PLEASE check my ticket!

[dk1]

There have been several occasions recently when a human ticket barrier check has been in operation at Donny. I must agree with you Malton seadog that i would note it too if i rarely got my ticket checked. I know you're not having a go at the staff, just paying good money & watching others having a free ride. It really is something TOCs should get hold of if it is a persisstant problem on a particular section of their route. That is unless they take so much overall & so cannot be bothered. Nice that you pay up & care & many others must feel the same way.

 

[route:oxford]

Agreed re: Doncaster.

There's only one entrance to all platforms under the subway - would make installing barriers extremely cost efficient. Unfortunately, it'd be quite claustrophobic under there at rush hour.

Managed to find a pic of the subway...

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/DON/images/photos/800/a1707-0000318a.jpg

It's quite wide compared to some of the (far busier) London Underground stations. Using a stepped narrow-wide filter each way you could easily get 3 barriers+impaired in each direction.

 

[87015]

It really is something TOCs should get hold of if it is a persisstant problem on a particular section of their route. That is unless they take so much overall & so cannot be bothered. Nice that you pay up & care & many others must feel the same way.

But they often don't care, its in the 'too difficult' pile and not worth bothering with. If ticket revenue falls below 80% of expectations then the DfT make up the difference anyway, far more profitable to reduce the number of revenue/ticket office staff and pick up a cheque from the dft each month.

You'd hope DOR might be different, but its still First group mentalities at the top...

 

[TheWalrus]

no sign of the guard for ages indicates he/she is busy selling tickets / excessing / issuing UPGNs etc

or sitting on his arse reading the paper and eating cake, as is often the case on FGW,or having a natter at the buffet!

 

[thefab444]

or they may be reading the paper, or hung over.

Or completely out of it, as seen in that SWT case last year/earlier this year.

 

[IanXC]

On my last journey on CrossCountry I thought this was out of the ordinary.. obviously not! Do different TOCs have very different attitudes to this?

I really honestly think that theres only been 1 occasion in the last 2 months where my ticket hasn't been checked on my way or way back from work - theyre usually stood patiently waiting as I sit down, even as their colleague is closing the doors...

Given that theres often not that many people getting on and off at most stops what reasons could there be for that staffing arrangement?

 

[142094]

Managed to find a pic of the subway...

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/DON/images/photos/800/a1707-0000318a.jpg

It's quite wide compared to some of the (far busier) London Underground stations. Using a stepped narrow-wide filter each way you could easily get 3 barriers+impaired in each direction.

When the manual barriers are on, they have them here, just before the stairs for to get to the ticket office. The only problem I can see is if someone gets wind of the other footbridge, the one that is meant for staff only. I'm not 100% sure but I think this leads to the the station front.

 

[jon0844]

Incidentally, as an aside, I found it very interesting that one of the gentlemen on the Races ticket barrier at York was checking every male ticket, but as soon as a lady came along wearing not a lot, he let them through with absolutely no attempt to check their tickets!

I've seen that. One lady, very attractive I must say, came up to exit at my station and asked the gateline staff if she could go through and buy her ticket, as she'd not had time to get one. No PF pad taken out (which would always happen, along with questioning as to why you didn't buy a ticket in a penalty fare area), but rather the gate being opened by key and she's let through - to walk out and never return!

The gateline staff then chatted between themselves about how fit she was and laughed at being conned!

Still, I guess if you've got it - flaunt it.

 

[Flamingo]

or sitting on his arse reading the paper and eating cake, as is often the case on FGW,or having a natter at the buffet!

Yes mate, it's all we do! :roll:

Of course if the stations are 15 minutes apart, and it takes 3-4 minutes per ticket sold arguing with the person who is two hours early / late on their advanced ticket or peak train with an off-peak ticket, not to mention the ones that have no ticket at all because it went off platform 1 or 8, quite how many tickets will get checked between London and Bristol on the average full evening train? It's common that I won't get tickets done in some carriages before Swindon or Chippenham (or at all).

 

[Solent&Wessex]

Actually, the greatest hindrance to ticket checks is those people that find the whole ticket checking thing a complete surprise. Ie - you make an announcement or two asking everyone to have their ticket ready. You then enter a coach and proceed to check everyone's ticket. You then get to somebody, who having watched you check everyones elses ticket, then decides to start looking for their own ticket, which is often found in some obscure place screwed up in a pocket. Why, when it is obvious a ticket check is going on, can people not have their ticket ready? When I announce "a full ticket check of everybody's ticket will now take place, including those of you on the train before X", that does mean everyone. Not everyone except you.

 

[yorkie]

... I know you're not having a go at the staff, just paying good money & watching others having a free ride....

Which passengers are having a free ride? Unless you personally ask people if you can check their ticket (!!) you have absolutely no idea whatsoever whether they are in possession of a ticket, or require a ticket.

 

[TEW]

Unless you hear them bragging to their friends about how they haven't paid and never do, and that's a fairly common thing to hear.

 

[CarterUSM]

Actually, the greatest hindrance to ticket checks is those people that find the whole ticket checking thing a complete surprise. Ie - you make an announcement or two asking everyone to have their ticket ready. You then enter a coach and proceed to check everyone's ticket. You then get to somebody, who having watched you check everyones elses ticket, then decides to start looking for their own ticket, which is often found in some obscure place screwed up in a pocket. Why, when it is obvious a ticket check is going on, can people not have their ticket ready? When I announce "a full ticket check of everybody's ticket will now take place, including those of you on the train before X", that does mean everyone. Not everyone except you.

Not only that, but i find that many passengers on my suburban services do not want to show me their travel documentation or complain at doing so due to showing it at or passing it through the barriers. Also not forgetting my favourite flexipass punters who DEFINITELY have no intention of showing their ticket so they can use it again and again and again ad finitum. Though to be fair, withdrawal of this ticket when producing it un- endorsed has slightly reduced this behaviour.

