Southern on-board supervisor ticket checks

[Horizon22]

Can OBS cover conductor work on the Watford services?

No. The route requirements need a 2nd member of safety critical staff I believe.

 

[Javelin_55]

Can OBS cover conductor work on the Watford services?

No. The route requirements need a 2nd member of safety critical staff I believe.

Redhill - Tonbridge services also can't be substituted by an OBS if the train is crewed by SE drivers. If it's a Southern driver, OBS is fine.

 

[Sealink]

I use Southern a 5/6 times a year. I do Dorchester South to East Croydon via Barnham as the fares are far cheaper than via Clapham Junction. So 10 to 12 single trips.

My ticket has been checked on every train from Southampton to/from East Croydon, and sometimes twice.

 

[boiledbeans2]

On the West & East Coastway routes, the 313 have guards. What if a 313 is replaced by an Electrostar? Does the Electrostar still run with a guard/OBS? Or DOO?

 

[Islineclear3_1]

On the West & East Coastway routes, the 313 have guards. What if a 313 is replaced by an Electrostar? Does the Electrostar still run with a guard/OBS? Or DOO?

They definately don't run DOO

 

[387star]

They definately don't run DOO

This is incorrect. Having an OBS on board is still DOO and there are agreed reasons to run without one

 

[yorkie]

On the West & East Coastway routes, the 313 have guards. What if a 313 is replaced by an Electrostar? Does the Electrostar still run with a guard/OBS? Or DOO?

If it ran with an on board supervisor (OBS) then it would be Driver Only Operated (DOO); an OBS is not involved in the operation of the train.

 

[bubieyehyeh]

I hadn't been checked for some time on my travels, but was checked on my last two southern train journeys, last friday on london victoria -> bognor train, and on a horsham -> victoria train this morning. So I was wondered if a management edict has been issued.

 

[Crawley Ben]

I travelled onboard 2 Southern services in Nov 22 and had my ticket checked both ways soon after boarding.

Ben

 

[Islineclear3_1]

This is incorrect. Having an OBS on board is still DOO and there are agreed reasons to run without one

Indeed, now I've thought about it....

 

[alf]

The OB Supervisors I have encountered are very varied on my frequent trips toLewes & Chichester.
Some, say 10 % are truly brilliant. Thorough & polite ticket checks, visible & announcements as good as the very best guards.
Indeed several sound like professional broadcasters.
Some, say 25%, do regular announcements, are visible & check or at least glance at tickets regularly.
Some, say 50%, do occasional sometimes inaudible announcements
& walk through, but rarely check tickets.
Some, say 15% are definitely present at the start & finish of my journey but do literally nothing.

As a pure guess OBS start the job full of enthusiasm & do a brilliant job but soo realise why bother. No one is sacked for doing nothing.

In truth they are just there because ASLEF demanded them about 5 years ago as part of the deal for full DOO throughout the entire network bar the Uckfield & Rim year Marsh diesel services.

 

[winks]

I would say having travelled on west coastway services regularly since 2010 , the introduction of the OBS role has been a backward step in terms of revenue collection, ticket checking AND customer service. I’ve often wondered if Southern carried out “secret shoppers” on their OBS services - as the results would be pretty poor. Most OBS staff do not carry out ticket checks, rarely use the PA systems. Generally they’ll prop up the gangway with keys in the door interlock ready and waiting.

I understand staff mentality on this - morale is pretty low and there is a feeling no one gives a sh*t especially at management level but it does feel from a passenger perspective a big downgrade in customer service!

 

[387star]

Yeah morale being low doesn't help

 

[Javelin_55]

It doesn't help that there is currently a huge issue with anti-social behaviour on the Arun Valley and West Coast way lines involving a very small number of individuals. Several times a week there are reports of trains being vandalised and OBS' being assaulted. The miscreants just run off and come back the next evening somewhere else. The closest BTP base is Brighton which is nearly 20 miles away from where most of it happens. I'm not surprised ticket checks here don't happen as there aren't many staff left who are willing to challenge this behaviour.

 

[Elorith]

I recall about a year ago a member of Southern platform staff told me that the OBS grade "wasn't required to carry out renevue protection anymore" (or was it that they weren't required to between Victoria and Gatwick? I don't remember now).

Whether or not this is still the case or ever was I can't say. Perhaps a temporary change to do with the pandemic.

Regardless, OBS has got to be one of the most boring jobs on the railway. Low morale and job satisfaction certainly wouldn't encourage more ticket checks.

 

[387star]

I notice ex conductor OBS still poke their head out the cab window while the train leaves. I guess that's no longer mandated

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Checks were being made north of East Croydon on a Southern service at 09:00 this morning.

 

[Urban Gateline]

I recall about a year ago a member of Southern platform staff told me that the OBS grade "wasn't required to carry out renevue protection anymore" (or was it that they weren't required to between Victoria and Gatwick? I don't remember now).

Whether or not this is still the case or ever was I can't say. Perhaps a temporary change to do with the pandemic.

Regardless, OBS has got to be one of the most boring jobs on the railway. Low morale and job satisfaction certainly wouldn't encourage more ticket checks.

