To be fair the TFL ones are mainly used for topping up an oyster card which is a much simpler proposition than having to search and find the right ticket between any random two stations in the country.
Hear, hear! I worry about disabled and elderly customers too. The lack of ticket offices will leave customers also confused about whom to ask if there is disruption.
Also the elderly and disabled need it too. What if your trains cancelled and you don’t know your options? Nothing beats a face to face customer experience
There is a north-south divide in the quality of the hardware & software of ticket machines. Those on TOCs including Southern, South Western Railway, Southeastern, East Midlands and Thameslink being reliable & speedy, while those on TOCs including T-Pex, Northern, Chiltern Railways, Great Western and LNER suffer from sluggish processors and interfaces that require a large number of presses to tell the machine which ticket you want and have been known to defraud customers by hanging between contacting the user's bank and printing the ticket. Where possible, I withdraw money from an ATM and buy a ticket in cash to avoid the need to trust these machines to take money from my bank, but much of the time, the note acceptor either doesn't work or is absent.
Most ticket machines at stations take cash as well as card, but I still don't think they should close them. A machine can't tell you the difference between the types of tickets for a start, and that's just one of the most basic questions! It's ridiculous.
I experienced this at Cottingley when I tried to buy a ticket to Chinley once. Normally I never have a problem, but when there were buses on part of the route between Leeds and Wakefield/Sheffield it wouldn’t sell me a ticket because the system was sending me via York with no valid fare. I’d have quite happily gone via York to avoid a replacement bus, but; “computer says, no”! In the end I went via Hambleton to Doncaster and changed there for Sheffield. Came back via Manchester.
My guess is that there isn't actually a fare from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston. (specifically) because instead it will be a fare with "London Terminals" as the destination. Specific London termini only have fares from stations not too far from London (Cambridge being the furthest north I have encountered... As that has 2 different prices between London King's Cross and London Liverpool Street) The point is that the normal person shouldn't need to know this whatsoever to buy a ticket to London, The machine should know EUS is within the London terminals group and find the fair for that automatically
A few weeks ago a ticket machine at St. Pancras refused to sell me a day return ticket (to Wellingborough). So I bought a one-way ticket there (£££) and bought another one-way ticket back (from Northampton) at the end of the day...
my local station has put their sign up and it’s really odd to see i may not have used them often but for elderly or disabled people they are incredibly helpful even for people who don’t speak english as a first language, having a real person try and understand you is better then using those awful machines with shitty touch screens
Fair play, jen. I've sent an email rejecting the plans on the basis of how unreliable the moden ticket machine's are and how a few times I've had to collect my pre purchased rail tickets from a ticket office I also commented they should get rid off non passenger facing office workers instead
those large screen service kiosks belong in malls where people can throw their hands up in frustration and just look around. I rarely have good service with them Perhaps my fingers are too cold. HATE THEM Why not the small machine based vending kiosks?
Spot on Jenny. I also argue with the comment made by ministers that most (most, not all mind you) tickets purchased at ticket offices could have been purchased on line. Yet, how many of those tickets were purchased after being given advice or guidance by the staff at the ticket office? Something a ticket machine can't do, leaving the customer none the wiser. The fares system is a minefield as it is, with so many different options and restrictions on ticket times routes available, operators that the ticket is or isn't valid on. I'm reliant on public transport on health grounds, given the choice it would be the car for most journeys. Get in at point A, get out at point B, no changing cars half way, waiting ages for a connection. Seat guaranteed, the price of fuel doesn't vary depending on what time of day it is or when you travel. The government seem to be out to make the train an even less viable or attractive option to the car, when it should be the other way around. I'm just glad I moved to a Merseyrail served area. Ticket offices at stations staffed from first to last train. 15 minute frequency. Free train as well as bus on a disabled pass. Free bus and rail pass for over 60s (within Merseyside), the only region other than London / TfL to do that.
All though ticket offices are important, etickets will be the future and I think they are easy and accessible for many people but I understand some ticket offices need to still be open
Those Northern Ticket Machine can a nightmare. For example picking up tickets you can't tap you card with Contactless in order to release the tickets. Where human ticket office can issue my ticket faster then a ticket machine.
