Metrolink ticket checks

[neilmc]

Encountered not one but two checks yesterday on a bit of a tram bash.

10 Metrolink staff plus 2 or 3 police officers at Milnrow late lunchtime, but on the opposite platform.

A mere 7 Metrolink staff with no police in attendance at Sale Water Park an hour or so later - I got off, did some birdwatching there, came back and an hour and a half later they were still there. Clearly this is a nice rural location in which to while away an afternoon checking tickets!

Nice to see where the money's going.

 

[edwin_m]

Took a trip out to the Airport in the evening, some joined at one of the stops around Wythenshawe at 2000ish and travelled to the Airport to join their friends that were already there and inspected everyone's tickets again. There were more at Victoria about 2130. I'm actually quite glad they seem to be getting out to the remoter parts of the network at the more iffy times of day!

 

[richardio123]

Encountered not one but two checks yesterday on a bit of a tram bash.

10 Metrolink staff plus 2 or 3 police officers at Milnrow late lunchtime, but on the opposite platform.

A mere 7 Metrolink staff with no police in attendance at Sale Water Park an hour or so later - I got off, did some birdwatching there, came back and an hour and a half later they were still there. Clearly this is a nice rural location in which to while away an afternoon checking tickets!

Nice to see where the money's going.

Sale Water Park is a key revenue protection stop being that its main purpose is for the Park and Ride so if people with no tickets get off they have no real place to go. Same as with Pomona. Also the PSR's on the Airport Line are not funded by Metrolink but by MAG. They stay on till end of service every day.

 

[wimbledonpete]

Was on a tram coming back from Oldham to Manchester on Wednesday - small group of inspectors got on. One "sleeping" passenger wouldn't "wake up" and was left and another on the phone just barked "I'm on the phone, chill out" and was also left alone - he then got off at the next stop and just loitered on the platform. I was overall surprised by the light touch of the inspectors.

 

[185]

Like most train operating companies, the hands off policy applies, and to continue to engage with an aggressive passenger risks the employees job.

Drat, that can of worms is open again. :P

-------------

Clearly this is a nice rural location in which to while away an afternoon checking tickets!

Nice to see where the money's going.

Err... it's a regular fare-check spot.

Actually, doing checks at Sale Water Park is a good move, lot of passing traffic there between Wythenshawe and Chorlton/The City. Tactically a good idea, as the non-payers have miles to walk in either direction, and just one platform doubles the effectiveness.

The scenery/excellent burger van/lesser spotted warblers are just coincidental pluses.

 

[Jonny]

Like most train operating companies, the hands off policy applies, and to continue to engage with an aggressive passenger risks the employees job.

Drat, that can of worms is open again. :P

The issue is that the obligation to protect health and safety includes the employee's duty to protect their own health and safety, as well as the employer's duty to protect the employee.

Dragging on and escalating a verbal altercation so that it gets physical is a poor use of time and effort, and at the end of the day it achieves very little (if anything).

 

[WatcherZero]

That's the advantage of running join ops with the police.

One change this year is TfGM have relaunched the transport police unit with a small police team of 16 constables plus PCSO's and civilians patrolling trams and First/Stagecoach buses, though the emphasis will be on preventative measures, visiting schools running campaigns and going after repeat offenders and hotspots. Funding seems to be a mix of Police, TfGM, First and Stagecoach (which is why they will only patrol those companies buses) and mainly aimed at taking up the slack caused by austerity police cuts.

 

[andyb2706]

Err... it's a regular fare-check spot.

Actually, doing checks at Sale Water Park is a good move, lot of passing traffic there between Wythenshawe and Chorlton/The City. Tactically a good idea, as the non-payers have miles to walk in either direction, and just one platform doubles the effectiveness.

The scenery/excellent burger van/lesser spotted warblers are just coincidental pluses.

It is a really nice area, lovely walks, excellent burger van and only five minute walk to a brilliant pub.....ideally situated.

If everybody paid their fares there would be no need for them and I have always found them chatty and friendly.

 

[johntea]

Was in Manchester over the weekend, was really surprised to see 4 inspectors jump on a tram from Bury at Queens Road and do a quick inspection of the tram considering it was around 9:30pm on a Saturday night, in the end they didn't give out any penalty fares they just advised anyone without a ticket to get off the tram

 

[CC 72100]

... So that they can have a free ride on the tram behind I'm guessing?

I'm not quite sure what the point is of revenue exercises which, if carried out in the manner described above, seem to find fare evaders and then take no action.

 

[pemma]

in the end they didn't give out any penalty fares they just advised anyone without a ticket to get off the tram

Were BTP waiting on the platform by any chance?

 

[WatcherZero]

Theres two forms of rail revenue protection strategy possible, enforcement or deterrence.

Enforcement includes manual and automatic ticket barriers, guards checking tickets, fines, etc..
Deterrance includes visible staff presence, platform posters, unpredictability of enforcement, media coverage of perpetrators being fined, etc...

 

[Mojo]

Were BTP waiting on the platform by any chance?

The BTP are nothing to do with the policing of the Tramway in Greater Manchester.

 

[pemma]

The BTP are nothing to do with the policing of the Tramway in Greater Manchester.

So why are BTP opposed to GMP in attendance when Metrolink RPIs do full revenue blocks? BTP are also regularly in attendance on platform 1 at Altrincham (the main Metrolink platform) around school finishing times.

 

[WatcherZero]

GMP not BTP do revenue blocks on the system, policing heavy rail stations like Altrincham and Victoria is a BTP responsibility though.

 

[Mojo]

So why are BTP opposed to GMP in attendance when Metrolink RPIs do full revenue blocks?

Greater Manchester Police support deployment of PSRs on the Metrolink network. I admit that I have only been a witness to a few of their operations (and I am always surprised at how high the irregularity rate appears to be), but if you search "PSR deployment" on Google, you will find papers that show that the joint operations are carried out with the Greater Manchester Police.