| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3712 Written by tonya on Saturday, 3rd February 2007 It doesn't get any better. This from Whistleblower on Oldfield Park station blog: "FGW still intends to introduce (and quite soon) the prospect of Penalty Fares on some of its routes. It will affect Bath, Oldfield Park and Keynsham to Bristol. The introduction of ticket machines at these stations is not to make buying tickets easier, it is to allow the imposition of penalties easier. As long as the machine is working you will HAVE to buy a ticket BEFORE boarding the train. If you do not, for whatever reason (long queue, slow or bewildered user in front) you will have to pay a fixed penalty of Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3719 Written by Steve Bray on Saturday, 3rd February 2007 Last weekend when walking past Dorking Deepdene station, I noticed that a ticket machine has been installed, not on the platform, but on the pavement of the A24. As there are 2 entrances to the station, and one might not walk past the machine to reach eastbound trains, you may not be aware of its presence. Indeed, being not on railway property, one wonders how long it will be there before somebody vandalises it. It`s a bit of a nuisance that it has been installed, as you can happily travel from Dorking to Reigate free of charge owing to the disinterest of the conductors in asking for fares on that stretch of track. Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3724 Written by Lee on Sunday, 4th February 2007 [quote author=Steve Bray link=topic=1319.msg3719#msg3719 date=1170544783]It`s a bit of a nuisance that it has been installed, as you can happily travel from Dorking to Reigate free of charge owing to the disinterest of the conductors in asking for fares on that stretch of track.[/quote] Is that generally , or only on certain journeys? Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3727 Written by gaf71 on Sunday, 4th February 2007 The penalty fare scheme comes into operation on 01/03/07, though there will be a 4 week period to"educate" passengers. The penalty for boarding without a valid ticket from a station where there is a ticket buying facility is Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3730 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Sunday, 4th February 2007 With adequate and well signposted options to buy a ticket, and a lenient view for folks such as visitors to the UK who may get confused by the system, a penalty fare system is fair enough. Certainly, I feel a certain resentment when my fares go up and I'm told that it's bacuse of all the fare dodgers. However, I need to be convinced that the options to buy the right ticket, without confusion, and also a system that has a kind face to it for newcomers, is to be used. And that's something I've not been convinced of by my recent reading here and elsewhere, and my own "case" which was - what - three weeks ago and Customer services have still not replied to my email ... Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3737 Written by James on Sunday, 4th February 2007 [quote author=gaf71 link=topic=1319.msg3727#msg3727 date=1170599445] The penalty fare scheme comes into operation on 01/03/07, though there will be a 4 week period to"educate" passengers. The penalty for boarding without a valid ticket from a station where there is a ticket buying facility is Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3740 Written by Steve Bray on Monday, 5th February 2007 [quote author=Lee link=topic=1319.msg3724#msg3724 date=1170592724] [quote author=Steve Bray link=topic=1319.msg3719#msg3719 date=1170544783]It`s a bit of a nuisance that it has been installed, as you can happily travel from Dorking to Reigate free of charge owing to the disinterest of the conductors in asking for fares on that stretch of track.[/quote] Is that generally , or only on certain journeys? [/quote] There Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3755 Written by Mojo on Monday, 5th February 2007 They should put a Permit To Travel machine (PERTIS) on the platform as well as a ticket machine - as ticket machines can't sell every type of ticket avaliable & some people can't use them. The idea of these is to prove intention for payment - you put any amount of money from 5p upwards and they print a ticket, when you pay for your ticket, you hand this permit over and the money you paid on the PERTIS is taken off the price of the ticket. I believe the Penalty Fares scheme is a scam, designed to pull in unwilling "customers" - if they wanted to penalise those who don't pay - they'd refer them to the courts, but to prosecute someone, you must prove they have intention Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3766 Written by James on Monday, 5th February 2007 [quote author=Mojo link=topic=1319.msg3755#msg3755 date=1170678663] They should put a Permit To Travel machine (PERTIS) on the platform as well as a ticket machine - as ticket machines can't sell every type of ticket avaliable & some people can't use them. The idea of these is to prove intention for payment - you put any amount of money from 5p upwards and they print a ticket, when you pay for your ticket, you hand this permit over and the money you paid on the PERTIS is taken off the price of the ticket. I believe the Penalty Fares scheme is a scam, designed to pull in unwilling "customers" - if they wanted to penalise those who don't pay - they'd refer them to the courts, but to prosecute someone, you must prove they have intention [/quote] MAy I just point out though, the new self service machines CAN sell NEARLY every ticket in the books Re: ticket machines and penalty fares - 1319/3781 Written by courgettelawn on Tuesday, 6th February 2007 Salisbury (SW Trains stration) has a ticket office with good open-hours, plus option of using the travel centre. However, on many an occasion the queues are very long (especially if only one booth is actually serving) and you can turn up even up to 15-20 minutes before departure and still not be served. Since about November 2006 a ticket machine which takes credit cards and cash has been installed. I'm not averse to such things and was very pleased to see it. However, using it for the first few times was painstaking. It wasn't clear when to indicate you had a railcard, nor, when offered, which 'route' to choose (e.g. going to Exeter from Salisbury, you can take SW Train on Gillingham line or FGW via Westbury). It was also frustrating that if you wanted to take a train that's just at the start of off-peak hours (say, 10am) you can't buy a railcard ticket in advance. The complicated rail-fare structure puts so many people off, I cannot understand why there hasn't been an imposition of fares per kilometer/mile travelled regardless of destination (unlike the current 'market forces' indicators operators use). The machine has, I have observed, put many people off so the queues remain and the machine is unused. The staff are not much wiser though SW Trains do on occasion have people around to help. I can't imagine FGW will bother helping anyone. These machines are clearly expensive (fare rises) and unless operators do something concrete to educate passengers on their use - and offer multi-lingual facilities for visitors, they will be unused and then you're liable for a penalty for the pleasure. link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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