Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:

What happens if there are two station, one of which has a machine
which is designed to take only cards

Then it is in full working order if it only accepts cards, although
it's not clear that such machines exist.

They do, although I've only seen them for definite at some big terminals.
However I must admit I don't tend to look too much at ticket machines
these days.

Since I wrote that comment a few months ago my own local station (Forest
Gate) has installed a second, card only ticket machine. This one's a
particularly nightmare to use as the touchscreen appears to be misaligned
and it's common to find the wrong option gets selected so often people give
up and switch to the other machine with a more responsive touchscreen. At
some point someone somewhere will have to split the hair on what constitutes
"full working order" if Joe Public can't work the controls as well as the
TOC technician who gives the machine a clean bill of health.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

On Sep 6, 2:31*pm, "Tim Roll-Pickering" T.C.Roll-
wrote:

Since I wrote that comment a few months ago my own local station (Forest
Gate) has installed a second, card only ticket machine. This one's a
particularly nightmare to use as the touchscreen appears to be misaligned

It might help if someone approached a member of staff and said "the
touchscreen is misaligned".

ian

On 06/09/2012 14:37, ian batten wrote:
On Sep 6, 2:31 pm, "Tim Roll-Pickering"T.C.Roll-
wrote:

Since I wrote that comment a few months ago my own local station (Forest
Gate) has installed a second, card only ticket machine. This one's a
particularly nightmare to use as the touchscreen appears to be misaligned

It might help if someone approached a member of staff and said "the
touchscreen is misaligned".


Nothing to do with me guv, you'll have to phone some obscure number.


--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

In message , at 14:31:42 on Thu, 6 Sep
2012, Tim Roll-Pickering remarked:
At some point someone somewhere will have to split the hair on what
constitutes "full working order" if Joe Public can't work the controls
as well as the TOC technician who gives the machine a clean bill of
health.

Or as I once found, a machine that was probably working, but roped off
because it was in the middle of a large puddle caused by a leaking roof.

Maybe that qualifies as "no machine"?
--
Roland Perry

On Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:59:28 +0100
Graeme Wall wrote:
On 06/09/2012 14:37, ian batten wrote:
On Sep 6, 2:31 pm, "Tim Roll-Pickering"T.C.Roll-
wrote:

Since I wrote that comment a few months ago my own local station (Forest
Gate) has installed a second, card only ticket machine. This one's a
particularly nightmare to use as the touchscreen appears to be misaligned

It might help if someone approached a member of staff and said "the
touchscreen is misaligned".


Nothing to do with me guv, you'll have to phone some obscure number.

Which will be an expensive 0845 that takes you through to a voicemail
service that no one listens to.

B2003

On 06/09/2012 15:04, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 14:31:42 on Thu, 6 Sep
2012, Tim Roll-Pickering remarked:
At some point someone somewhere will have to split the hair on what
constitutes "full working order" if Joe Public can't work the controls
as well as the TOC technician who gives the machine a clean bill of
health.

Or as I once found, a machine that was probably working, but roped off
because it was in the middle of a large puddle caused by a leaking roof.

Maybe that qualifies as "no machine"?

At least you could take a photo on your cam-phone to show to any
grippers you may subsequently encounter.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

On 06/09/2012 15:07, Graeme Wall wrote:
On 06/09/2012 15:04, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 14:31:42 on Thu, 6 Sep
2012, Tim Roll-Pickering remarked:
At some point someone somewhere will have to split the hair on what
constitutes "full working order" if Joe Public can't work the controls
as well as the TOC technician who gives the machine a clean bill of
health.

Or as I once found, a machine that was probably working, but roped off
because it was in the middle of a large puddle caused by a leaking roof.

Maybe that qualifies as "no machine"?

At least you could take a photo on your cam-phone to show to any
grippers you may subsequently encounter.

Has anyone had a case of a machine being unusable but staff refusing to
agree? I've seen grippers phone a friend to check before agreeing it was
broken, and others accepting that if a whole load of random passengers
all say it is dead then it probably is.

Suggestions that a machine has mysteriously broken in the short gap
between respectable types and dodgy looking characters needing to buy
tickets seem to be treated with more suspicion.



--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

ian batten wrote:

Since I wrote that comment a few months ago my own local station (Forest
Gate) has installed a second, card only ticket machine. This one's a
particularly nightmare to use as the touchscreen appears to be
misaligned

It might help if someone approached a member of staff and said "the
touchscreen is misaligned".

Already have in this case but the station isn't always staffed, and even
when it is the sole visible staffer usually isn't a trained technician who
can fix the machine before going off duty. There's also the practical
problem of timing machine repairs as the machines are in a narrow entry hall
leading straight to the steps to the platforms and that hallway gets
incredibly congested when down trains arrive.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c