100% but ticket offices that are at more remote stations that have little services at them should have a buy on board scheme. All stations with a more than hourly service (3tph in any direction) and ticket office infrastructure should keep their ticket offices OPEN
All these machines need to be able to do is sell tickets without selecting atrain. If anyone is stupid enough to buy a ticket for a journey that doesn’t exist that’s their lookout in my book.
Any machine serving the public will NEVER be as efficient as a human. Fact !! When will these stupid companies get this simple fact. Plus think how much these machines cost and the maintenance. Pointless. Give people jobs and a decent customer experience. It's not rocket science !
That's what she put. The ticket would usually be Manchester STNs to London Terminals, so maybe that's what's confusing it - not so much the Manchester end because Northern have probably got that but more the London End. And if your buy a ticket to London from an ticket office they'd probably ask if you want to go to Euston or for a negligible extra fee to London Underground Zone 1 - of course most people aren't going to stop at Euston.
they don't, but Northern, along with the 20+ other Train Operating Companies, are part of National Rail, meaning that you should be able to buy a ticket for a journey involving changes onto other operators' trains. I think the issue here is the machine is wanting "London Terminals", but how is the layperson supposed to know that?
@@JenOnTheMove Where in which station? I lived in Leeds for 2 years and I used to commute to Manchester a lot Bcz of work, and I guarantee you that they were empty. Even here in London, most of them are empty. Most people use apps and to be more specific train line. P.S: I’m not saying it’s a good move from them to close all ticket machines. I’m just saying there’s a reason behind that, and I work for one of the rail networks here in the Uk. I can assure that more than 89% of ticket sales are done through 3rd party apps. Again I’m not saying that it’s a good move from them, especially for people that don’t use smartphones a lot.
@JenOnTheMove let's make another example. If you want to go on metrolink around Manchester (I'm from London I don't know the area) and you buy tickets from avanti west coast they're not going to give you the right tickets. You need to buy from the right operator to get the right tickets. TfL won't give you tickets to a place like Leeds or Manchester.
no it isn't. Northern is part of National Rail, so they're supposed to sell tickets for journeys involving changes onto other operators' trains, but the stupid machine expects the layperson to put in "London Terminals" (which they're not going to know to do).
@@leswall3061 You know ticket machines sell tickets to all destinations, right? You're not restricted to using the ticket machine of the TOC you're travelling with. There was not an Avanti ticket machine at the station where this video was taken, so how would I be able to use an Avanti machine there?
Well done Jen! 👏
It's the elderly and people of all ages who have a wide range of disabilities they should consider first.
❤
Well done Jen for taking about this issue. I’m so surprised that Geoff Marshall hasn’t done a video on it…
To be fair the TFL ones are mainly used for topping up an oyster card which is a much simpler proposition than having to search and find the right ticket between any random two stations in the country.
It's almost like the Government doesn't want people to be able to buy tickets 🤔
I remember when these new ticket machines got hacked and almost all of them stopped working
The bosses of every TOC should be forced to watch this video and see for themselves why ticket offices should stay open
Hi Jen,
You are absolutely correct, while ticket machines are not understanding a simple instruction, Ticket Offices MUST remain OPEN...!
Well done Jen. Safety is another concern too. Well done for highlighting the need for ticket offices
Hear, hear!
I worry about disabled and elderly customers too.
The lack of ticket offices will leave customers also confused about whom to ask if there is disruption.
In Scotland you can buy a ticket on the train. Where there is barriers there is always a ticket office.
Well said Jen, straight to the point.
Absolutely the right message
Too true Jen
Also the elderly and disabled need it too. What if your trains cancelled and you don’t know your options? Nothing beats a face to face customer experience
There is a north-south divide in the quality of the hardware & software of ticket machines. Those on TOCs including Southern, South Western Railway, Southeastern, East Midlands and Thameslink being reliable & speedy, while those on TOCs including T-Pex, Northern, Chiltern Railways, Great Western and LNER suffer from sluggish processors and interfaces that require a large number of presses to tell the machine which ticket you want and have been known to defraud customers by hanging between contacting the user's bank and printing the ticket. Where possible, I withdraw money from an ATM and buy a ticket in cash to avoid the need to trust these machines to take money from my bank, but much of the time, the note acceptor either doesn't work or is absent.
