Advance on the day

In RAIL 828’s The Fare Dealer, I said I would return to the matter of ‘Advance on the day’. Northern has confirmed that it allows such tickets to be bought for travel up to 15 minutes before the departure of a train from any station.

Currently it only applies to a limited number of routes, and there are no reservations - the ticket merely specifies the train, and it must be bought online or from the Northern app. The spokesman said it was not yet known what system would apply on its new trains, which do not enter service until 2019.

Greater Anglia was more forthcoming. Its ‘Advance on the day’ tickets can only be bought online from its website or from the app. If you buy online you can only collect tickets from a machine, and if you use the app you have to have a mobile ticket.

In both cases a train is specified and the ticket is only valid on that train. But no seat reservations are offered, even where the train normally has a reservation system.

If you have previously bought online from GA you can collect a ticket from 15 minutes after purchase - so you could buy on the platform while waiting if you leave enough time. The app only requires ten minutes from purchase to catching the train.

In both cases the time applies at any station, and it doesn’t have to be the train’s origin. In that respect, it is like the CrossCountry system. But where it differs is that you have no reservation, so you do not gain a benefit over other people joining the train with any other type of ticket, and nor do you annoy others on the train by making them move so that you can claim your seat.

I think both these cases are better than Virgin Trains East Coast’s system of having a reservation, because I don’t feel that those who book last minute at cheap rates without having any real risk should receive any such benefits.