GWR tickets/ use app delivery or station pick up

Receiving through the App needs you to be confident in using your phone and opening the App to show the "ticket" when needed. And obviously it needs the phone to be working and charged up when travelling.

Collecting from the station means from a ticket machine at the station, you get a booking reference like from an airline - don't lose that. At the machine you push the button that says collection and enter the code, usually you need to insert your payment card as well. The machine then prints out real tickets - and receipts, and reservation vouchers.....

The real question here is what is the journey and are you getting a good discount for early booking? No discount and a journey that doesn't need reservations makes it all a bit pointless, you could just buy from the machine.

We used the app to access our E-tickets two years ago in the UK, and it worked perfectly. I did a pick up at the station once, and it just involved using a machine to enter my code and print them. There were lines to talk to a human the one time I had ticket timing issues, so as long as you are machine savvy, and the machine doesn't malfunction, station pickup works fine too.

Thank you both. me.crewe, it would be from Moreton in Marsh to London Paddington early on a Saturday morning. I didn’t know if we should book ahead or not.

Mustlovedogs, I suggest downloading the app and checking it first, you'll probably get an error message. My experience is that the GWR app is geo-blocked and will only fully function if you are physically inside the UK. In the past I have just purchased GWR tickets on the website and received the eticket by e-mail and save it in Samsung Notes.

VAP I was able to download the app successfully (I think it’s working) without any messages saying there’s a problem. I tried to go through the ordering of the tickets but when I got to the point where you asked for the method of delivery, the only free options were by an e-ticket through the app (where it said it would show up under “tickets” to be scanned) or Station Pick Up. There wasn’t anything about the tickets being available as an e-ticket through email. There were two postal options, but obviously I don’t want those.

That’s as far as I went before asking you all about it.

See this post:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/gwr-app-and-website-update

Last year, I couldn’t use the app from the U.S. and ended up choosing to collect the tickets at the station.

It's certainly worth booking ahead as typically, looking for 5 and 12 September Advance (train specific) fares are around £30, whereas a walk up Single is £53.60 (all fares before railcard discounts).
There are a few pre 0800 trains and mid afternoon trains at £14 Advance.
That said Advance tickets for tomorrow are only £35.50, so as so often buying months ahead doesn't save you much.

However the cheapest walk up option is to buy an Off Peak Day Single MiM to Reading for £22 (valid any train that day), go through the gates, then tap back in on contactless (NOT Oyster)- £14 Off Peak Single Reading to Paddington (valid on the GWR fast non stops, or the Elizabeth Line)- or £16.80 to any other Zone 1 station.
That is less than Heathrow to Paddington because of the airport premium.

So a simple in/out at Reading saves you £17.60 on walk up fares.

BTW there should be a third delivery option- to a smartcard. In your GWR account you can apply for a smartcard, you can then buy tickets and have them added electronically to your smartcard. The card is mailed out to you- I got mine within 3 days this week, add 9 to 10 days for the US (my typical delivery time in both directions). That avoids both the app and paper tickets.
Once you have the card the smartcard delivery option should materialise- the card is free.

Laura, when you picked up at the station, was it time consuming? I am also trying give myself an idea of when to arrive at the station by taxi. Also, I read somewhere that you need to insert the card you used to purchase the tickets - in addition to the code- order to get the machine to print them out. Is that correct?

I just read about the Touch Smart card on the app Stuart. I may do that. Probably a silly question, but will it allow for three tickets for the same trip to be loaded on one card? I also just read this on the app. about delivery:

e-Tickets
e-Tickets are available on the majority of our routes. Instead of a paper ticket, they’re stored in your App; under ‘My tickets’.

They’re ready to use straight away, and just need to be scanned at the station or onboard; so make sure your phone or tablet is charged to last for the duration of your journey. Alternatively a PDF is provided in your booking confirmation email.

The last sentence …so maybe the ticket bar code is within the PDF sent w the booking confirmation email and can be scanned that way rather than through the app? That’s how I managed my LNER and my Amtrak tickets here at home.

I pulled this image off SWR - https://www.southwesternrailway.com/-/media/images/content-images/plan-my-journey/app/new-image-aug-2024/get-train-tickets-on-the-app.png

That is what the e-ticket will look like that you will receive in your email as a pdf from GWR.

AFAIK everyone would need their own Smart Card, so you would need 3 cards.

On the very rare occasions I use an electronic ticket I just use the QR code in the e-mail but I only ever do that on Northern. 99% of the time I use paper tickets. At least on Northern and Avanti I no longer have to insert my payment card, just tap in the collection code at the machine.

I don't know how behind the times GWR machines are, in that respect.

Laura, when you picked up at the station, was it time consuming?

No. I was traveling from Paddington to Bath so I picked the tickets up from one of the machines at Paddington. You just insert your card and I think enter the reference number from the email confirmation.

VAP that image is what I was hoping for, thank you! I am more comfortable using the email/ PDF method of receiving tickets. In addition to having those, I print out the email/ code to have a paper copy. I try to be paperless and plastic conscious in as many other ways as possible, but can’t give up the safety blanket of having a paper version for things like this. I think I will go on and book ahead as it looks like some savings would be made. Thanks everyone for your all of your help so far!

I use GWR regularly, and always opt for the PDF option and print off my tickets. I don't like relying on my phone.

I always used to get myself paper tickets because of concerns that I might not be able to access tickets on my phone. But I have recently moved to relying on my phone as I can pop the tickets into my Apple wallet so a poor signal is not an issue. And having them sat in my online account means that I get automatic emails telling me to claim a refund if the train is late. But I can see that is not much help to a visitor only travelling occasionally.

One thing to bear in mind is that you can pick up any train tickets at a machine at any time after booking them and at any station with a machine - it doesn't have to be the one you will be leaving from. So Mustlovedogs could pick up tickets on an earlier day if in Moreton-in-Marsh or at a London terminal if there earlier.

Yes add them to Apple wallet. Don’t rely on accessing them via the app. Phone signal in this country can be poor. You can send the tickets to other people so each person in the group has their own ticket which is easier for the barriers.

So much great information that I am slowly learning about. I just- like yesterday- looked into and learned a bit about using the Apple Pay method. Now I’m going to investigate Apple wallet. There are those who are in the know about these things….and then there is me. lol

When I taught many moons ago, in an attempt to lessen their worries, I used to try to find anecdotes about MY lack of knowledge to share with my little people when they got frustrated or upset because they didn’t know (or were a bit late) picking up on subject matter. Using Apple phone tech definitely could be my go to now!

Thank you again for being great teachers yourselves and sharing this information! :)

Mustlovedogs - we’re you still teaching now you could almost certainly have got one of the kids to sort out your phone technology in a moment.

That is so true! Probably a first grader! :)