LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
I have just returned from a tour in Central Europe, visiting Munich, Vienna, Prague, Dresden and Frankfurt.
I did not encounter a single ticket barrier in any of these cities, using trains, trams and buses (usually using local travelcard-type day tickets).
There were also precious few on-board ticket checks - none at all on the local services, usually one or two on the long-distance trains (whenever there was a crew change).
Why are we so obessed with barriers?
These are not sleepy old-fashioned places, they are modern advanced business and tourist centres.
I also obtained all my long-distance tickets online at cheap advance rates, printed them off at home and had them validated on board with no problems.
This included cross-border and cross-operator services.
And of course no passport checks.
And all the stations are completely open, with multiple exits.
Why is this so difficult in the UK?
Why are we all treated like criminals and herded through single access points, when other networks operate on the honour principle and are fully open?
It must be a cultural issue.
All (manual) announcements on long-distance trains were in English as well as the local language, with station signs in multiple languages.
How long before we recognise the large number of foreigners on our trains (Eurostar excepted)?
Does any TOC have a web site to buy tickets in other than English?
I did not encounter a single ticket barrier in any of these cities, using trains, trams and buses (usually using local travelcard-type day tickets).
There were also precious few on-board ticket checks - none at all on the local services, usually one or two on the long-distance trains (whenever there was a crew change).
Why are we so obessed with barriers?
These are not sleepy old-fashioned places, they are modern advanced business and tourist centres.
I also obtained all my long-distance tickets online at cheap advance rates, printed them off at home and had them validated on board with no problems.
This included cross-border and cross-operator services.
And of course no passport checks.
And all the stations are completely open, with multiple exits.
Why is this so difficult in the UK?
Why are we all treated like criminals and herded through single access points, when other networks operate on the honour principle and are fully open?
It must be a cultural issue.
All (manual) announcements on long-distance trains were in English as well as the local language, with station signs in multiple languages.
How long before we recognise the large number of foreigners on our trains (Eurostar excepted)?
Does any TOC have a web site to buy tickets in other than English?