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Observations as a conductor doing tickets..

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thelongestroad

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A question... why do people begrudge showing their ticket? I can walk through the train politely asking for all tickets to be ready for inspection.. half the time you're plainly ignored until you ask again or you get the biggest death look ever and have it snatched back after you've stamped it. God forbid you ask to see a ticket which one of my colleagues has already seen before I boarded.

So what's the issue?
 
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Moonshot

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thelongestroad said:
A question... why do people begrudge showing their ticket? I can walk through the train politely asking for all tickets to be ready for inspection.. half the time you're plainly ignored until you ask again or you get the biggest death look ever and have it snatched back after you've stamped it. God forbid you ask to see a ticket which one of my colleagues has already seen before I boarded.

So what's the issue?
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I find it particularly irritating when I announce " tickets please " from the cab door, and find that a person halfway down the carriage has not heard me due to headphones.
 
Mintona

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I think some passengers expect conductors to know who doesn't have a valid ticket before checking them, and want them to only ask to see the tickets of people who don't already have them.
 
CC 72100

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While I agree with the OP, I must admit, I've had the situation the other way round once - a rather not-so-vocal XC TM who just ended up standing over us, before muttering the word 'Tickets'.... I'd have thought he'd have said something while going down the aisle first, or even as he approached us, then could have saved us all time (and not lead me to look up and think 'You weren't there a minute ago!). ;)
 
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jon0844

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Moonshot said:
I find it particularly irritating when I announce " tickets please " from the cab door, and find that a person halfway down the carriage has not heard me due to headphones.
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Surely not that irritating? I mean, people can wear headphones can't they? And what about people who are deaf or hard of hearing?
 
Starmill

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Some passengers are surprised anyone is doing a ticket check on their route, because for whatever reason, it is not usual.
 
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Moonshot

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jonmorris0844 said:
Surely not that irritating? I mean, people can wear headphones can't they? And what about people who are deaf or hard of hearing?
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Oh people can wear head phones as much as they want .....I just find it irritating that when i get to them, they havent got tickets ready like those who are not wearing them. I just have to accept the fact.....doesnt stop it becoming irritating though.

Does work the other way as well.....passengers can hardly complain when they have missed their stop despite me announcing the fact that over the PA the next stop is whatever station we are approaching.
 
graham43404

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I don't understand it myself. As someone who pays the correct fare all the time I am more than happy to show my ticket as many times as need be if it helps to prevent loss for the TOC's. I seem to remember some journeys in the 80's as a kid my ticket having rather a few hole punches in it :lol:
 
Starmill

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Moonshot said:
I find it particularly irritating when I announce " tickets please " from the cab door, and find that a person halfway down the carriage has not heard me due to headphones.
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It leaves me feeling a bit on edge when I board a train and want to put my headphones in but haven't had my ticket checked. I usually try to work out if the guard is doing a ticket check and have my wallet on the table if I could see that they were from the platform. If there's no sign of them and they don't announce that they will be coming to check tickets I will usually give it 15 minutes of looking over my shoulder or with just 1 headphone in. After that if there's still no sign of them or no announcement I will just put my tickets away and put the other one in.
 
Marton

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It also depends what you say.

If it's "tickets from X" and my ticket is from Y, even though I boarded at X I presume you don't want it.

A former colleague always gets out all tickets the one he's using together with connections splits and future tickets when the call is for "all tickets".
 
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RailAleFan

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No excuse for every being bolshy over a ticket inspection but on long journeys (I regularly travel XC between Stoke and Reading) it is really frustrating when you've had a train manager check between Stoke and B'ham, crew change and therefore another train manager between B'ham and Reading, plus at some point anywhere along that journey a revenue protection check as well.

I often do that journey without any check at all, but I'm sure on one occasion I was checked 4 times although to be fair I did change trains at B'ham as I'd got the Newcastle service from Reading and the same revenue protection guy worked the same two trains that I caught!
 
185

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You need to be an expert to understand passenger behaviour.

My take on the 'what comes after' your "morning folks, tickets please".

93% are usually pretty decent folk, who appreciate the check as it catches the garbage that don't, and won't pay, putting everyone else's price up.
3% are less than decent and slam the ticket up at you with a condescending look. He's already been checked. (last Thursday).
2% complain about having their ticket checked being a breach of the international human rights convention. Facist!
1% go as far as sitting there pretending to ignore you, to desperately get you to become angry, in order to desperately make a complaint about something. Anything.
0.5% are even ruder by way of the amount of drink they have had. Usually require rolling out the door mid journey.
0.5% are the rudest and most belligerent of all. These often hold 'management' or 'status' passes. Require swift execution.
 
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Moonshot

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185 said:
You need to be an expert to understand passenger behaviour.

My take on the 'what comes after' your "morning folks, tickets please".

