London Banter - View Single Post

Roland Perry · October 15th 14, 09:11 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In message , at 04:03:59
on Wed, 15 Oct 2014, remarked:
I wouldn't expect it to be long before a GN ITSO card supported
seasons and Travelcards, given that they've been piloted elsewhere.
And if you order an individual ticket online it will be able to be
picked up on the barriers.

Not, especially on the latter point I specifically asked about, according
to this here email I'm pondering my reply to.

From the Southern FAQ:

"Tickets booked online can be loaded onto the card by touching
against the smartcard readers located on the ticket gates or
validators at the nominated station. Simply hold the key onto
the yellow hand on the smartcard reader for a few seconds. The
message on the validator will read 'journey started'.

Please Note: If touching against the smartcard reader on the
ticket gates or validators, this will also start your journey
i.e. the ticket gates will open to allow you through

East Midlands Trains have many ungated stations, and use validators for
touching in and out (a bit like the DLR):

"How do I load my ticket on my smartcard?

You need to place your card on one of the validation devices at
your nominated collection station this will load your ticket.

From the SWT FAQ:

"If you purchased your ticket online or by phone, your ticket is
loaded to the Smartcard when you 'touch in' via a station
validator or at the automatic ticket gate.

If you are collecting your ticket via a validator or a ticket
gate it is important that you allow time for your ticket to load
onto the Smartcard. Just hold your Smartcard on the reader for a
few seconds and remove once the 'Product Loaded' message is
displayed and the green light shows.

From C2C:

"All you need to do is register your c2c Smartcard and buy your
ticket at c2c-online.co.uk or from a ticket machine of your
choice. Then simply touch in and out with your c2c Smartcard at
a c2c ticket barrier, and just like magic your tickets are
loaded and off you go! It's as easy as that!

Scotrail:

"You can purchase your smart season ticket online and add this
to your card at gates or platform validators."

None of this is a surprise, as it's a fundamental concept for the ITSO
system. Whoever told you that GN wouldn't be using the same scheme must
be misinformed.

It's the script their customer service agents in Plymouth have been given:

"Our smartcard the key, which has been a great success in our Southern
franchise, makes buying tickets over the internet easier and more flexible.
We will introduce it to Thameslink and Great Northern in 2015, allowing
customers to buy season tickets online and add them to their card by
touching on a reader at the station."

So much the same as EMT then.

Some bright spark has noticed that Ticket Machines, Validators and Gates
all have "readers" on them, although it would be more in step with the
language the rest of the industry uses to spell it out in one of the
more explicit ways quoted above, and not introduce this new terminology.

You have my blessing to email them saying so

--
Roland Perry