ONE in five train passengers using ticket machines could be either paying too much or at risk of a penalty fare, according to the rail regulator which sent “mystery shoppers” to test the decades-old fares system.
Train users were recruited to buy tickets for journeys by The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) with 13 per cent choosing more expensive tickets than required.
A further six per cent were at risk of being fined after underpaying by selecting inappropriate tickets for their journey.
Britain’s train operators should refund passengers who find they could have bought a cheaper ticket, the regulator concluded.
Two-thirds (65 per cent) of the mystery shoppers did not see any information on the type of tickets they could not buy on machines, while 57 per cent reported that machines did not explain the times when off-peak tickets could be used.
Cases where the most appropriate ticket was not selected include one shopper who was “confused” as to whether to choose “any permitted route” or “not via Reading”, while another found a ticket with a railcard was more expensive than without.
ORR director of railway markets and economics John Larkinson said: “Everyone travelling by train should be able to buy the most appropriate ticket for their journey.”
Passenger groups claimed the report demonstrated that buying the correct ticket from a machine can be “far too hit and miss”.Anthony Smith, chief executive of transport user watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Ticket vending machines need to operate more like a human ticket clerk, steering people to buy the ticket that they want, rather than baffling them with too many options.”
An action plan to improve rail ticketing.
Cases include one highlighted by businessman Stuart Gray, who revealed travellers pay up to £5.40 more (£30.40) for a return journey to Edinburgh from Drumry station in West Dunbartonshire. But Mr Gray revealed that getting on two stops further away from the capital at Dalmuir, costs just £25.
Mr Gray, of Drumry, told The Herald in December that he felt like he was being “ripped off for years by ScotRail” and the fares system lacked “logic” by failing to help customers get the best value.
Rail minister Paul Maynard welcomed the ORR report, saying the ticket-buying experience is “all too often complicated and hard to navigate”.
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