93% are usually pretty decent folk, who appreciate the check as it catches the garbage that don't, and won't pay, putting everyone else's price up.
3% are less than decent and slam the ticket up at you with a condescending look. He's already been checked. (last Thursday).
2% complain about having their ticket checked being a breach of the international human rights convention. Facist!
1% go as far as sitting there pretending to ignore you, to desperately get you to become angry, in order to desperately make a complaint about something. Anything.
0.5% are even ruder by way of the amount of drink they have had. Usually require rolling out the door mid journey.
0.5% are the rudest and most belligerent of all. These often hold 'management' or 'status' passes. Require swift execution.
Click to expand...

You forgot the 1% who suddenly head for the toilet !! :D
 
BestWestern

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starmill:1879021 said:
Moonshot said:
I find it particularly irritating when I announce " tickets please " from the cab door, and find that a person halfway down the carriage has not heard me due to headphones.
Click to expand...

It leaves me feeling a bit on edge when I board a train and want to put my headphones in but haven't had my ticket checked. I usually try to work out if the guard is doing a ticket check and have my wallet on the table if I could see that they were from the platform. If there's no sign of them and they don't announce that they will be coming to check tickets I will usually give it 15 minutes of looking over my shoulder or with just 1 headphone in. After that if there's still no sign of them or no announcement I will just put my tickets away and put the other one in.
Click to expand...

Nobody should feel apprehensive about wanting to entertain themselves during a journey (assuming they are doing so without irritating their fellow passengers!). The best solution is simply to have your tickets handy, or if you're intending to remain awake have them in front of you. No Guard should be getting arsey with somebody simply for wanting to enjoy their journey (though some do of course).

As for gripping, I will always make a point of announcing my arrival, and using a friendly and approachable manner throughout the train. Generally I find it is appreciated by most. Nothing worse than 'miserable robot guard' mumbling his way down the carriage...
 
kieron

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starmill said:
Some passengers are surprised anyone is doing a ticket check on their route, because for whatever reason, it is not usual.
Click to expand...
And some are not surprised to find that the person who asked for tickets on entering the carriage doesn't actually reach them before disappearing again to do something with the doors.
 
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Moonshot

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kieron said:
And some are not surprised to find that the person who asked for tickets on entering the carriage doesn't actually reach them before disappearing again to do something with the doors.
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You could understand why any passenger who daily travelled between Huyton and Roby would never actually realise there was a guard on board!
 
CC 72100

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Moonshot said:
You could understand why any passenger who daily travelled between Huyton and Roby would never actually realise there was a guard on board!
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Or probably that you need a ticket too in that case! ;)
 
SS4

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What about Advance tickets without the reservation also being offered? Or railcard discounted tickets with no railcard produced with it :lol:
 
Flamingo

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It's when I check the three passengers at a table and have to specifically ask the fourth "You too sir", who invariably produces a season ticket...
 
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Chouette

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I've had the occasional hard stare from conductors who announce "tickets from Y please", and expect me to magically divine that they've forgotten I got on at X earlier in the journey and would like to see my ticket from X too, please.

I think I need to work on being more memorable. Or take up a career as a secret agent?
 
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I'm always polite when I show my ticket, but I've come to slightly begrudge the fact that ticket checks generally occur at places and times when almost everyone has the right document anyway.

Yet late at night, or on the hop between Newhaven and Seaford, or in First Class on GatEx, checks are almost non-existent. On my patch, at least, I think there needs to be more unpredictability in the pattern of ticket checking.
 
BestWestern

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Flamingo:1879120 said:
It's when I check the three passengers at a table and have to specifically ask the fourth "You too sir", who invariably produces a season ticket...
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Ah, rather than ask you could always just stand there, waiting until said person is hit by a wave sixth sense awkwardness and looks up at you and three other staring faces... ;)
 
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Abpj17

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1) Because it was already scanned at the station
2) Because someone else has already checked it
3) If I'm working 12+ hour days and the train has only added to that by literally not having been on time all week, the journey is an opportunity to grab a tiny little extra bit of much needed sleep
4) My ticket gets tucked into pass so it doesn't get lost! Each time it's taken out increases wear/tear, chance of it getting lost, chance of it not working in the machines
5) Said ticket checkers are *never* around on the late trains to deal with the usual drunks etc.

I know ticket checking probably isn't the most popular in the world - it's an important job and someone has to do it. If people don't buy tickets, my season ticket goes up even more.

