Seat Reservations - Page 2

James Shields · 19-06-2006, 21:28

As can be seen here: G Corcaigh. Unfortunately I didn't notice until I got home, or I'd have taken one from a better angle.

d8boy · 11-07-2006, 23:12

I had to travel from Dublin to Limerick & return last week and scheduled my day to suit the 09:00 MkIV. I booked the ticket online, was offered a seat for the Mk IV service to Limerick Jcn. but not for the 17:30 return from Limerick, which is MkIId operated. I found the coach and seat easily, thanks to the MkIV coaches' destination boards noted above. However I was bowled over to find my name on the LED panel above the seat! The problem was that the little old lady sitting in my seat seemed not to notice the reservation. Since I was taught to be nice to little old ladies, I said nothing and my carefully considered window seat facing forward became an aisle seat...

I heard similar reports from other people travelling on MkIII sets where the seat bays have a sticker warning that the seats should not be occupied without a reservation but the reserved seats themselves are not marked. Add the still widesprad attitude of the Great Irish Public that rules are for the other fella, and the on-board staff's apparent lack of interest in checking reservation details, the result is that they are occupied by whoever feels like it.

So it looks like the technology is working but the human factor lets it down.

Mark Gleeson · 11-07-2006, 23:17

Well if you is left standing on the 9am Dublin Cork find the train manager its normally Happy (no jokes please) and let him sort it out.

Even the IT guys have a grasp of the culture problem

Seat res yesterday was manually coded (ie the train manifest was done by hand) but it worked

Derek Wheeler · 11-07-2006, 23:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Seat res yesterday was manually coded (ie the train manifest was done by hand) but it worked

Because it was done by hand and it was a special..

As an operating system, it will only work if train management have an interest in monitoring and actively enforcing the policy of keeping pre-booked seats free. Its a culture change from the technology, to the staff, to the customer, right down to the "little old lady" who hasn't a clue.

The Mr. Spock school of logical thinking, won't apply.

Oh and it has to actually work aswell, before we can apply reality. Even IE staff know this.

CastaheaneyMan · 12-07-2006, 10:33

Same situation when travelled in Germany/France/Luxembourg - most of time have to point person to overhead LED that this is seat you have booked (if electronic sign available) or ticket with your seat number on it. Some older trains in Germany have simply 'reserved' on sign - no name tag. Especially this time of year when large amount of Inter railers going around people sit any where and great craic listening to irate germans trying to explain to eighteen year old in broken english get out of my bloody seat

That said most people have no problem getting up as realise people can reserve

Mark Gleeson · 12-07-2006, 10:42

We spoke at length to the IT guys behind it and the back end systems are in place to do a whole heap of cool stuff but the on train culture isn't leading to a easy implementation

Needless to say I will be booking online from now on and I can get a seat arriving at a decent time and not 60+ minutes ahead

MrX · 12-07-2006, 16:58

They'd need to have a system where by the seat folds up until you insert your reserved ticked

Donal Quinn · 13-07-2006, 09:07

i've just booked a ticket from thurles to cork for after the hurling 1/4 finals saturday week

had to go first class as normal seats were all taken

will report back on if some langer took my seat - i have to change at mallow for cork so i assume it's a tralee train and therefore not a CDE...

Mark Gleeson · 13-07-2006, 09:21

Nah all the seats are not taken only a small proportion of seats on normal services are bookable, best guess puts it at no more than 104 on any one train

There be a culture problem you won't see full seat booking for a while

James Shields · 14-07-2006, 17:05

I think we need to have ticket inspectors walk through the train, and if people are sitting in reserved seats, check they are the reservation holders. If a seat is reserved later on the journey, the passenger should be informed, "you'll have to vacate these seats at Thurles". And if an elderly person has taken a reserved seat, the ticket inspector should find them an unreserved seat elsewhere, asking a more able bodied person to vacate one of the "priority seats" if necessary.

Of course, if a person can't find their reserved seats, the onus is also on them to ask a member of staff to find it.

Mark · 17-07-2006, 08:19

My sister went to book tickets yesterday using my credit card and to her dismay it said that the credit card holder must travel. Is that common across the board regarding booking train tickets in europe?

Mark Gleeson · 17-07-2006, 08:40

You do need the credit card to collect the tickets

Mark · 17-07-2006, 09:01

It stated that the credit card holder must travel.

