• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Coronavirus, Lockdown...and ticket barriers

Status
Not open for further replies.

johntea

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2010
Messages
2,585
Now we are essentially in 'lockdown' with Boris advising people should only go to work if an essential service and/or duties cannot be performed from home, should ticket barriers still be in use with staff manning them? (Obviously they can only be in use with staff in case of emergency)

I've actually been wondering about this the past week or so, when at Leeds or Harrogate where the barriers are still in use despite the fact the on board conductors have been advised not to conduct revenue duties any more

Do they provide an 'essential' service? Obviously to deter fare dodgers on a usual day to day basis but in the times we're now facing I'm not exactly sure what fare dodgers would achieve by travelling somewhere in the first place!
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Jona26

Member
Joined
2 Jan 2013
Messages
273
Location
West Sussex
I travelled from Mid Wales to Gatwick on Sunday. No ticket inspection on any trains. Announcements on TfW trains about their social distancing policy, no announcements of any kind on Avanti or Thameslink.

Barriers open at Birmingham New Street and Gatwick with no staff present.

Barriers in operation at St Pancras Thameslink with staff present.

Today travelled from Gatwick to Hove and back. No on board announcements on Gatwick Express or Southern regarding policy. Barriers in operation and staffed at Brighton and Hove. Gatwick was in operation this morning but not on the return about 5.00pm.

NB - all travel was essential.
 

PG

Established Member
Joined
12 Oct 2010
Messages
2,809
Location
at the end of the high and low roads
should ticket barriers still be in use with staff manning them?
No.

If the staff are there purely to operate the barriers then just leave the barriers open and unstaffed.

If there are other reasons for the staff to be there then I'd still favour leaving barriers open in order to minimise contact.
 

cuccir

Established Member
Joined
18 Nov 2009
Messages
3,659
I was surprised last week on Monday when ticket barriers were still in use at Newcastle. Despite relatively quiet trains allowing social distancing, everyone queued up as normal at the barriers: they were the main risk point of my commute. I delayed myself and waited for a quiet moment

By my final day of commuting on Wednesday they were no longer operating, but they should have been stopped much sooner.
 

Monty

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2012
Messages
2,349
We now have been told to work our trains from cabs and no revenue duties of any kind are to be performed until further notice.
 

TEW

Established Member
Joined
16 May 2008
Messages
5,841
Ticket barriers open and ticket offices closed on SWR from today.
 

infobleep

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Feb 2011
Messages
12,556
Ticket barriers open and ticket offices closed on SWR from today.
Whereas yesterday, aka Monday barriers were staffed as usual. I wasn't travelling ona train but did pass through the station.
 

MDB1images

Member
Joined
9 Jun 2018
Messages
654
We now have been told to work our trains from cabs and no revenue duties of any kind are to be performed until further notice.

Sensible approach by SWR but it's getting confusing for the customer with TOCs approaching on board and station interactions with customers with different methods of work.
 
Last edited:

PG

Established Member
Joined
12 Oct 2010
Messages
2,809
Location
at the end of the high and low roads
With the expectation that very shortly/already TOCs will be/are operating under Emergency Measures, which means that the government are taking the revenue risk, I think staff should not be tasked with any duties concerning fares/tickets/barriers and thus both on board and station interactions should be only those required to safely provide an essential service.
 

Bantamzen

Established Member
Joined
4 Dec 2013
Messages
9,668
Location
Baildon, West Yorkshire
With the expectation that very shortly/already TOCs will be/are operating under Emergency Measures, which means that the government are taking the revenue risk, I think staff should not be tasked with any duties concerning fares/tickets/barriers and thus both on board and station interactions should be only those required to safely provide an essential service.

As you say, the government are now taking on the revenue risk, so TOCs may not necessarily provide the usual level of revenue protection.
 

ValleyLines142

Established Member
Joined
25 Jul 2011
Messages
6,844
Location
Gloucester
Are you sure there wasn't a member of staff keeping an eye out from a distance?
Bit worrying otherwise in case of sudden evacuation required e.g. a fire

The ticket office on the other side was open. But Cardiff Central do a similar move too.
 

infobleep

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Feb 2011
Messages
12,556
I read that the larger stations on South Western Railway were open. So I assume places like London. Whether that is actually the case I don't know, as I've not travelled on a train in over a week.
 

johntea

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2010
Messages
2,585
Apparently Northern have now closed down all waiting rooms at stations, opened all gatelines at stations and suspended penalty fares until further notice
 

_toommm_

Established Member
Joined
8 Jul 2017
Messages
5,843
Location
Yorkshire
Apparently Northern have now closed down all waiting rooms at stations, opened all gatelines at stations and suspended penalty fares until further notice

Leeds barriers were wide open this morning but there were two Northern staff at the barriers still.

Revenue protection on the Styal Line too.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top