Completely agreed. Thank you for raising this issue here on a video
If the technology can’t or won’t work, then there’s no way that ticket offices should close
Yes Jen totally agree with you there #saveourticketoffices
Omg i rely heavily on ticket office since i only use cash plus i like to ask the staff questions
Most ticket machines at stations take cash as well as card, but I still don't think they should close them. A machine can't tell you the difference between the types of tickets for a start, and that's just one of the most basic questions! It's ridiculous.
💯 Jen... I can't believe how far they're willing to go to cut staff.
I experienced this at Cottingley when I tried to buy a ticket to Chinley once. Normally I never have a problem, but when there were buses on part of the route between Leeds and Wakefield/Sheffield it wouldn’t sell me a ticket because the system was sending me via York with no valid fare. I’d have quite happily gone via York to avoid a replacement bus, but; “computer says, no”!
In the end I went via Hambleton to Doncaster and changed there for Sheffield. Came back via Manchester.
Very well said! Any idea why it won't sell tickets?
My guess is that there isn't actually a fare from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston. (specifically) because instead it will be a fare with "London Terminals" as the destination. Specific London termini only have fares from stations not too far from London (Cambridge being the furthest north I have encountered... As that has 2 different prices between London King's Cross and London Liverpool Street)
The point is that the normal person shouldn't need to know this whatsoever to buy a ticket to London,
The machine should know EUS is within the London terminals group and find the fair for that automatically
A few weeks ago a ticket machine at St. Pancras refused to sell me a day return ticket (to Wellingborough). So I bought a one-way ticket there (£££) and bought another one-way ticket back (from Northampton) at the end of the day...
Well said Jen!
Here here! Let's save 'our ' ticket office's and them great peoples job's.
Right. And this is the experience of a non-physically disabled person. What more for those who are.
Or even mentally disabled, autism etc, who may feel reassured speaking to a human being.
my local station has put their sign up and it’s really odd to see
i may not have used them often but for elderly or disabled people they are incredibly helpful
even for people who don’t speak english as a first language, having a real person try and understand you is better then using those awful machines with shitty touch screens
I absolutely agree with you Jen.
#saveourticketoffices
Absolute nightmare.
Omg!? Are the oprators over there pulling an Amtrak!?
Probably.
Totally agree with you there, Jen. A computer algorithm can never replace human interaction.
#saveourticketoffices
Fair play, jen. I've sent an email rejecting the plans on the basis of how unreliable the moden ticket machine's are and how a few times I've had to collect my pre purchased rail tickets from a ticket office I also commented they should get rid off non passenger facing office workers instead
those large screen service kiosks belong in malls where people can throw their hands up in frustration and just look around. I rarely have good service with them Perhaps my fingers are too cold. HATE THEM Why not the small machine based vending kiosks?
Well said Jen. The whole automation of life is a nightmare and you clearly show that anarchy will become the norm when ticket offices are closed.
Well done Jen.
Spot on Jenny.
I also argue with the comment made by ministers that most (most, not all mind you) tickets purchased at ticket offices could have been purchased on line. Yet, how many of those tickets were purchased after being given advice or guidance by the staff at the ticket office? Something a ticket machine can't do, leaving the customer none the wiser.
The fares system is a minefield as it is, with so many different options and restrictions on ticket times routes available, operators that the ticket is or isn't valid on.
I'm reliant on public transport on health grounds, given the choice it would be the car for most journeys. Get in at point A, get out at point B, no changing cars half way, waiting ages for a connection. Seat guaranteed, the price of fuel doesn't vary depending on what time of day it is or when you travel.
The government seem to be out to make the train an even less viable or attractive option to the car, when it should be the other way around.
I'm just glad I moved to a Merseyrail served area. Ticket offices at stations staffed from first to last train. 15 minute frequency. Free train as well as bus on a disabled pass. Free bus and rail pass for over 60s (within Merseyside), the only region other than London / TfL to do that.
Not sure this is a bad thing, Does London need more Mancunians?
😁
Sorry.
And Yes, Jen you are right as usual.
All though ticket offices are important, etickets will be the future and I think they are easy and accessible for many people but I understand some ticket offices need to still be open
You're so right
Those Northern Ticket Machine can a nightmare. For example picking up tickets you can't tap you card with Contactless in order to release the tickets. Where human ticket office can issue my ticket faster then a ticket machine.
