According to the UK Office of Rail and Road (ORR), one-fifth of the passengers who use rail ticket vending machines buy the wrong ticket. While 7% of them underpay the fare of their journey and risk being fined, 13% are paying too much.
The ORR employed mystery shoppers to buy rail tickets from machines. Nearly two-thirds (65%) could not see any information on the machines about the type of tickets which could or could not be bought. More than half (57%) said the machines did not explain the times when peak and off-peak tickets were valid. Nearly one-third (32%) said there was no information on the machines about ticket restrictions.
Accordingly, ORR wants train companies to refund passengers who accidentally buy tickets that are too expensive for their journey.
“Despite investment in new technology and the removal of jargon from ticket machines, our new research shows passengers may be paying more for their journey than necessary. We are calling on train companies to commit to refund anyone who finds that they could have bought a cheaper ticket for the same journey,” said John Larkinson, ORR director of railway markets and economics.
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