Why is my ticket never accepted by the barrier?

[kristiang85]

This is a small issue but its been bugging me for a while.

Since the pandemic, I've ditched my annual season ticket from Basingstoke to Waterloo, and just travel in on off peak day returns once a week with a Hatton/Lapworth Gold card discount.

I travel on the 0937 train (arriving 1023), and the ticket I buy at the station is always accepted by the barriers at Basingstoke, but it is never accepted by the Waterloo barriers, and this has been going on for months.

It is becoming increasingly annoying now as there are more passengers, as I need to find a human to let me through and there's usually a queue for that so it does waste some time. I've asked a few times now why the ticket never works, and they say things 'don't worry about it' or simply that they are not sure. I've never got an answer.

It can't be the Gold card as I have no problems with other journeys, and I can't imagine its the time of travel as the Basingstoke barrier lets me through fine - any ideas? And presumably there's nothing I can do about it?

 

[Hadders]

It’s probably poor programming of the barriers at Waterloo. I suspect it’s either deliberately or inadvertently been programmed to reject Gold Card discounted tickets.

 

[furlong]

When your ticket is rejected look for a number displayed on the ticket barrier. Tell us that number and we can explain what it means, or there's a phone app you can get that also decodes them.

 

[Watershed]

This is a small issue but its been bugging me for a while.

Since the pandemic, I've ditched my annual season ticket from Basingstoke to Waterloo, and just travel in on off peak day returns once a week with a Hatton/Lapworth Gold card discount.

I travel on the 0937 train (arriving 1023), and the ticket I buy at the station is always accepted by the barriers at Basingstoke, but it is never accepted by the Waterloo barriers, and this has been going on for months.

It is becoming increasingly annoying now as there are more passengers, as I need to find a human to let me through and there's usually a queue for that so it does waste some time. I've asked a few times now why the ticket never works, and they say things 'don't worry about it' or simply that they are not sure. I've never got an answer.

It can't be the Gold card as I have no problems with other journeys, and I can't imagine its the time of travel as the Basingstoke barrier lets me through fine - any ideas? And presumably there's nothing I can do about it?

If you get your ticket as an e-ticket or on a smartcard, this might work the barriers. The programming for paper tickets is done separately on most barriers.

 

[kristiang85]

It’s probably poor programming of the barriers at Waterloo. I suspect it’s either deliberately or inadvertently been programmed to reject Gold Card discounted tickets.

I don't normally have a problem, it's just when I travel on that train. It's odd.

When your ticket is rejected look for a number displayed on the ticket barrier. Tell us that number and we can explain what it means, or there's a phone app you can get that also decodes them.

Ah OK, it will be next week though!

If you get your ticket as an e-ticket or on a smartcard, this might work the barriers. The programming for paper tickets is done separately on most barriers.

I find smartcards such a pain to use when buying specific tickets (especailly on SWR's awful website), certainly more so than simply buying paper tickets from a machine. And I don't trust them to give me the correct prices when I use them automatically.

 

[pdeaves]

I don't know what sort of barriers are at Waterloo but http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/stations/barriers.shtm may help decode what the machine thinks the error is.

 

[Iggy12a]

The last time I tried to buy a Super Off Peak ticket and put it on the Smartcard, I was told this wasn't possible because SWR couldn't program the gates to recognize the times when the ticket would be valid.

 

[Wallsendmag]

I would be amazed if they weren’t Cubic gates

 

[FuzzyDuck]

There are two sorts of machines at Basingstoke, the smaller ones to the left as you walk in always gave me issues at barriers, especially Underground ones. The ones to the right hand side seemed to produce tickets that worked better.

 

[kristiang85]

There are two sorts of machines at Basingstoke, the smaller ones to the left as you walk in always gave me issues at barriers, especially Underground ones. The ones to the right hand side seemed to produce tickets that worked better.

Yeah I always use the right ones.

 

[kristiang85]

I don't know what sort of barriers are at Waterloo but http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/stations/barriers.shtm may help decode what the machine thinks the error is.

I came in this morning and checked out the number, which is:

137 TOC passenger type direction of travel time restriction

Presumably then it is a barrier coding issue?

 

[furlong]

So a 137 suggests they are wanting to check gold card discounts manually (what time and where did the passenger begin their journey?) at the start of the period when they become valid but possibly set this up when the start of validity was 10:00 rather than 9:30. You might expect most journeys ending, say, 30 minutes after the start of validity would have been invalid at the start.

 

[island]

I came in this morning and checked out the number, which is:



Presumably then it is a barrier coding issue?

It looks like they have intentionally set the barriers to reject discounted tickets around that time in order for staff to be able to check they haven’t been used at a prohibited time.

 

[Horizon22]

So a 137 suggests they are wanting to check gold card discounts manually (what time and where did the passenger begin their journey?) at the start of the period when they become valid but possibly set this up when the start of validity was 10:00 rather than 9:30. You might expect most journeys ending, say, 30 minutes after the start of validity would have been invalid at the start.

This is indeed a common process at London terminals. I used to work somewhere were Gold Cards were always being manually checked - often with Revenue Protection backup - around the morning peak after a number of incidences of the tickets being used fraudulently.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

This is indeed a common process at London terminals. I used to work somewhere were Gold Cards were always being manually checked - often with Revenue Protection backup - around the morning peak after a number of incidences of the tickets being used fraudulently.

Gold card tickets (= Annual seasons?) or random tickets with Gold Card discounts claimed?

 

[Horizon22]

Gold card tickets (= Annual seasons?) or random tickets with Gold Card discounts claimed?

Mostly the latter. There has also been some GC fraud too though in the past but less of an issue I think now.

 

[kristiang85]

Mostly the latter.

Yes that must be the case, as I never had a problem when using my actual Gold season ticket.