturday, I can only sell you a ticket for Monday. You'll have to come back then.

I won't be around Monday as that's why I don't need the ticket, the train I take on Tuesday is before the ticket office opens which is why I plan ahead and attempted to buy a weekly season ticket today.
Her colleagues have been selling me these tickets for the past 6 months and correctly applying a start date on Tuesday.

The madness is real: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/season_tickets.aspx#when

Welcome to the only industry that actively turns away customers wanting to spend money!

 

[Ianno87]

The madness is real: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/season_tickets.aspx#when

Welcome to the only industry that actively turns away customers wanting to spend money!

Whilst I can understand the logic for doing it (to avoid somebody trying it on by startimg using it a day early) - does strike me as classic railway "treat everyone as potential fare dodger until proven otherwise" customer service. In this case the purchaser trying to not only make his own life easier, but also make use of the ticket office in an otherwise quiet period.

 

[talldave]

Whilst I can understand the logic for doing it (to avoid somebody trying it on by startimg using it a day early) - does strike me as classic railway "treat everyone as potential fare dodger until proven otherwise" customer service. In this case the purchaser trying to not only make his own life easier, but also make use of the ticket office in an otherwise quiet period.

I used to try buying tickets for the following day on my way home through Gatwick, but Southern's (old) TVM's wouldn't allow it. So I'd stand by the machine, buy on my phone and collect immediately!

 

[MML]

Good grief. What a stupid and outdated system. If the ticket has a start date of Tuesday, would I have been able to get through the ticket barriers on the Monday prior to the start date ? I assume not. So what really is the purpose ?
As you say, treat everybody as a potential fare dodger kind of customer service.

 

[Hadders]

Good grief. What a stupid and outdated system. If the ticket has a start date of Tuesday, would I have been able to get through the ticket barriers on the Monday prior to the start date ? I assume not. So what really is the purpose ?
As you say, treat everybody as a potential fare dodger kind of customer service.

The barriers aren't intelligent. As I understand it they're unable to read the start date on the ticket, hence why they can't be sold so far in advance. This isn't anything new, it's been the rule since the year dot.

 

[Merseysider]

Seasons can be bought online several days in advance so it does seem rather daft not to allow the same at ticket offices.

 

[323235]

Northern sell season tickets up to 2 weeks in advance online.

 

[MML]

The barriers aren't intelligent. As I understand it they're unable to read the start date on the ticket, hence why they can't be sold so far in advance. This isn't anything new, it's been the rule since the year dot.

Wow I am surprised.
It's 2018 and many of the gateline barriers have only been installed in the last few years or so. Most if not all stations on the Thameslink line have them.
I had assumed the magnetic strip on the reverse of the ticket was able to convey basic validity information such as start and end date, departure and destinations, as I have seen customers with off peak tickets prevented access prior to 0930.
I wasn't expecting a biometric profile detection as to whether I was a child, adult or qualifier of rebate ticket, but I had expected an access control system operating in 2018 to do at least the basics.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Wow I am surprised.
It's 2018 and many of the gateline barriers have only been installed in the last few years or so. Most if not all stations on the Thameslink line have them.
I had assumed the magnetic strip on the reverse of the ticket was able to convey basic validity information such as start and end date, departure and destinations, as I have seen customers with off peak tickets prevented access prior to 0930.
I wasn't expecting a biometric profile detection as to whether I was a child, adult or qualifier of rebate ticket, but I had expected an access control system operating in 2018 to do at least the basics.

I think the reason is rather less to do with what technology has been installed in the last few years, and more to do with the fact that the mag-stripe technology still used in paper tickets is virtually unchanged from its original 1980s format. This, in turn, was a derivation of London Underground's then-new mag-stripe ticket technology. Hence why all tickets, even for those nowhere near London, have a significant portion of the mag-stripe dedicated to London Underground data, with comparatively little of the available space (itself being less than half a kilobyte in total) being dedicated to actually detailing the ticket's validity.

All of which is to say - the mag-stripe on tickets contains very little information about their validity.

 

[talldave]

Seasons can be bought online several days in advance so it does seem rather daft not to allow the same at ticket offices.

Indeed, it's quite sad to see the rail industry hanging on to it's obsolete rules when technology has made them redundant in the way you've highlighted.

I think the reason is rather less to do with what technology has been installed in the last few years, and more to do with the fact that the mag-stripe technology still used in paper tickets is virtually unchanged from its original 1980s format. This, in turn, was a derivation of London Underground's then-new mag-stripe ticket technology. Hence why all tickets, even for those nowhere near London, have a significant portion of the mag-stripe dedicated to London Underground data, with comparatively little of the available space (itself being less than half a kilobyte in total) being dedicated to actually detailing the ticket's validity.

All of which is to say - the mag-stripe on tickets contains very little information about their validity.

Any other industry so reliant on such a medium would have created an improved mag stripe specification with more capacity and ensured that all barriers installed in the last 20+ years were compatible with old and new formats. But here we have the "we've always done it that way approach " sadly.

 

[Hadders]

I think the reason is rather less to do with what technology has been installed in the last few years, and more to do with the fact that the mag-stripe technology still used in paper tickets is virtually unchanged from its original 1980s format. This, in turn, was a derivation of London Underground's then-new mag-stripe ticket technology. Hence why all tickets, even for those nowhere near London, have a significant portion of the mag-stripe dedicated to London Underground data, with comparatively little of the available space (itself being less than half a kilobyte in total) being dedicated to actually detailing the ticket's validity.

All of which is to say - the mag-stripe on tickets contains very little information about their validity.

That's my understanding too. It's to do with the information that can be held on the mag stripe rather than what the barriers can read.

The solution would be to move to some form of smart ticketing as has happened with Oyster in London. However the cack handed way in which the rail industry/DfT have implemented smart ticketing has resulted in different schemes for different operators, loss of flexibility compared to paper tickets.

 

[AntoniC]

Merseyrail let you renew your season ticket 3 days in advance of its renewal date.

 

[infobleep]

How come they allow me to buy them in advance online. Surely that should be outlawed, except when they are sent in the post.

After all someone might try and use one in advance. That is the best solution.

I speak there with a sense of humour. I don't mean that really.

 

[Hadders]

I think all season tickets purchased on line are sent out by post. I don't think they can be collected from TVMs.

 

[Merseysider]

Northern certainly let me collect mine at a TVM, during a limited trial of issuing seasons via TOD three years ago, so it is possible, at least in theory. Have they stopped doing this?

 

[MML]

Problem with sending tickets via the post is they may be intercepted during delivery.
The thief may then try to use them on a journey between Luton and Blackfriars in advance of their effectivity.
That said, the chance of the thief travelling by train is unlikely. More likely he'd have to endure a rail replacement bus service.

I still think the railways would be far better if they didn't have to deal with customers. Just run empty trains instead.