 

[dk1]

Which passengers are having a free ride? Unless you personally ask people if you can check their ticket (!!) you have absolutely no idea whatsoever whether they are in possession of a ticket, or require a ticket.

Usually the ones who constantly look up & down the train to spot the approaching conductor & then up sticks & head off in the opposite direction

 

[SWT_USER]

I buy a monthly season ticket and get checked only 3 or 4 times a year. There are no barriers at either of the stations I use.

 

[tony_mac]

Actually, the greatest hindrance to ticket checks is those people that find the whole ticket checking thing a complete surprise

I find that guards like to creep up behind me and go for the 'surprise' option - I am sure it is deliberate!

On a few occassions recently I haven't been able to find my ticket when asked, which is a bit embarassing.
When I buy the ticket, I put it in the front of my ticket wallet, in the right order, so I know where to find it.

Then, when I am carrying luggage and I get to a ticket barrier, I take the ticket back out of the machine, and shove it back into the nearest pocket so that I can pick up my luggage before the barrier trys to murder me. (It has never happened, but I am always on guard, just in case).

Then I forget I have done that, take my coat off, and have to look through 32 pockets to try and find which one of the 20 used and partially unused tickets in my possession is the correct one!

Can I blame this entirely on the barriers? Or should I blame it on the guard for unreasonably asking me when he can tell by my face that I am honest?

 

[Failed Unit]

Surely the answer here is to install barriers at Doncaster?

There are various issues at York with heritage and access, but (from memory) Doncaster isn't quite so problematic.

I used to work in York and would find it easier and quicker to drive to Doncaster from Oxford and grab the train up to York than to drive all the way to York.

Barriers don't reduce fare dodging, in fact used alone they will only increase it as it makes life easier for the dishonest. An example that Scotrail have at last recently started to clamp down on.

Rush hour between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Buy some tickets online (Edinburgh - Haymarket and High Street - Glasgow Queen Street) That is the barriers dealt with. Sit in the front 3 coaches of trian as the gaurd is in the rear 3. Job done - very cheap trip. Happily Scotrail are now putting a ticket checker in the front 3 from more often no so the chance are someone will be caught. But if barriers and staff must be used, a barrier does not as far as I know reject an AP ticket if you are trying to use it on the wrong train.

 

[jopsuk]

a barrier does not as far as I know reject an AP ticket if you are trying to use it on the wrong train.

Well quite- it is very rare for a barrier to give access to a single platform only. So you'd have to decide how far in advance was too far in advance to be entering the station. At some stations (Cambridge is good example here- AP fares available for the XC services) most of the facilities (cafés, WH Smith, food stalls, loos, waiting rooms) are beyond the barriers, with just the ticket hall and M&S "before" them. if someone is running rather early for their booked train, it is better here to allow them through to the platform than to stop them- people waiting in the ticket hall get in the road of people coming in and out due to the cramped layout.

 

[Deerfold]

Can the ticket carry information about time limitations in the magnetic strip?

 

[Failed Unit]

Can the ticket carry information about time limitations in the magnetic strip?

Certainly in some cases, I have seen CDR's get rejected with a code something like AD1640. Anyway the person at the gate sends them off to get it upgraded. With an AP I don't know if they could reject someone turning up at 1205 for a 1200 train for example. Restriction times are more generic, it is just a code which the computer looks up.

 

[MikeWh]

Certainly in some cases, I have seen CDR's get rejected with a code something like AD1640. Anyway the person at the gate sends them off to get it upgraded. With an AP I don't know if they could reject someone turning up at 1205 for a 1200 train for example. Restriction times are more generic, it is just a code which the computer looks up.

That wouldn't be practical, you'd have to override it every time there was a delay to the service.

 

[reb0118]

I find that guards like to creep up behind me and go for the 'surprise' option - I am sure it is deliberate!

On a few occasions recently I haven't been able to find my ticket when asked, which is a bit embarrassing.
When I buy the ticket, I put it in the front of my ticket wallet, in the right order, so I know where to find it.

Then, when I am carrying luggage and I get to a ticket barrier, I take the ticket back out of the machine, and shove it back into the nearest pocket so that I can pick up my luggage before the barrier tries to murder me. (It has never happened, but I am always on guard, just in case).

Then I forget I have done that, take my coat off, and have to look through 32 pockets to try and find which one of the 20 used and partially unused tickets in my possession is the correct one!

Can I blame this entirely on the barriers? Or should I blame it on the guard for unreasonably asking me when he can tell by my face that I am honest?

Blame it on the barriers. So many regular pax can't find their ticket on the train when asked - because they have just stuffed it in the first available place. The barriers have broken many a routine inc mine - & I'm a Guard.

ps I also wear rubber soled shoes. The silent approach is best.

 

[DJ_K666]

I quite often get my pass checked by the same barrier staff each day at Brighton. Some of them now seem to know I have a valid ticket and just wave me through when I produce my wallet but there are one or two that always want to see it, and actually look at it. I know that's technically what they are supposed to do but when you're in a different branch of the same company that owns the TOC* then they sometimes relax slightly. I know what it's like, sometimes a passenger gets on and just flashes you a ticket, and you just let it go. When driving a bus you don't get much time at all so I just go for price and date. If they don't match up then the ticket is withdrawn. We have very definite flat fare zones in Brighton so this approach works better then if we charged according to distance travelled. you can usually tell what type of ticket you've been shown by the price. I also check train tickets as we take PlusBus tickets too. The infuriating thing is they keep moving the "plus bus" bit around the ticket...


*Brighton and Hove buses and Southern Trains - Both part of Go-Ahead