You tell me! You are saying that "discretion" should be shown. If you felt the rules were entirely adequate then there would be no need to show discretion, surely?
Why do you need rules for everything? Isn't a qualification that penalty fares may be applied enough, leaving the implication that crew & revenue staff have room to decide if they feel a penalty fare is not required or appropriate? This is one of the problems I have with the general direction of the thread (or so it feels anyway), that every fine detail needs to be covered by a regulation.
An example of a case where Northern Rail state a date of birth is required is where the origin & destination stations are both unstaffed and the passenger is unable to purchase a ticket from revenue contractors at the destination station. Perhaps there are other circumstances but we can't
Sorry Yorkie, that's so vague that I can't take it seriously. Without any context to the situation or knowing the circumstances involved, & possibly the age of the passenger you seem just to be finding excuses. Which is a theme that runs deep in this thread.
If you do not see the problems, then why are you arguing against those of us who do see the problems?
Because most of the "problems" raised on here seem to be based either on the perceptions of the operator and not the scheme itself, or if not that based on outdated regulation. Either way its about the balance between opinion & reality, something that happens a lot where people come together to discuss & debate.
I said way down this thread that I cautiously welcomed the scheme, subject to their being no major problems. And so far I see none yet some members continue to insist that it is failing or somehow flawed.
The only person who I see as being "biased" in recent posts is you. I am at a loss as to what your motivation is!
Bias towards whom? You accuse me of making things up earlier yet go straight on to do the same yourself. As above I am simply trying to bring some balance through my own experience. Isn't that what forums are about, or am I committing some unspoken faux pas?
My motivation is of a customer of the franchise that has witnessed years & years of chronic fare evasion, and a franchise that for many years was hamstrung by a zero-growth policy whilst passenger numbers grew. So I am very keen on anything that helps protect revenue, which in turn helps control fare increases and/or allows for improvements. I'm likely going to be using an average of 4 Northern franchised routes for at least another decade and a half, maybe more, so I am keen to see operators maximise revenue controls to prevent future loss.
Perhaps though the motivation of this thread might be called into question, there seems far more concern about how to procure rangers & rovers than general revenue protection, which whilst understandable on a specialist forum for rail enthusiasts does not represent even a small proportion of the travelling public.
Your posts are so bizarre at times, if you do not indicate them as such (e.g. by the use of "(!)" or "
") then I don't see how we are supposed to tell.
Well its a good job you don't know me in real life then.....
Seriously though what is bizarre about challenging people's perceptions when you think they are wrong? Further down this thread, and before the scheme's trial on the Aire & Wharfe lines, some were predicting chaos & lots of angry customers. But that hasn't happened, and so now some are trying to pick holes in the policy, it's application & the regulations around it in the vain hope that they can generate these problems (or so it seems). I'll tell you what is really bizarre to me, the fact that several months into it some on this thread still seem to be vainly trying to undermine it, even trying to prove that it is somehow against regulation even after the new regs have been offered, which for a sub-forum that regularly offers advice worryingly seemed to come under the radar.
So I'm sorry to have come along and upset you by daring to challenge people's views, but I'm afraid I will continue to do so where I feel it is justified.