Ascom B8050, usually known by the name QuickFare, is an early example of a passenger-operated railway ticket issuing system, consisting of a series of broadly identical machines installed at British railway stations from 1989 onwards. The machines allow passengers to buy the most popular types of ticket themselves, without having to go to a booking office, and are therefore useful at unstaffed, partly staffed or busy stations. All QuickFare machines have been replaced by more modern technology.
Origins
The system had its origins in various rudimentary computer-based systems developed for
British Rail in the early and mid-1980s, both by Ascom Autelca and by other companies. These were classified by British Rail under the general acronym POTIS (Passenger Operated Ticket Issuing System).
* Ascom Autelca developed the Agiticket B100 in 1983; this was used for a short time at
London Charing Cross
* Crouzet (manufacturers of the ticket machines on the
Tyne & Wear Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...
, and the system used until recently on the
Glasgow Subway) supplied some machines for trial in 1987
* Westinghouse did the same in 1987
*
Thorn EMI
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Comi ...
, makers of the
APTIS
APTIS was the Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System used on the British Rail/National Rail network until 2007. It was originally called "Advanced Passenger Ticket Issuing System" as it was being developed at the time of the Advanced P ...
and
PORTIS/SPORTIS systems, tried out a passenger-operated equivalent in 1989
Illustrations of these early tickets
The tickets were printed on simple card stock with no
magnetic stripe
The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted
as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They share ...
on the reverse - so data was merely printed on the front, not separately encoded as well.
Autelca AG developed the B8011 and B8020 machines from the B100 Agiticket. A wider range of tickets could be purchased from these: a row of 32 buttons was programmed with various combinations of destination and ticket type (for example, "Child Single to Gatwick Airport" or "Adult Cheap Day Return to Brighton"). Coins were inserted by the passenger after the appropriate button was pressed, and tickets and change were collected from a hatch at the bottom. A separate button could be pressed to cancel the transaction at any stage. Many of these features were carried forward to the B8050 machine.
A B8011 ticketbr
The B100 machine was the intermediate stage between the B8011/B8020 (which were essentially identical) and the B8050. Although most were found in the former
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...
(NSE) area, a few persisted in urban areas elsewhere in England until around 2000. Such machines are believed to have been moved from NSE stations when they were supplanted by B8050s, being reprogrammed with different destination and fare information accordingly
A B100 ticket
Introduction of the B8050
After the B8050 was developed, it was chosen by the
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...
sector of
British Rail as the standard self-service ticket issuing system. There were 2 variants of the B8050 machine which had either 40 or 92 destination buttons. It was decided that a large number of machines should be provided, with almost every station having at least one and major commuter and terminal stations having many. The following stations, for example, had at least eight separate machines at some point - in some cases, for many years:
Existing B100 machines at NSE stations were replaced on a rolling basis between 1990 and 1994. In some cases, usually for a short time only, both types of machine would be in place simultaneously at a given station.
Details of the machine
B8050 machines offer a wider range of journey combinations than their predecessors, as they have separate sets of buttons for destinations and ticket types. A set of machines was produced with 92 destination buttons, arranged in four columns of 23, and 18 ticket type buttons in a single column. Another set of machines was manufactured with a restricted set of destination buttons (40, in four columns of ten) but the same 18 ticket type buttons. In all cases, a "Cancel" button is available as well. Destination buttons are green, while those for the ticket type are yellow and the "Cancel" button is red.
Ticket stock
Tickets are credit-card sized with square corners. They are printed on a continuous roll of ticket stock, which is aligned within the machine by way of a rectangular notch a quarter of the way down each ticket on the left-hand side. The machine cuts off each individual ticket from the roll after the printing process finishes, after which they drop into a large plastic-fronted hatch at the bottom (along with any change).
The tickets have orange bands at the top and bottom, in common with the stock used for travel tickets in other British railway ticket issuing systems. In British Rail days, they were identified by batch reference BR 3595/3; this changed to RSP 3595/3 after privatisation, following the creation of
Rail Settlement Plan Ltd to administer the ticketing and revenue allocation systems of the post-privatisation rail network. Machines on the
South West Trains
Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017.
SWT operated the majorit ...
network sometimes use stock with reference RSP 3595/30; a
VAT
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the en ...
number is printed on the reverse of these, above the batch reference.
Destinations
Before the machine or machines at a given station were installed, an analysis was undertaken of the most popular destinations for tickets bought from that station (or, strictly speaking, tickets issued ''with that station as an origin point'' - encompassing tickets bought at the station's ticket office, if applicable; those issued on trains by conductors using
SPORTIS machines; and those issued remotely). It is believed that these statistics were used in conjunction with a more long-term forecast of the most likely destinations passengers would choose, in order to establish a set of destinations to be programmed into the machine. It was not straightforward to delete, add or change destinations once they had been set: as well as the manual reprogramming required, the station names were displayed to the passenger in the form of sheets of paper pre-printed with the relevant names and aligned (behind clear plastic panels) with the buttons. These had to be reprinted whenever any details changed. As a result, it was relatively rare for the range of destinations to change.
At most stations, the range provided was largely appropriate, with all nearby stations and more distant larger places being available. There was usually a reasonable balance between places served by regular direct train services and more "unusual" locations. However, this was not always the case: a notable example was
Portslade
Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railway from Brighton in 1840 encouraged rapid de ...