Mark Gleeson · 17-07-2006, 09:18

Most vendors won't ship stuff unless the address is that of the credit card owner, its the same kind of thing

Strangely it doesn't seem to apply to special trains

CastaheaneyMan · 17-07-2006, 10:40

From my experience this is true in Europe as well.

When ever booked with DE Bahn online tickets sent to address per credit card or I.D. needed to collect tickets at main station. Normal now that if address not per credit card have to fax, or e-mail with scan, I.D. card, passport I.D. page or something equivalent to prove identity to avoid fraud.

After saying all that one day bought two tickets in brussels with credit card for two people and neither ticket was for me and did work. Maybe the fact that bought ticket over counter made the difference rather than online.

James Shields · 17-07-2006, 11:24

As long as the credit card holder is there to collect the tickets, there shouldn't be any requirement for them to travel. In practice, I suspect you would get away with booking someone's ticket and dropping them to the station to collect their tickets, then not travelling yourself. However, in practice this isn't always feasible.

You should be able to book seats in any station. For example, if I'm travelling to Cork tomorrow, I should be able to saunter into my local DART station and book seats for the InterCity leg. Providing I do it a reasonable amount of time in advance of the departure, there shouldn't be any problem. As far as I know, no such service is currently available.

Colm Donoghue · 17-07-2006, 11:28

does it say the credit card holder has to bring their credit card on the trip??

and do normal passengers need to carry ID ??

Mark · 17-07-2006, 11:38

I went to book her tickets and it stated that the credit card holder must be a member of the travelling party. I certainly wasn't willing to lend my clothes/fashion/shopping obsessed sister my credit card for the week. I just thought it was a bit stupid considering not everyone has their own credit card. Its not a requirement on the airlines.

Mark Gleeson · 17-07-2006, 11:38

We learnt a lot about how the seat res system works last week

You can book online up to an hour before departure from start point, well reading between the lines thats not strictly true you book up until the time the train downloads its manifest which could be only 20 minutes from departure on the electronic system, won't be more than an hour, in theory you can book a seat up to 1 minute before departure but you then might have some fun on board

The ticket collection problem is causing headaches, plans are afoot to solve it. Can't see why the ticket vending machines can't be dual role, if you insert your credit card on the main screen it should switch to ticket collection mode

Dublin City Centre as a destination in coming

James Shields · 17-07-2006, 13:47

Why is a physical ticket required at all? The airlines have done away with them years ago. It's one thing for unreserved seats, but there will be a limited number of booked seats on every train. It would be pretty easy to just give you a reservation code when you book. The ticket inspector need only be given a print list of reservations/booking codes for the ticket inspector when the PIS is being uploaded.

11-07-2006, 23:17	#23
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	Well if you is left standing on the 9am Dublin Cork find the train manager its normally Happy (no jokes please) and let him sort it out. Even the IT guys have a grasp of the culture problem Seat res yesterday was manually coded (ie the train manifest was done by hand) but it worked Last edited by Mark Gleeson : 11-07-2006 at 23:30.

12-07-2006, 10:33	#25
CastaheaneyMan New to the board Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 18	Unfortunately the culture elsewhere as well Same situation when travelled in Germany/France/Luxembourg - most of time have to point person to overhead LED that this is seat you have booked (if electronic sign available) or ticket with your seat number on it. Some older trains in Germany have simply 'reserved' on sign - no name tag. Especially this time of year when large amount of Inter railers going around people sit any where and great craic listening to irate germans trying to explain to eighteen year old in broken english get out of my bloody seat That said most people have no problem getting up as realise people can reserve

17-07-2006, 10:40	#35
CastaheaneyMan New to the board Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 18	From my experience this is true in Europe as well. When ever booked with DE Bahn online tickets sent to address per credit card or I.D. needed to collect tickets at main station. Normal now that if address not per credit card have to fax, or e-mail with scan, I.D. card, passport I.D. page or something equivalent to prove identity to avoid fraud. After saying all that one day bought two tickets in brussels with credit card for two people and neither ticket was for me and did work. Maybe the fact that bought ticket over counter made the difference rather than online. Last edited by CastaheaneyMan : 17-07-2006 at 10:44.

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19-06-2006, 21:28	#21
James Shields Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Drogheda, Ireland Posts: 1,275	As can be seen here: G Corcaigh. Unfortunately I didn't notice until I got home, or I'd have taken one from a better angle.