Not sure about revenue, but Southern and Gat EX can run without an OBS between Haywards Heath and London Victoria.

The job is what you make of it, can make it more interesting by patrolling your train and making useful announcements, I had heard about the miscreants on the West Coastway but never saw them, but either way it's good to have that 2nd person on those trains otherwise the driver would be left to deal with those same people...

I notice ex conductor OBS still poke their head out the cab window while the train leaves. I guess that's no longer mandated

Definitely not mandated, no safety critical duties are part of the role, on a busy train when they work from the cabs it makes sense though to see who is on the platform as they approach and depart.

 

[Carlisle]

The job is what you make of it, can make it more interesting by patrolling your train and making useful announcements,

That applies to many types of job. Haven’t most of us worked alongside those who try hard to do a decent job whilst some others appear to do the bare minimum required to avoid the disciplinary procedure.?

 

[MrJeeves]

Just for some reference, I used a DaySave yesterday on Southern.

I did have a ticket check (!!) on Marshlink between Ore and Ashford, but it wasn't a "thorough" check. Guard was scanning e-tickets and offering to sell on board to those without tickets so it was more of a "oh you have a orange bit of paper already". No other on board checks other than that. In fact, on my leg to Southampton, the OBS came to check everyone was in the right half of the splitting service, explicitly telling us no need to get our tickets out.


Ignore Ashford to Tonbridge, Tonbridge to Tunbridge and Tunbridge to Eridge as these were non-GTR legs.

DaySave opens no barriers on GTR at all -- interestingly they all error with 122 meaning that a London Underground ticket isn't valid for use at this NR station. Not sure if that's something to do with how the ticket is encoded or what. Gateline staff at Eastbourne was surprised and said he hadn't seen one of these in a long time! At Southampton, it got a long stare trying to enter through the gateline but I was allowed through without any comments from either side about the ticket. Not surprised about the long stare considering it's not GTR managed and Southern have only a semi-regular service there

 

[Sussex Ben]

Unusually, my ticket was checked by an OBS yesterday on my train home from East Croydon to Burgess Hill. There did seem little point though as the two passengers sat with me in first class both had standard tickets and were not asked to move into standard. One also showed an invalid ticket (would have been fine if they were going the other way) but this was not queried either.

I assume the check was mostly to ensure that passengers were in the right part of the train for when it called at stations along the coast with short platforms, however it does feel that OBSs are turkeys voting for Christmas a lot of the time…

 

[Desirolly]

Have never been checked by an OBS or guard on the 313s, but that’s slightly different due to the frequent stops. In GTR in general I’ve noticed a much stronger revenue protection presence on GN metro services who CAN read contactless. Surely these machines could be implemented across the network?

 

[Surreytraveller]

On the West & East Coastway routes, the 313 have guards. What if a 313 is replaced by an Electrostar? Does the Electrostar still run with a guard/OBS? Or DOO?

If a 313 is replaced by an Electrostar, then the Guard will act as an OBS. The Guards are not competent to operate 377s as a Guard (except Selhurst Conductors)

 

[DelW]

Have never been checked by an OBS or guard on the 313s, but that’s slightly different due to the frequent stops. In GTR in general I’ve noticed a much stronger revenue protection presence on GN metro services who CAN read contactless. Surely these machines could be implemented across the network?

I made three short trips on the west Coastway 313s last week and the OBS guard did a check on the third (Littlehampton to Portsmouth). He also sold tickets to a large family group (2 adults, 4 or 5 children, assorted bikes) who'd evidently boarded without any (to be fair, at an intermediate station so might not have had an opportunity).

(edited to refer to guard not OBS)

 

[SouthEastBuses]

GTR is probably as close to a fully gated network as you're ever going to get, so no one bothers to check elsewhere. Advance tickets and any unusual ticket types are rejected by the gates for manual checks (or rather, you get waved through if they catch a glimpse of an orange piece of paper). The number of ungated to ungated journeys possible on GTR is small.

The only GTR stations I can think of without barriers are: Rye, Littlehaven, Faygate, Ifield, Littlehaven, Warnham, Ockley and Holmwood

 

[MrJeeves]

The only GTR stations I can think of without barriers are: Rye, Littlehaven, Faygate, Ifield, Littlehaven, Warnham, Ockley and Holmwood

Preston Park, Wivelsfield, Balcombe, Salfords and Earlswood on the mainline

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Preston Park, Wivelsfield, Balcombe, Salfords and Earlswood on the mainline

Actually, I have just remembered that Lancing and Angmering also don't have barriers. So yeah quite a lot of small minor stations.

If anything, c2c is I believe a TOC where all stations have barriers and there isn't a single one without them. Certainly the case for Rainham and Chafford Hundred at least

 

[Minstral25]

Redhill platform 3 exit doesn't have barriers, which makes the ones in the main ticket hall a bit pointless

 

[thedotlair]

I often encounter OBS staff on my Reigate to Victoria journeys - had one doing checks on tickets yesterday (Tuesday 11th April) even though I couldn't show it due to the ticket machine not working Easily solved at Victoria though

 

[WizCastro197]

Wandsworth Common doesn’t have barriers, or if it does it’s only partially as the entrance into the common is ungated.