, near Brighton, which offered Wimbledon, more than 50 miles and at least one change of train away, but not
Fishersgate - the next stop.
At many
Thameslink
Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...
stations north of London (
West Hampstead Thameslink to
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
), the machines were installed with many destinations in the Catford/Bromley South/Orpington areas of south-east London, because at the time these places were served by direct Thameslink services running via the
Catford Loop Line
The Catford Loop Line is a railway line in southeast London. It carries a suburban stopping passenger service from central London to Sevenoaks, and is also a relief route for the Chatham Main Line carrying passenger trains from London Victo ...
. Soon afterwards, in the early 1990s, the Thameslink service pattern was considerably altered, with services south of London being concentrated on south-west London and Surrey in addition to the
Brighton Main Line
The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...
. Machines at affected stations were not updated with more appropriate destinations (such as
Sutton
Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to:
Places
United Kingdom
England
In alphabetical order by county:
* Sutton, Bedfordshire
* Sutton, Berkshire, a location
* Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire
* ...
), and retained the incongruous south-east London destinations until the removal of the machines in late 2006.
All stations in the Network SouthEast area offered the London "
station group" and the
One Day Travelcard. Many also featured Gatwick Airport - an important destination throughout the year, with a larger proportion of journeys than usual happening at times such as very early morning or late evening, when booking offices are more likely to be shut.
Ticket types
Eighteen "ticket type" buttons were provided on all machines at the time of manufacture, but in most cases a number of those have been left blank and non-functioning, albeit with the ability to be programmed with a "ticket type" if necessary. Typical combinations available are:
* First Class Adult Day Single
* Standard Class Adult Day Single
* Standard Class Adult Day Return
* Standard Class Child Day Single
* Standard Class Child Day Return
*
Young Persons Railcard holder Day Single
*
Young Persons Railcard holder Day Return
*
Senior Railcard
The Senior Railcard is an annual card available to people aged 60 and over, which gives discounts on certain types of Rail transport in Great Britain, railway ticket in Britain. The Railcard has existed in various forms since 1975; the curr ...
holder Day Single
*
Senior Railcard
The Senior Railcard is an annual card available to people aged 60 and over, which gives discounts on certain types of Rail transport in Great Britain, railway ticket in Britain. The Railcard has existed in various forms since 1975; the curr ...
holder Day Return
*
Network Railcard
The Network Railcard is a discount card introduced in 1986 by British Rail, upon the creation of their Network SouthEast sector in parts of Southern England.
The card is intended to encourage leisure travel by rail by offering discounts ...
holder Day Single
*
Network Railcard
The Network Railcard is a discount card introduced in 1986 by British Rail, upon the creation of their Network SouthEast sector in parts of Southern England.
The card is intended to encourage leisure travel by rail by offering discounts ...
holder Day Return
* Seven Day Season Ticket (''as mentioned below'')
Machines are time-sensitive. Thus, all Day Return buttons issue a Cheap Day Return (reduced-fare off-peak ticket) at the appropriate times of day; and tickets with
Railcard
There is no single 'discount railcard' available on the UK railway network. In addition to the large number and variety of short-term or localised promotional fares that have been available to passengers on the British railway network in recent d ...
discounts do not become available until the time from which the Railcard is valid. Messages concerning the validity or otherwise of tickets appear in a green LCD panel below the "Amount to pay" display.
Other tickets
All machines offer Seven Day Season Tickets, printed on separate dedicated ticket stock (batch reference BR 3595/4, and later RSP 3595/4) with dark green upper and lower bands, a white box in which "SEASON" or "TRAVELCARD" would be printed by the machine, and an area for the passenger's
Photocard number to be entered manually. Because the machines take cash only and Season Tickets are expensive compared to ordinary travel tickets, it is relatively unusual to see an issued Season Ticket.
In addition, some machines have buttons (usually in the "destinations" section) for one or more of the following:
* Daily and/or weekly car park tickets
*
Platform ticket
A platform ticket is a type of rail ticket issued by some railway systems, permitting the bearer to access the platforms of a railway station, but not to board and use any train services. It allows people to walk with their friends, associates ...
s (''rare, and mostly in the early years'')
* The Greater Manchester Rail Ranger, a one-day multi-journey ticket for use in the
GMPTE
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester.
SELNEC PTE
Until 1969, the conurbati ...
area (''at Manchester area machines''
Receipts are not issued in any format.
Remaining machines
There are very few Ascom B8050 QuickFare machines left on the National Rail network. There are at least three machines still in use by
Island Line Trains
Island Line is a brand of the South Western Railway train operating company which runs the Island Line on the Isle of Wight. A stand-alone franchise from 1996 until 2007, it then became part of the South Western franchise operated by South W ...
, on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
, at
Ryde Pier Head,
Ryde Esplanade and
Shanklin
Shanklin () is a seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake and Sandown. The sandy beach, its Old Village ...
. One at the back entrance to
Birmingham New Street station, that had been out-of-use for at least a year, was eventually removed in February 2009.
External links
List of all Ascom B8050 machines (current and former) as at August 2003
{{British railway ticket machines (computerised)
Fare collection systems in the United Kingdom
Travel technology