ATOC - Mobile ticketing goes live

Good news indeed from ATOC... 

Buy your rail ticket on the move with National Rail Enquiries

It is now even easier for passengers to buy train tickets on the move using their smartphone, thanks to National Rail Enquiries (NRE) updates and improvements to its mobile website and smartphone app.

Wherever they are and whenever they want, people using either the NRE mobile website or the NRE downloadable app can for the first time get the latest up-to-date train travel information and buy their rail tickets in one place.

So does this mean that passengers can now buy tickets whilst on the train without being treated like criminals? (No, of course not! Ed)

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

When I first saw this I got quite excited, thinking that the franchised TOCs had taken a leaf out of the Open Access Operators book and were now allowing passengers to buy tickets aboard trains, through their Smart Phones.

If you can't do this what is the point of announcing this 'improvement' to the app and claiming you can 'buy a ticket on the move'?

Gideon Gripped!

This from @RachTownsendITV (for non Twitter regulars read from the bottom up)...

That's the SOFA slashed then.

Revenue protection - Big Society style

Let this be a lesson to all those who wear beanie hats... (shurley fare dodge? Ed)



Good effort 'Big Man'!

SWT - stuff the passenger, bank the lolly

Good to see that SWT is maintaining its unrivaled reputation for dry shafting the passenger.

This nonsense via Yahoo:

A couple have had to pay a £114 fine after getting off a train two stops early.

Emma Clark and Davyd Winter-Bates were travelling to Southampton from London with South West Trains when they decided to get off two stops early at Eastleigh.

When they handed over their tickets at the station, they were told they were each being fined £57 because they had not stayed on the train until their destination.

The fine was twice the standard fare of £28.50.

Eye suggests that SWT should consider diversifying into the catering trade.

Using the same perverse 'revenue protection' logic they could then fine diners for failing to finish their meals.

Get a grip.

UPDATE: This from SharpSharp...

I run a coffee shop.

If I did a half price offer on americano's it would make them cheaper than espresso's. But if someone asked for an americano without the water I'd tell them they could have their usual espresso and that they should stop trying to pull a fast one.

When you buy advanced purchase tickets you don't have the option to change your plans and it is made very clear that they are valid only for the journey on the tickets.

If Emma and David were traveling to Eastleigh they should have purchased a ticket to Eastleigh.

UPDATE: This from Billy Connections...

I'm not sure why you have posted the anti-SWT rant - the couple were in breach of the terms and conditions of a special offer ticket they were sold - good on the SWT gripper for fining them.

Too many people here never consult terms and conditions of any

purchase and then assume that if they've made a mistake that they are still in the right.

Caveat Emptor!

UPDATE: This from Captain Auto...

Further to the furore:

Am I to assume that common sense on the part of ticketing staff is no longer to be encouraged?

Those who have replied are indeed entirely correct in their application of the standing rules and regulations.

I would suggest however that such heavy handed treatment of passengers (fare paying passengers, not ticketless scrotes intend on avoiding paying at all costs) is likely to damage both the reputation of SWT and ensure that the couple involved are unlikely to travel by train again.

I'm with TFC - a wonderful own-goal by the winners of Passenger Operator of the Year 2005*.

* What a difference a franchise change makes; they said they'd pay £1.2 billion in 2007. I suppose that £114 fine is at least going to cheer up the Treasury in some small way.

UPDATE: This from D0260...

I notice that SWT charged a couple £114 for getting off the train two stops early.

The question I would like to ask is:

Just how much would SWT have charged if the couple had failed to make the journey at all?

First for fares evasion

The Fact Compiler is unsure whether First is guilty of common sense or gross hypocrisy.

This from Channel 4 News...

A train company has defended its decision not to impose a penalty fare on former London Mayor Ken Livingstone after he travelled without a ticket.

First Great Western (FGW) train company said it has accepted Mr Livingstone's apology and they were happy for him to pay the fare when he got to Slough.

Bearing in mind Ken's destination perhaps they thought he had suffered enough!

UPDATE: Ithuriel writes...

It only goes to show that Hopwood is a big old-railway softy compared with the killer queen of FCC.

The fair Elaine's TTI's would not accept apologies from anyone!

UPDATE: This from a Mr Ferguson-Lee...

Ken would have a much friendlier reception in Greater Manchester, where Northern operate a 'no revenue' model at evenings and many weekends.

You can't buy a ticket even if you want to!