I have hesitated to get involved in this thread but offer just one anecdotal contribution from the Hope Valley (where we have had no trains and no substitute buses on 30 days now).
A recent typical evening journey from Sheffield saw a Class 150 and Class 142 coupled togther - quite common these days now that Northern has received extra stock from GWR. The guard ushers everbody onto the front class 150 and locks the rear Class 142 out of use. This is because of the short platform at Hathersage and absence of SDO. The guard then joins the empty unit and despatches the train without making any pre-departure announcement about the skip-stopping nature of the train.
Obviously there is no revenue protection or any patroling of the train to monitor anti-social behaviour or establish if an passenger might need assistance. But at least we travel safely through Totley Tunnel.
The cadre of passengers (who extend well beyond a hand full of anti rail union armchair frothers on a train spotting forum) are well able to chat amongst themselves and wonder where the guard is. Some of them are making journeys that have been re-arranged from Saturdays. Some of us in the Hope Valley are even making arrangements as who can give who else a lift in their car on Saturdays. Some, like me, who worked on the original Bedford-St Pancras electrification project and also found DOO trains operating with a 'full roster' NUR card-carrying ticket examiner between Glasgow and Gourock when I moved to Scotland no less than 32 years ago, are unable to explain how train staffing can still be such an issue in 2018.
This is the same pair of units that regularly run out of Piccadilly in the evening rush hour. They can be 2 Pacers or a 150 and Pacer, but not yet a pair of 150s. Often the 150 leads out of Piccadilly with conductor in rear unit - where they stay all the way to Sheffield, an un-gated station. Anything could happen in the front unit, and that's the one anyone joining after Piccadilly gets on, safe that nobody is likely to ask to see their ticket - which they probably won't have.
Can RMT explain how the nervous lady with pram in their video is able to escape to the other coaches, or find the conductor on such a train? Can Northern explain why they arrange to match 150/2s, that have an interconnecting gangway, to Pacers or 150/1s that don't, rather than with each other?
Like Dr Hoo my usual route to anywhere starts with the Hope Valley. It's not heaving with passengers, not least because it's an hourly service and many of them don't stop at every station. However, revenue protection is very poor, not least because of the lack of barriers at Sheffield or any other stop to Piccadilly. Far too often fares are not collected. Consequently the average passenger statistics based on ticket sales must show a substantially lower figure than the reality.
RMT may not intend this, but their inability to understand that passengers waiting to get in and out of doors that won't open frustrates us on nearly every journey. Get those doors able to be opened from the second the train comes to rest and we might have more time for other considerations. We can't see a valid objection to arranging this. Surely that's not too difficult to achieve, is it?
I know some of us grew up in the age when dropping the window (those old leather straps!) and opening the door before the train had come to a rest was normal, and dangerous. We've gone too far the other way now and it adds minutes to running times.