But, sometimes your passengers are having a bad day (for non-train reasons) or may have a poor train service exacerbating that. (I have the much maligned FCC Thameslink service so a lot of trains don't run on time)
 
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Delta558

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Abpj17 said:
1) Because it was already scanned at the station
2) Because someone else has already checked it
3) If I'm working 12+ hour days and the train has only added to that by literally not having been on time all week, the journey is an opportunity to grab a tiny little extra bit of much needed sleep
4) My ticket gets tucked into pass so it doesn't get lost! Each time it's taken out increases wear/tear, chance of it getting lost, chance of it not working in the machines
5) Said ticket checkers are *never* around on the late trains to deal with the usual drunks etc.
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1) That doesn't help me - I've request stops on all my routes and need to know where you're going.
2) Same as above.
3) I understand, I work long shifts myself but unfortunately if you're asleep I might tell my driver to carry on through a request stop you wanted to get off at.
4) Can't help that, sorry. NRCoC - much as they tend to get ignored these days you agree to them each time you purchase your ticket.
5) That's a big argument which could open so many doors. I'm not even going to start.
 
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rdeez

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I have to confess to getting mildly annoyed when, on the same route, the timing of ticket checks varies too much. I usually travel with XC from Birmingham, so it's after a crew change, and depending on the crew a ticket check could happen while still in platform (rare, admittedly, but it's happened a couple of times...), shortly after departing New Street, after Wolverhampton, or at some arbitrary point between the above.

This is an issue because I almost always use the mobile ticketing app, so there's no ticket for me to just 'leave out' and I like to pop in my headphones and close my eyes to relax. This leads to minor frustration for both me and TM alike when I've drifted off into my own world thinking the ticket check will be at 'X' because it wasn't done at 'Y', only for it to be done between and the TM having to nudge me and wait while I fumble to unlock my phone and bring up the app.

Basically I imagine I'm one of those people who is unintentionally a bit of a pain in the rear end when there's a train full of passengers to get through. :|
 
sarahj

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Bishopstone said:
I'm always polite when I show my ticket, but I've come to slightly begrudge the fact that ticket checks generally occur at places and times when almost everyone has the right document anyway.

Yet late at night, or on the hop between Newhaven and Seaford, or in First Class on GatEx, checks are almost non-existent. On my patch, at least, I think there needs to be more unpredictability in the pattern of ticket checking.
Click to expand...

Often between Newhaven and Seaford there is just not the time to do tickets, and be ready to dispatch from Bishopstone.
Some of us try to do first class in Gatex. But since we are only on from Gatwick to Brighton, with dispatch and only a few places to dispatch on a 442, again timing is all important, or could be the fact that you see the same faces in first on some trains.
Late at night is a different thing. Going through some trains after a certain time its risky. After throwing 3 guys off at haywards heath on friday I found hiding in the toilets,(not fun, I might add) i then did an even later train from Eastbourne to Brighton and had to arrange for another passenger to be met at Brighton to be MG11'd. Away from Brighton, late at night, there is no help, no back up and trains full of passengers who get miffed when your 30 secs late.
But as i said, for the short hops, its time between stations where you have to time it, so your not delaying the train to take a 2.60 fare with a declined debit card.
and all it takes is a iffy card, a iffy passenger, or an iffy advantix and all plans of a decent ticket check go out the window.
And while it may look like the same times, on friday pm, going through the usual commuter trains/late nighters etc I sold over 30 tickets with a total value of over £250.

Have i checked your ticket, I wonder?. A few that get off at bishopstone, do say hello and thanks.;)
 
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PaxVobiscum

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SS4 said:
What about Advance tickets without the reservation also being offered? Or railcard discounted tickets with no railcard produced with it :lol:
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OTOH, what about producing all the required documentation only to have the reservation voucher(s) rudely thrust aside with a contemptuous "these are not tickets!" and a withering look. :D

(Then the tickets get stamped with that special non-drying ink that gets distributed evenly over the inner surfaces of the ticket wallet and smears all your tickets/railcards for the next month. Personally, I prefer the technique of applying random letters of the Phoenician alphabet by ballpoint pen).
 
IanD

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rdeez said:
I have to confess to getting mildly annoyed when, on the same route, the timing of ticket checks varies too much. I usually travel with XC from Birmingham, so it's after a crew change, and depending on the crew a ticket check could happen while still in platform (rare, admittedly, but it's happened a couple of times...), shortly after departing New Street, after Wolverhampton, or at some arbitrary point between the above.

This is an issue because I almost always use the mobile ticketing app, so there's no ticket for me to just 'leave out' and I like to pop in my headphones and close my eyes to relax. This leads to minor frustration for both me and TM alike when I've drifted off into my own world thinking the ticket check will be at 'X' because it wasn't done at 'Y', only for it to be done between and the TM having to nudge me and wait while I fumble to unlock my phone and bring up the app.

Basically I imagine I'm one of those people who is unintentionally a bit of a pain in the rear end when there's a train full of passengers to get through. :|
Click to expand...

That's a great idea. Publish the time of the ticket checks and stick to them rigidly so those without tickets know exactly when to head off to the toilets.

I often have headphones in but it is neither frustrating or annoying to me to have to be nudged to get my tickets out. Embarrassing possibly, at most.
 
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