Though they only give a short mention to the fact the number of violent incidents has fallen by a third.
The number of incidents hasn't fallen by much. The amount of incidents that are reported has though.
Regardless, it's still a stupid amount of ASB incidents to have in a 3 month period.
Revenue Protection does not seem to be the strong point within Metrolink at the moment, however I have seen over the last few weeks a increase of Revenue Staff and Police Officers at both Victoria and Queens Road tram stop as I my commute only takes me on the Bury Line I cannot comment on the rest of lines, perhaps someone would be able to add?
As for guards on the trains I don`t feel that it would be a good idea, the amount of money that it would cost to have a guard on all services to me is not even worth thinking about. In addition to the fact that ticket inspectors would be pretty useless in peak time as they would not be able to sell any tickets because the trams are so busy!
Sam
Guards on all services would actually be of great value, certainly they would be of more use than the current CSRs.
In my experience, an extra member of staff on board makes a huuuuge difference. They're a deterrent. For example, If you drive to Ashton on a Friday night without staff on board then the vehicle is usually full, typically with kids/teenagers, smoking, drinking, being abusive, pulling egress handles etc etc.
Go up there with just one or two members of staff on board and the vehicle is usually empty. Mostly because they don't have tickets.
The Manchester Evening News treats Metrolink very like the Daily Mail treats the NHS and the BBC.
It has an agenda to slur Metrolink, always has.
Now I'm not saying there isn't an odd incident but no more than happen on buses, the underground, etc.
Normally I would agree with you 100%. However on this occasion they are absolutely, 100% telling the truth.
The location of the ticket check blockades moves around according to 'intelligence' i.e. reports of chancers, however there are some regular and hotspot locations they will always go back too. The revenue protection staff may be diverted for other purposes too such as manning stations during events/new line openings or providing directions and advice to passengers on platforms during serious disruption.
They say they move around according to Intel, but they don't.
I'd take this with a pinch of salt quite honestly, things aren't perfect but probably no worse than in many other parts of the country, some more BTP officers on board would be good but the same can be said about many other places.
I wouldn't.
Also, we don't have the BTP, we rely on GMP who are frankly useless.
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Never really seen any significant problems apart from the odd incident on the Airport line, the East Didsbury and Eccles lines seem especially calm.
If you want to see bad check out the Luas Red Line in Dublin, now that has some serious issues with ASB.
You've obviously been travelling at the right times.
The Ashton, Airport and Rochdale lines become the seventh and eighth and ninth levels of hell after dark, the Eccles line is often full of drunks and the East Didsbury line suffers from frequent missile throwing.