One way round it would be for revenue protection staff to refuse to charge penalty fares to victims of these unless machines
Totally agree
Well said Jen.
They’re closing them in Kent, not Manchester..
Errr, what makes you say that? There is a world north of Watford you know!
@@JenOnTheMove Are they closing them all over England? I just remember seeing a few articles about them being closed in the South East
Yes, most ticket offices in England are closing
@@JenOnTheMove I've heard ALL of them are closing!
all of them that includes Southeastern swr Gwr LNER Avanti LNWR Thameslink and the list goes on
This is one step closer to online tickets being the only tickets
Train line would have done a better job than the digital ticket machine
@@FateBoost lol
100% but ticket offices that are at more remote stations that have little services at them should have a buy on board scheme. All stations with a more than hourly service (3tph in any direction) and ticket office infrastructure should keep their ticket offices OPEN
Use Trainline… no need for them or ticket offices
All these machines need to be able to do is sell tickets without selecting atrain. If anyone is stupid enough to buy a ticket for a journey that doesn’t exist that’s their lookout in my book.
Agree! But why can’t it sell any tickets?
The stupid machine is expecting the layperson to know that it's wanting "London Terminals" to be typed in.
Thanks jen.
absolutely
We have this facility in India🇮🇳 for more than 5 years😂😂😂😂
which station is that
Any machine serving the public will NEVER be as efficient as a human. Fact !! When will these stupid companies get this simple fact. Plus think how much these machines cost and the maintenance. Pointless. Give people jobs and a decent customer experience. It's not rocket science !
Try Piccadilly to London Euston
That's what she put. The ticket would usually be Manchester STNs to London Terminals, so maybe that's what's confusing it - not so much the Manchester end because Northern have probably got that but more the London End.
And if your buy a ticket to London from an ticket office they'd probably ask if you want to go to Euston or for a negligible extra fee to London Underground Zone 1 - of course most people aren't going to stop at Euston.
I thought northern didn’t go to Euston
they don't, but Northern, along with the 20+ other Train Operating Companies, are part of National Rail, meaning that you should be able to buy a ticket for a journey involving changes onto other operators' trains.
I think the issue here is the machine is wanting "London Terminals", but how is the layperson supposed to know that?
The ticket machine is on strike
exactly
Who buys from ticket machines ? Everyone buys their tickets from apps these days. If nobody uses them then it makes sense to close them
There are queues out of ticket offices every single day. What this just shows is that you don’t actually use the railway
@@JenOnTheMove Where in which station? I lived in Leeds for 2 years and I used to commute to Manchester a lot Bcz of work, and I guarantee you that they were empty. Even here in London, most of them are empty. Most people use apps and to be more specific train line.
P.S: I’m not saying it’s a good move from them to close all ticket machines. I’m just saying there’s a reason behind that, and I work for one of the rail networks here in the Uk. I can assure that more than 89% of ticket sales are done through 3rd party apps. Again I’m not saying that it’s a good move from them, especially for people that don’t use smartphones a lot.
I dont think northern goes from manchester to London 😂 you're buying tickets from the wrong operator.
That's not how tickets work and you know that
@JenOnTheMove let's make another example. If you want to go on metrolink around Manchester (I'm from London I don't know the area) and you buy tickets from avanti west coast they're not going to give you the right tickets. You need to buy from the right operator to get the right tickets. TfL won't give you tickets to a place like Leeds or Manchester.
That's also not how tickets work and you also know that
Any railway ticket machine / ticket office / website will sell you tickets from any railway station to any other railway station.
But you know that
Its because northern don't to London
no it isn't. Northern is part of National Rail, so they're supposed to sell tickets for journeys involving changes onto other operators' trains, but the stupid machine expects the layperson to put in "London Terminals" (which they're not going to know to do).
Should you not be using a Avanti West Coast ticket machine for a trip to London?
Why?
@@JenOnTheMove Northern don't go to London!!
@@leswall3061 Correct? What’s the issue?
@@JenOnTheMove demonstrate using Avanti Train ticket machine which will do the job of getting a ticket to London or will it?
@@leswall3061 You know ticket machines sell tickets to all destinations, right? You're not restricted to using the ticket machine of the TOC you're travelling with.
There was not an Avanti ticket machine at the station where this video was taken, so how would I be able to use an Avanti machine there?