A possible PSA to anyone using TFW PAYG on South Wales Railways – there's definitely some bugs in the system, get signed up to the app and make sure it's charging you properly!
As can be seen in the screenshot, my girlfriend got charged a penalty fare on the weekend, but we have absolutely no idea how or why this has happened. She travelled Garth > Cardiff and Cardiff > Garth, she never got on or off at Bridgend that day… though she does travel between Garth and Bridgend regularly.
I think what the system tried to do is make use of the weekly cap between Garth and Bridgend that she had already hit, then give her a cheaper ticket between Bridgend and Cardiff which is fantastic, except, it didn't work – It's mis-registered the exit tap at Cardiff as an entry tap and now she's been charged a £10 penalty fare when she shouldn't have been!
I normally wouldn't bother to try and bring anything like this to other's attention, but this isn't the first time this has happened to her. It's the second time now, and when we rang TFW to get it sorted the person on the phone told us that this happens regularly at the moment so we should keep an eye on the charges in the app.
If you do find that they have overcharged you, or mistakenly charged you a penalty fare, make sure you ring them up – they will either sort it out on the spot for you or they will direct you to send an email to a PAYG enquiries address.
This new PAYG system for the trains in theory is awesome, the way it's using weekly caps etc for blocks of track and seems to be letting you exploit split ticketing automatically is amazing for railway users… it's just a shame that the system obviously has glitches that need sorting out!
by FyeUK