Observations as a conductor doing tickets..

[GarethJohn]

Just follow the Trolley?If they can Sleep through that racket then a call for a Doctor might be warranted.

 

[Trog]

Perhaps I am a bit odd but I like having my ticket checked as I some how feel I am getting my monies worth as it is all part of the service. This is doubly strange as being ex BR staff I am usually travelling on a pass that I did not pay for with money.

I also like the tendency of a lot of conductors to give a better grade of thank-you to older staff travelling on free tickets than to the mere mortals who have only paid money to travel.

A particular thank-you to the LM guard who responded Ta, and Thank-you sir on being shown our tickets, by a younger colleague and myself the other week, only minutes after I had commented on this. Now you know why showing his ticket to you made him crack up.

 

[Starmill]

Just to add to what I've said above - the people you catch with a single each way around my patch are usually travelling from a barriered station. Hence why I don't tend to follow advice I've been given from some along the lines of "Don't check after X, as the barriers will have got them on the way through..." :roll:

I've no idea if it is actually given, but a lot of revenue staff in Greater Manchester seem to act as if following this advice - and it's a categorically bad idea! The deception of some of us Mancunians knows few bounds and they can and do get away with it all the time. Of course, Northern's attitude to us with the fare changes coming up next month practically encourages this spirit in my view.

It doesn't help the quality of the 'barriers*' I suppose!!!

*Exception: MCO. But they are open half the time anyway.

 

[gswindale]

Down here in SWT land; it was very rare for me to see any form of ticket check when I worked in London.

It was therefore extremely satisfying when I saw the same woman get caught twice a few months apart and be turfed off at Staines on both occasions.

I remember this quite well as my former colleague who had had a 3 or 4 month stint working elsewhere was with me on the teain both mornings and there was the "That was the same woman as last time we did this journey" comment.

Just goes to show how some people like to play the system unfortunately.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

As a commuter the thing that really gets my goat is conductors who wait until you're halfway through your journey before they decide to start inspecting tickets.

My journey is around an hour and during that time I normally like to snooze or listen to some ambient music, so the last thing I appreciate is being prodded awake when I'm halfway through some Tangerine Dream or Mike Oldfield epic!

On a journey from Leeds to Barnsley for example, it's not unusual for the conductor to wait till we're past Wakefield before doing a ticket check! Surely it would be better for all if he could check all tickets as soon as we've left Leeds then we can all sit back, relax and enjoy our journey without interruptions?

 

[Merseysider]

As a commuter the thing that really gets my goat is conductors who wait until you're halfway through your journey before they decide to start inspecting tickets.

My journey is around an hour and during that time I normally like to snooze or listen to some ambient music, so the last thing I appreciate is being prodded awake when I'm halfway through some Tangerine Dream or Mike Oldfield epic!

On a journey from Leeds to Barnsley for example, it's not unusual for the conductor to wait till we're past Wakefield before doing a ticket check! Surely it would be better for all if he could check all tickets as soon as we've left Leeds then we can all sit back, relax and enjoy our journey without interruptions?

Possibly the timing of the ticket check is to do with when the greatest amount of passengers will be on board? When travelling on a stopper between Man Airport and Picc, the guard almost always waits until we've passed the penultimate station, as most passengers are travelling to the city centre rather than to intermediate stations. Similarly, VT ticket checks MAN - EUS are often done after Stockport rather than directly after Man Picc.

This is, of course, excluding situations where the guard prefers to check for tickets after each "station stop".