https://www.reddit.com/r/Liverpool/comments/1igvi2b/merseyrail_physical_ticket_scandalous/
created by nonamelol123456 on 03/02/2025 at 18:05 UTC
172 upvotes, 35 top-level comments (showing 25)
Hi.
I'm pretty much sick to the back teeth of merseyrail and their obsession with physical tickets that need to be present you can't just buy one on the app on the train line oh no you have to have a physical ticket.
The amount of times I missed trains because of this ridiculous rule I've just missed my train now because the queue was so long in Central station absolute makes me sick.
They were planning to finally get rid but the elitist scumbag fat cats have extended it for a few more years dragging as much money as they can have Liverpool hate them
The last place in the UK for this ridiculous rule the sooner it's removed the better
Comment by Badartist1 at 03/02/2025 at 18:31 UTC
166 upvotes, 2 direct replies
The fact that they sell them on these apps and then refuse to honour (and fine people for) non-physical tickets should be illegal.
It's basically racketeering. The amount of people who come here as tourists and must get stung by it.
Wonder if this kind of thing would be appropriate for a class action.
Fuck Merseyrail.
Comment by dvhunter_16 at 03/02/2025 at 18:16 UTC
39 upvotes, 5 direct replies
I had an interview with them recently and apparently they’re implementing tap and go within the next year
Comment by Puzzleheaded-Ant3838 at 03/02/2025 at 18:34 UTC
27 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It’s ridiculous. Visited Liverpool at the weekend and used the trains on Friday and Saturday.
Friday - two young lads of about 14 in school uniforms trying to buy tickets. The guy in the ticket office said he’d reluctantly sell them child tickets but warned them they’d probably be fined at the other end as they had no physical ID (they had a passport scan on their phone). Wtf?!
Saturday - same situation at Central. Long queues, only 1 ticket machine in operation. And then a one way ticket cost the same as an all day pass. An uber would only have cost a few quid more and taken half the time
Comment by Big_Lavishness_6823 at 03/02/2025 at 18:18 UTC
22 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Stop using Trainline.
It's shit.
Comment by Russ1878 at 03/02/2025 at 19:42 UTC
18 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Add this to the list along with trains running every 30 mins after 7:30 and on a Sunday along with never having 8 car trains. Ohh and don't forget serving a city centre that has a massive nighttime economy but you can't get home after midnight.
Comment by pinwheelpepper at 03/02/2025 at 18:57 UTC
15 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Last month I dropped my day ticket before getting on, didn’t realise. Agent approached as soon as I boarded and I ended up with a fine. Sod’s law.
Showed her my ApplePay from 5 mins earlier but she wouldn’t accept it. It was more embarrassing than anything! - have never seen/experienced anything like it and I’ve travelled loads.
Went back to the station a few days later and saw the guy who sold me the ticket. Told him what happened as we often chat and he let me know they’d recently fined a 15 year old girl who had lost her ticket at school, then rejected her appeal. Scummy rules that impact both locals & tourists 🤦🏻♀️
Comment by Effective-Radish1797 at 03/02/2025 at 20:12 UTC
6 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Its a pain in the arse but if you get an open return (within one month) you can reuse the return ticket loads of times (or at least until some jobsworth decides to spoil your ticket when they check it). I do this for my commute to work, and it's my little way of sticking it to these robbing bastard train companies.
Comment by EnterShakira_ at 03/02/2025 at 18:08 UTC
28 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I agree with you that it's shite, but what do you want people on the subreddit to do about it? 😂
Comment by karl_xlm at 03/02/2025 at 22:17 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The physical ticket situation is a ballache, especially if you’re trying to catch a train and have to queue up to get your ticket, I’m a local though, so I know the score and it is what it is. For anyone not from the city, the purchase of digital tickets needing to be printed must be mind boggling and if you’re on the receiving end of a fine, it must be exasperating. As for Merseyrail in general, it’s getting better on my line, and is somewhat reliable. The ticket situation needs to change 100% but as previous comments state, it won’t change until the public handover
Comment by semicombobulated at 03/02/2025 at 23:27 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The most irritating thing about the archaic paper ticket system, is that they hardly ever even work. Usually the barrier spits the ticket out at you, and says “SEEK ASSISTANCE”.
In London, you’ve been able to tap your card for about 20 years now. And Merseyrail clearly has the technology, because old folks can tap their passes. So there’s really no excuse.
Comment by JamJarre at 03/02/2025 at 20:09 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Are Walrus cards still a thing?
Comment by haze-der at 03/02/2025 at 21:59 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You can buy direct from the merseyrail website and they send your a qr code ticket via email, this is what all my friends do
Comment by GoobaZoup at 03/02/2025 at 23:28 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
But you can buy Merseyrail tickets online. They email it to you as a PDF. I have done it numerous times.
