I was talking to a Southern guard on the West Coast who advised revenue on GTR will not resume until guards and RPI, OBS staff have been re-trained as it has been so long. I wouldn’t expect to see any onboard checks on these trains in a while
Likewise, we've been back on trains since last August and if I'm honest I dont feel unsafe, absolutely no pressure from the company either, the difference is its kept a degree of order on the trains and makes the normal passengers feel safer tooMeanwhile I'm sent off with my bottle of hand sanitiser, a surgical mask and my ticket machine to do battle on my busy little trains I think some injection of the reality is required in some parts of our industry. Why is it safe for me to do it but not elsewhere?
Agreed entirely - apart from the last week or two where drink has taken it's toll on those not used to it things have been far better when we've been out doing tickets. It takes a week or two to get back on top of it and then it's fine.Likewise, we've been back on trains since last August and if I'm honest I dont feel unsafe, absolutely no pressure from the company either, the difference is its kept a degree of order on the trains and makes the normal passengers feel safer too
I agree, I don't feel unsafe doing tickets. It felt wrong not doing them, and I quite enjoy the interactions with passengers! I think it generally makes passengers feel safer too.Likewise, we've been back on trains since last August and if I'm honest I dont feel unsafe, absolutely no pressure from the company either, the difference is its kept a degree of order on the trains and makes the normal passengers feel safer too
They're already doing penalty fares and MG11s in some locations and on trains. At Hatfield they've got a booth with a protective screen to allow staff to do them at the gateline.
I know a few TOCs have taken the opportunity to update and replace their Mobile Ticket machines. So I can see the need for staff to be trained on said new machines.I can understand on-train staff (ie guards) potentially lapsing, however I can’t see how it would be the case for revenue staff given, as you say, there’s been a revenue presence at stations for most or all of the last year.
That's interesting because I was out and about on multiple GA trains today on the main line and three of the routes radiating from Ipswich ( Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Cambridge ) and had a ticket check on every single train.I rode the Harwich branch on GA and the guards announced something along the lines of "due to social distancing I will not be passing through the train" even though there were only 5 passengers out and 15 back.
An old Bristol TM guard told me a tale once, a throng of navy lads all piled on at Weymouth to go north for Christmas shore leave, guard tried to do tickets, they threw his sportis out the window in the middle of nowhere !!! After an unsuccessful hunt in the bushes the guard got the driver to send a message from a crossing ahead to Yeovil where the bobby got the MPs from Yeovilton to meet the train. Nobody would admit to throwing the machine out the window so the sergeant major or whoever who was in charge cancelled the shore leave for the whole train !!!Only one train I've felt a bit apprehensive on Saturday, the train was relatively quiet then we arrived into Lympstone Commando and over 100 marines boarded, by the time I looked up I was surrounded so I still checked and sold them all tickets, I was stuck there no matter what lol
When I went down to London a couple of weeks ago on the 17th April from Nuneaton, tickets were checked within 10 minutes of leaving Nuneaton. Likewise, return from London Euston, ticket checks commenced just after departing.
Sorry, meant to say Avanti (06:59 dep from Nuneaton, 20:20 return from Euston).Was this with Avanti or London North Western?. Thx
Scotrail have definitely restarted revenue:
Inverness-Dingwall yesterday morning had no check
Dingwall-Inverness yesterday afternoon had ticket checks taking place from every station
Inverness-Aberdeen this morning, full check out of Inverness and 'tickets from X' after every station
Sorry, meant to say Avanti (06:59 dep from Nuneaton, 20:20 return from Euston).
It doesn't appear that WMT have recommenced revenue operations yet, which is a little surprising.No worries at all thanks for the response. I thought it extremely unlikely you were using London North Western with such a proactive revenue experience
And yesterday too on the Southend Victoria lineThat's interesting because I was out and about on multiple GA trains today on the main line and three of the routes radiating from Ipswich ( Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Cambridge ) and had a ticket check on every single train.
Both ways on SWR today, nothing on LNR (Abbey Line) [and looked like the barriers at Watford Junction were wide open].
The Abbey Line is the sort where if they employed a secondary member of staff whose job it was to check tickets, then they will probably pay for themselves.
The Abbey line is an odd route in terms of it's manning. It was basically grouped with the Watford DC lines and was operated DOO-P with class 313s by Silverlink Metro. It didn't transfer to TfL so ended up with London Midland who had to operate it with 321s and then 319s, the DOO-P equipment only being set up for 3 car trains meant they ended up using the small depot of conductors at Watford to work the line conventionally as an easy solution. However they can only work from the rear of a 4 car train making revenue protection difficult to say the list so I don't think they tend to bother.
There's proposals every few years to convert it to light rail I think.