A new report out today has found that Train station ticket machines are charging up to 154 per cent more than booking online, with the best value fares unavailable or hidden in a bewildering array of fare options
The consumer champion Which
Which? sent mystery shoppers to 15 stations – each run by a different train operator – and checked the price of 75 journeys from a ticket machine against the price available from the UK’s biggest ticket site, Trainline. At each machine, the consumer champion’s mystery shoppers attempted to buy the cheapest one-way ticket for travel that same day, the following morning and in three weeks’ time.
Which? found that fares purchased online were cheaper around three-quarters of the time, and on average, same day journeys cost a hefty 52 per cent more from machines. Some of the price differences were particularly eye-watering. For example, researchers purchasing a same-day, one-way ticket from Holmes Chapel in Cheshire to London would have paid a staggering 154 per cent more for their ticket from the station’s ticket machine compared with buying online, with the machine charging £66 against Trainline’s £26 split-ticket option.
Similarly, someone buying a same day, one-way ticket from Northampton to Cardiff would have paid £107 for their ticket from the machine, 148 per cent more than buying online, where the price was just £43.
Which? found the services offered by different ticket machines could vary significantly, with passengers often facing restricted choice and as a result, higher prices.
One of the key reasons why tickets from machines are often more expensive is because most don’t offer ‘advance’ fares, cheaper tariffs which are available for buying in advance of travel. Depending on the route, these can even be available up to 10 minutes before departure. However, just five of 15 machines tested by Which? offered them.
Some machines may also lead to passengers unwittingly missing out on cheaper fares. At first glance, many machines visited by Which?’s mystery shoppers didn’t appear to sell off-peak tickets at peak times.
In all, just a third of stations the consumer champion visited had the most advanced smart ticket machines – but even these don’t offer split ticketing. They do however offer real-time information and can sell tickets up to three months in advance – functions many machines lack.
Which also found train passengers could also be easily caught out by their ticket validity, with many machines often not making it clear what times and which services certain tickets are valid for. If there’s no one at the station available to ask for help, passengers risk a £50 penalty fare plus the price of a new ticket for their journey.
Most ticket machines Which? visited also lacked timetable information, making it difficult to plan an unfamiliar journey. This was even the case at the UK’s busiest station, Waterloo.
Using machines also proved problematic for many of the mystery shoppers trying to book tickets weeks in advance. For example, Great Western machines at major stations, including Oxford and Paddington, only sold tickets for same day and next day journeys.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:
“The price differences we found between booking online and using station ticket machines were simply astounding. Millions of tickets are purchased using ticket machines every year, meaning that huge numbers of us are potentially paying significantly more than we need to when we commute to work or visit friends and family across the country.
“Wherever possible we’d recommend booking train tickets online for the cheapest options, but that won’t be possible for everyone. 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.”