Comment by Consistent-Two-1463 at 03/02/2025 at 18:33 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
they used to let you buy tickets on the train itself off the ticket inspector, they soon put a stop to that some smart ass must of thought 'we can fine these people instead'
Comment by trbd003 at 03/02/2025 at 18:31 UTC
4 upvotes, 3 direct replies
It's mildly inconvenient - I like buying from Trainline at my convenience.
BUT... Wheres the scandal? I don't understand. How do these "fat cats" make extra money out of not using QR codes?
I don't see any kind of scandal going on here I think they just don't have the equipment to inspect the Trainline tickets yet. That isn't a scandal it's just mildly irritating.
Comment by Ok_Protection_6159 at 03/02/2025 at 20:46 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
This happened to me on Saturday. I bought my ticket on Trainline and went down Liverpool Central to ask where are the machines so I can get a physical chip if the tickets. They told me I had to queue at the main information till. I had eleven minutes before my train was leaving. Needless to say I missed it by two minutes, which meant I have to catch the next one twenty minutes later. This being one minutes late for my connection. Not only did I have to queue but the cashier demanded I hand over the card I used for payment. I asked what exactly was the point about buying a ticket beforehand if I had to come up to the cashier's and present the payment method. He laughed. I wasn't laughing.
So - all in all I was extremely unhappy with this. I was going to Formby to spend the last evening with a dying friend and that extra hour I will never get back. I live in Brighton and even the polar little station down south had machines that can deal with this. A major city like Liverpool should most definitely have this capacity. It's insane.
Comment by Annual-Cookie1866 at 03/02/2025 at 18:24 UTC
7 upvotes, 3 direct replies
If you’ve missed lots of trains because of this rule, why not give yourself extra time for the journey?
Comment by orangecloud_0 at 03/02/2025 at 19:43 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I believe you can buy one from those machines on the left? I've never tried
Comment by Hungry_Environment27 at 03/02/2025 at 21:11 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You can but a day saver direct off the merseyrail website. It's a pretty shit design but they email you a ticket. The ticket inspectors look at you like you've got two heads when you show it to them but they do accept it (or at least did last time I took the train).
Comment by PuzzleheadedHome249 at 03/02/2025 at 21:24 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Oh I’ve called them Miseryrail for about 15 years now. I got £150 off them for them trapping me on a train for over 2 hours because we thought it was Southport to Liverpool and all the doors were open. We had been sat for 10 minutes before it pulled off. They didn’t notice myself and my partner because despite the fact they should have, the driver didn’t do a walk through they had to return to Southport on to a storage platform so we where stuck between the wall and another train for 2 hours while they waited for someone to confirm they could move the train.
Comment by Saxon2060 at 03/02/2025 at 21:44 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I've used Merseyrail on a d off my whole life (35) including 8 years of commuting every day.
I honestly can't recall this ever being a significant issue for me. I had a monthly pass, when I remembered to renew it, but when I didn't I just bought a ticket every day...
I know it would be beneficial to use digital tickets and seems backwards that they don't but I can honestly never recall having a problem re: buying tickets...
Comment by hotlinebrut at 03/02/2025 at 21:45 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Really? I always get a ticket from south park way to huntscross when I'm coming back from Manchester and they let me through
Comment by Broad-You-6561 at 04/02/2025 at 00:14 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
You can actually buy Merseyrail all day tickets on their website, they cost a bit more but it’s handy if you are running late and there is a queue at the ticket office.
https://daysaver.merseyrail.org
Comment by JohniMango at 04/02/2025 at 08:04 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I sometimes get the train from Edge Hill and then onto the Wirral early in the morning. It's a very mild inconvenience. The hours the ticket kiosk is open must change everyday. Sometimes it's open or it's closed with no sign of life. So you can't buy a physical ticket either because the ticket machine doesn't work.
So you have to buy a ticket for Edge Hill to Lime Street on your phone and then when you're off go down and pay more what you're ticket should cost at the Merseyrail Lime Street ticket kiosk. If you're running late you're buggered.
The technology exists to tap on and off. Has done for years. It's not as if they'd be going into unchartered territory.
Comment by safe94 at 04/02/2025 at 08:07 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Yeah it’s a fucking joke. In theory I could get the train to work rather than drive but there is no one to collect a ticket from at 6am at aigburth so I would have to cycle into town to collect a ticket and then get the train to ormskirk.
Instead i just drive to save myself the hassle of dealing with a jobs worth conductor again threatening fines.
There’s probably a lot of people in this situation who could get the train but are restricted because of the ticket policy