MSE News: Rail passengers using self-service machines to get a better deal

A question about : MSE News: Rail passengers using self-service machines to get a better deal

Commuters will be told about the cheapest train fares available from March as part of a new rail fare code of conduct ...

Read the full story:

Rail passengers using self-service machines to get a better deal

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven't already, join the forum to reply. If you aren't sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

Best answers:

• About time. my local train station machine will happily sell you a return ticket to London that is more expensive than a one day travel card. The one day travel cards are also available from the same machine but you have to know it exists to search for it.
  Whether this means that it will also tell you that it would be cheaper still to tap in and out on the oyster reader 2 foot away from the machine will be worth seeing.
• "As a first step, they must label all self-service machines by March to warn passengers they could save money by using the counter service."
  Are they going to provide refreshments while the people in the queue go slowly insane behind the idiot who thinks he is in a travel agents?
• Most cheap tickets are advance purchase, for off-peak times any way. Turning up at the station and try to get the cheapest ticket reminds me of the old joke:
  Q: How do I get to Cleethorpe?
  A: I wouldn't start from here if I were you.
• Nationalise the nasty boys, remove all disgusting management back handers for just doing their job adequately and run the system as a national requirement; not a pocket filling exercise for the rich; who travel by Mercedes anyhow.
• Single tickets are Ј6.90 - Thameslink only or Ј9.60 to include the underground.
  Station code is ELS.
• Ah, the wonders of Thameslink.
  I'm in North London Zone 4, and the Thameslink is great for Luton and Gatwick. No issues getting to Luton, but it's a bit tricky going to Gatwick.
  A simple single is about Ј15, but you need to know not to pick "All routes", which is about Ј20. The reason is "All routes" allows you to use the Gatwick Express, which is slower because I have to get to Victoria first, whereas the Thameslink can take me all the way. Three weeks ago, 5am, without the aid of coffee, I just caught myself and bought the Ј15 ticket. Could easily have just paid the "All routes" price.
  Theoretically, I should be able to use the Oyster to get to East Croydon, and then buy a single for the last leg East Croydon to Gatwick. I seem to remember working it out once, and it's a few pounds cheaper, but that means getting off the train in East Croydon, and catch the next train to Gatwick. If I swipe the Oyster when I get on initially, I would have to get off in East Croydon to swipe out, otherwise I will get charged the ~Ј10 maximum because the system doesn't know where I got out.
  Another problem is, getting to Gatwick with just the Oyster means I end up getting fined for travelling without a ticket.
  The holiday charter flights always depart early, so there is never a person in the ticket office. Actually, it's such a small station, there's hardly anybody there most of the time. One of these days, I hope I can go to a manned ticket window, and ask for the TFL single + East Croydon-Gatwick ticket. I fully expect being told it can't be done, because the system just wants to sell me the Ј15 ticket.
• Perhaps this is a known thing but I was quite surprised to find out that my FGW standard advance ticket (booked online more than a month in advance!) turned out to be Ј5.00 (20% of the original price) more than what I could have paid at the ticket counter on the day.
  The explanation (I paraphrase) was that it might have been due to the EasyJet style supply-demand rise and drop of ticket prices on the day when I booked the standard advance! So, I am hoping that the ticket machine doesn't have such clever pricing mechanism built in.
• Coulsdon South is Zone 6 already
• If you're wanting to get from Kent to Brighton, the journey planner on National Rail insists for most departure stations that the way to do it is get a high speed train to London St Pancras International. From there it's either a slow Thameslink or a tube to London Victoria and then another train.
  You have to know that if you can get to Ashford International, you can get to the Brighton main line by taking a train through Tonbridge changing at Redhill OR by taking the Marsh Link diesel down the scenic but slow coastal route direct to Brighton.
  Yes that can be complicated timetable wise and fare wise, but I always operate on the principles that if I can avoid forking out Ј70 quid to London on a high speed and avoid London altogether I *should* save money.
  However OH has found that popular routes can be more expensive. He found it was cheaper to buy a rtn from Ashford Intl to Redhill and get of at Tonbridge than buy an Ashford Int-Tonbridge rtn. Doing that saves Ј3. It makes a mockery of fare zones.
  I have found that it's usually cheaper to buy a non-high speed rtn to a named London station than to buy a rtn from London. It's also cheaper by 10p to buy a single to Maidstone East from some village stations than it is to buy a single from Maidstone East there.