Northern Ticket Blocks

[MichaelTrains]

Earlier today I travelled from Bradford to Keighley and had to change at Shipley off the 46 to Ilkley service.

What I find absolutely astonishing is that my ticket was checked (1) through the gate line at Forster Square because two of the barriers were out of service.

A second time (2) on the train to Shipley, then a third time (3) leaving platform 3 and a fourth time (4) on platform 2 by two mobile Northern staff walking up and down the platform checking tickets.

I then had a fifth (5) ticket check on the Shipley to Skipton train and then finally a sixth with the blockade at Keighley (6) which I must confess is a rare occurrence.

My point is this - is fare evasion on the triangle that bad to justify the cost of all these members of staff checking tickets?

 

[scrapy]

Yes it is pretty bad, but think you got 'unlucky' and most people won't have their ticket checked that many times. They are obviously doing a revenue exercise on the day you described probably also trying to route out short farers.

 

[MichaelTrains]

Yes it is pretty bad, but think you got 'unlucky' and most people won't have their ticket checked that many times. They are obviously doing a revenue exercise on the day you described probably also trying to route out short farers.

My experience of changing trains at Shipley is that there are regular ticket checks between all platforms but I’ve never experienced them walking up and down the platform checking tickets before.

Another place which is semi ridiculous is the blockade off platforms 6 & 7 at York.

I had a tight but doable 7 minute connection for the Scarborough service but because everyone was caught in the blockade and moving at a snails pace I missed the Scarborough train.

 

[Travelmonkey]

Definitely be better if EMR did that, although it's just bad luck you got caught so many times on your small trip. Good thing you were legit. If it was recent your missed Scarborough train may be worth filling in a delay repay,

 

[janb]

If it was recent your missed Scarborough train may be worth filling in a delay repay,

Minimum connection time at York is 8 minutes, so if the connection was timetabled as 7 minutes it wouldn't be an official connection eligible for delay repay.

 

[thejuggler]

School holidays, so lots of opportunities for some free riding. Its also a good part of the network for training staff.

 

[Adam0984]

On the triangle with the combination of 3/4/6 (in the future) car trains and short time between stations fare evasion is a problem

 

[MichaelTrains]

Minimum connection time at York is 8 minutes, so if the connection was timetabled as 7 minutes it wouldn't be an official connection eligible for delay repay.

The train was late arriving into York, so the minimum connection time was more than 8 minutes.

Can I claim delay repay for missing a connecting service because I’ve been in a long gate line queue?

On the triangle with the combination of 3/4/6 (in the future) car trains and short time between stations fare evasion is a problem

Couldn’t they just staff both units like Northern already do on some Leeds to Chesters when 2 x 195s?

 

[Adam0984]

Couldn’t they just staff both units like Northern already do on some Leeds to Chesters when 2 x 195s?

Even then you struggle to get all tickets validated and everyone have a ticket, if there was an additional person on the train either doing half the train or the coupled unit then it would probably be under the penalty fare scheme unless its a spare PF officer and they don't always do PFs unless they're in a pair. Northern did away with the additional fare collector role when they started PFs. When you've got only got 1-5 mins between stations you're always going to lose revenue as its impossible to yoyo back and forth getting everyone, so Northern decide to man Shipley, Ilkley and Guiseley most days with ticket checkers, Keighley and other smaller stations less often

 

[xotGD]

The train was late arriving into York, so the minimum connection time was more than 8 minutes.

Can I claim delay repay for missing a connecting service because I’ve been in a long gate line queue?

If you arrived into York with under 8 minutes to connect with your departure then this is grounds enough for a Delay Repay claim for a missed connection.