11-07-2006, 23:12	#22
d8boy Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Dublin Posts: 12	I had to travel from Dublin to Limerick & return last week and scheduled my day to suit the 09:00 MkIV. I booked the ticket online, was offered a seat for the Mk IV service to Limerick Jcn. but not for the 17:30 return from Limerick, which is MkIId operated. I found the coach and seat easily, thanks to the MkIV coaches' destination boards noted above. However I was bowled over to find my name on the LED panel above the seat! The problem was that the little old lady sitting in my seat seemed not to notice the reservation. Since I was taught to be nice to little old ladies, I said nothing and my carefully considered window seat facing forward became an aisle seat... I heard similar reports from other people travelling on MkIII sets where the seat bays have a sticker warning that the seats should not be occupied without a reservation but the reserved seats themselves are not marked. Add the still widesprad attitude of the Great Irish Public that rules are for the other fella, and the on-board staff's apparent lack of interest in checking reservation details, the result is that they are occupied by whoever feels like it. So it looks like the technology is working but the human factor lets it down.

12-07-2006, 10:42	#26
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	We spoke at length to the IT guys behind it and the back end systems are in place to do a whole heap of cool stuff but the on train culture isn't leading to a easy implementation Needless to say I will be booking online from now on and I can get a seat arriving at a decent time and not 60+ minutes ahead

12-07-2006, 16:58	#27
MrX Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 585	They'd need to have a system where by the seat folds up until you insert your reserved ticked

13-07-2006, 09:07	#28
Donal Quinn Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 267	i've just booked a ticket from thurles to cork for after the hurling 1/4 finals saturday week had to go first class as normal seats were all taken will report back on if some langer took my seat - i have to change at mallow for cork so i assume it's a tralee train and therefore not a CDE...

13-07-2006, 09:21	#29
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	Nah all the seats are not taken only a small proportion of seats on normal services are bookable, best guess puts it at no more than 104 on any one train There be a culture problem you won't see full seat booking for a while

14-07-2006, 17:05	#30
James Shields Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Drogheda, Ireland Posts: 1,275	I think we need to have ticket inspectors walk through the train, and if people are sitting in reserved seats, check they are the reservation holders. If a seat is reserved later on the journey, the passenger should be informed, "you'll have to vacate these seats at Thurles". And if an elderly person has taken a reserved seat, the ticket inspector should find them an unreserved seat elsewhere, asking a more able bodied person to vacate one of the "priority seats" if necessary. Of course, if a person can't find their reserved seats, the onus is also on them to ask a member of staff to find it.

17-07-2006, 08:19	#31
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Northern line Posts: 1,311	My sister went to book tickets yesterday using my credit card and to her dismay it said that the credit card holder must travel. Is that common across the board regarding booking train tickets in europe?

17-07-2006, 08:40	#32
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	You do need the credit card to collect the tickets

17-07-2006, 09:01	#33
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Northern line Posts: 1,311	It stated that the credit card holder must travel.

17-07-2006, 09:18	#34
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	Most vendors won't ship stuff unless the address is that of the credit card owner, its the same kind of thing Strangely it doesn't seem to apply to special trains

17-07-2006, 11:24	#36
James Shields Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Drogheda, Ireland Posts: 1,275	As long as the credit card holder is there to collect the tickets, there shouldn't be any requirement for them to travel. In practice, I suspect you would get away with booking someone's ticket and dropping them to the station to collect their tickets, then not travelling yourself. However, in practice this isn't always feasible. You should be able to book seats in any station. For example, if I'm travelling to Cork tomorrow, I should be able to saunter into my local DART station and book seats for the InterCity leg. Providing I do it a reasonable amount of time in advance of the departure, there shouldn't be any problem. As far as I know, no such service is currently available.

17-07-2006, 11:28	#37
Colm Donoghue Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 873	does it say the credit card holder has to bring their credit card on the trip?? and do normal passengers need to carry ID ??

17-07-2006, 11:38	#38
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Northern line Posts: 1,311	I went to book her tickets and it stated that the credit card holder must be a member of the travelling party. I certainly wasn't willing to lend my clothes/fashion/shopping obsessed sister my credit card for the week. I just thought it was a bit stupid considering not everyone has their own credit card. Its not a requirement on the airlines.

17-07-2006, 13:47	#40
James Shields Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Drogheda, Ireland Posts: 1,275	Why is a physical ticket required at all? The airlines have done away with them years ago. It's one thing for unreserved seats, but there will be a limited number of booked seats on every train. It would be pretty easy to just give you a reservation code when you book. The ticket inspector need only be given a print list of reservations/booking codes for the ticket inspector when the PIS is being uploaded.