On 10/07/2023 10:32, Marland wrote:
> Can’t help thinking that they may be a dead end technology now that
> contactless payment is well established.
> Coin machines need emptying regularly which means someone has to have the
> job of doing it
> and then handling the cash afterwards , plus the complaints and maintenance
> costs of an out of order machine when someone cheapskate has jammed an
> obscure coin from a foreign holiday in one.

At least they are aware machines are faulty when they empty them.

Probably not got the sense to have a system on newer contactless
machines to check for machines that have not been used for some time and
so might be faulty.

Coffee <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> wrote:
> On 26/07/2023 23:17, MB wrote:
>> On 08/07/2023 13:29, nib wrote:
>>> Coins are the worst, both having to carry them around and getting them in
>>> the first place. Last time I tried to get coins out of the bank they were
>>> very reluctant. Where do people get coins these days?
>>
>>
>> I just go in the bank and ask them to change some paper money to coins
>> for car park machines etc.  Never had any problem - got about £40 worth
>> last week.
>
> You're lucky you have a bank to go to. I would have to catch a train to
> Cardiff and back to do that transaction.

I think I’ve mentioned before the issues of trying to get cash to buy train
tickets in the Netherlands some years ago. Ticket machine only accepts
coins or Dutch bank cards. Go to bank who explains they don’t handle cash
- you have to use the machines outside. The one that issues notes works
with foreign plastic but, of course, the one that issues coins only works
with Dutch bank cards…

Pre-COVID and later NS developments, of course.

Sam

--
The entity formerly known as Sam.Wilson@ed.ac.uk
Spit the dummy to reply

On 28.07.23 10:14, Sam Wilson wrote:
> Coffee <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> wrote:
>> On 26/07/2023 23:17, MB wrote:
>>> On 08/07/2023 13:29, nib wrote:
>>>> Coins are the worst, both having to carry them around and getting them in
>>>> the first place. Last time I tried to get coins out of the bank they were
>>>> very reluctant. Where do people get coins these days?
>>>
>>>
>>> I just go in the bank and ask them to change some paper money to coins
>>> for car park machines etc.  Never had any problem - got about £40 worth
>>> last week.
>>
>> You're lucky you have a bank to go to. I would have to catch a train to
>> Cardiff and back to do that transaction.
>
> I think I’ve mentioned before the issues of trying to get cash to buy train
> tickets in the Netherlands some years ago. Ticket machine only accepts
> coins or Dutch bank cards. Go to bank who explains they don’t handle cash
> - you have to use the machines outside. The one that issues notes works
> with foreign plastic but, of course, the one that issues coins only works
> with Dutch bank cards…
>
> Pre-COVID and later NS developments, of course.

Last time I was in NL (last summer), they seem to have resolved these
issues. I had no problems with machines acceptin non-NL issued cards in
several cities.

Robin

On 28/07/2023 09:14, Sam Wilson wrote:
> Coffee <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> wrote:
>> On 26/07/2023 23:17, MB wrote:
>>> On 08/07/2023 13:29, nib wrote:
>>>> Coins are the worst, both having to carry them around and getting them in
>>>> the first place. Last time I tried to get coins out of the bank they were
>>>> very reluctant. Where do people get coins these days?
>>>
>>>
>>> I just go in the bank and ask them to change some paper money to coins
>>> for car park machines etc.  Never had any problem - got about £40 worth
>>> last week.
>>
>> You're lucky you have a bank to go to. I would have to catch a train to
>> Cardiff and back to do that transaction.
>
> I think I’ve mentioned before the issues of trying to get cash to buy train
> tickets in the Netherlands some years ago. Ticket machine only accepts
> coins or Dutch bank cards. Go to bank who explains they don’t handle cash
> - you have to use the machines outside. The one that issues notes works
> with foreign plastic but, of course, the one that issues coins only works
> with Dutch bank cards…
>
> Pre-COVID and later NS developments, of course.

I've struggled in the Netherlands previously but everything seemed to
work well with UK cards just prior to the covid crisis.

The situation seems to have reverted again and the NS machines did not
accept any of my UK cards. A kindly Dutchman loaded my card in exchange
for cash at the Hook of Holland and I used a ticket office elsewhere to
top up later on.

Travellers need to be aware that cash machines are becoming very sparse
in the Netherlands.

In message <u9s6ee$1k1eq$3@dont-email.me>, at 23:24:16 on Wed, 26 Jul
2023, MB <MB@nospam.net> remarked:
>On 09/07/2023 08:32, Roland Perry wrote:

>> The target market for station parking is clearly not the occasional
>> traveller.
>
>Is it not the same for all rail travel, no one else bothers with trains
>in much of the country.

All the major metro areas seem to have large numbers of commuters, and
the biggest growth in new station building (/reopening) is Parkway
sites, which are clearly aimed at regular travellers not the
three-times-a-year people.
--
Roland Perry