A
report


by
the
consumer
organisation
Which?
says
that
ticket
vending
machines
are
charging
passengers
more
than
they
should
for
some
journeys,
and
that
some
cheaper
fares
are
hard
to
find
or
even
not
available.

Which?
said
three
out
of
four
fares
purchased
online
were
cheaper,
and
that
travel
on
the
same
day
cost
an
average
of
52
per
cent
more
from
machines.
It
has
published
the
figures
after
sending
‘mystery’
shoppers
to
15
stations.

It
quoted
the
example
of
a
journey
from
Holmes
Chapel
in
Cheshire
to
London,
which
was
£66
if
bought
from
a
machine
but
only
£25
from
a
third-party
retailer,
while
a
journey
from
Northampton
to
Cardiff
cost
£107
from
a
machine
but
£43
online.

The
editor
of
Which?
Travel
magazine
Rory
Boland
said:
‘Huge
numbers
of
us
are
potentially
paying
significantly
more
than
we
need
to
when
we
commute
to
work
or
visit
friends
and
family.
Significant
numbers
of
elderly
people
don’t
have
internet
access
at
all,
leaving
them
with
little
choice
but
to
run
the
gauntlet
of
ticket
machines
which
either
don’t
offer
the
best
prices,
or
make
it
difficult
to
find
the
appropriate
fares.’

Explanations
for
the
differences
include
the
fact
that
some
machines
do
not
offer
Advance
fares,
make
split
ticketing
difficult
to
achieve
by
not
offering
fares
from
any
other
station,
or
simply
make
off-peak
fares
less
obvious.

Mr
Boland
added:
‘The
price
differences
we
found
between
booking
online
and
using
station
ticket
machines
were
simply
astounding.
Wherever
possible
we’d
recommend
booking
train
tickets
online
for
the
cheapest
options,
but
that
won’t
be
possible
for
everyone.’

The
Rail
Delivery
Group
said:
‘Since
the
industry
set
out
the
case
for
fares
reform
in
2019,
there
has
been
some
good
progress,
but
more
can
be
done.

‘The
introduction
of
single-leg
pricing
and
expansion
of
pay-as-you-go
contactless
fares
are
both
important
changes
making
fares
easier
and
simpler
for
customers.

‘We
will
continue
to
work
with
government
and
industry
stakeholders
to
achieve
further
reforms.’

Ticket
machines
have
been
criticised
before,
on
the
grounds
that
there
is
no
standard
screen
and
that
the
models
vary,
according
to
the
operator
which
installed
them.

It
is
only
a
few
months
since
the
government
tried
to
put
ticket
machines
at
the
front
of
retailing,
by
urging
the
train
operators
to
close
nearly
all
ticket
offices
at
English
stations,
but
some
750,000
objections
forced
the
operators
to
abandon
the
idea,
while
earlier
this
week
LNER,
which
is
owned
by
the
government,
announced
that
it
was
reducing
the
number
of
fares
to
three
main
types,
and
that
only
Anytime
fares,
which
are
by
far
the
most
expensive,
would
be
available
without
booking
in
advance.

Transport
Focus
chief
executive
Alex
Robertson
said:
‘The
ticket
office
consultation
highlighted
passengers’
concerns
about
the
difficulty
of
using
ticket
machines
and
the
range
of
tickets
available
on
them.
It’s
important
that
train
operators
consider
this
passenger
feedback
when
looking
at
future
improvements
to
ticket
machines.

‘For
all
passengers
to
have
confidence
that
they
are
getting
the
best
deal,
ticket
machines
need
to
be
easier
to
use
and
have
the
best
value
fare
available
at
the
time
of
purchase.’