Cab Rides

[flashberry43]

Back in the late 90’s I recall being at Olympia with four or five chaps in orange jackets, and my mum.

They let me sit in the cab until Earls Court. All of them were in there, with my mum sat behind in the 2 seat pair.

I’m wondering, is this done anymore? Can I arrange a cab ride?

 

[bluegoblin7]

In short, no.

Officially there is still a scheme for young people to get the opportunity (which I suspect doesn’t include you from reference to the late 90s) but it has been paused since Covid.

Talk is occasionally made of unofficial cab rides either through knowing someone or being in the right place at the right time, but it must be stressed that these are not permitted unless properly organised and you are potentially putting the member of staff at risk of disciplinary action (getting this in before anyone says “Well but my mate let me in…!”).

Even as staff with a legitimate need to arrange and take cab rides as part of my role it is a challenge to arrange these post-Covid, which introduced restrictions to additional people in cabs and haven’t been fully revoked/replaced.

 

[Mawkie]

Talk is occasionally made of unofficial cab rides either through knowing someone or being in the right place at the right time, but it must be stressed that these are not permitted unless properly organised and you are potentially putting the member of staff at risk of disciplinary action (getting this in before anyone says “Well but my mate let me in…!”).

Unofficial cab rides have always been a no-no in my book. However, a new official cab ride policy has recently been agreed at Trains Functional Council with the introduction of the catchily named, "Cab visit disclaimer and acknowledgement of risk" form. One of the acknowledgements being that the visitor may witness traumatic events for example. Photographic ID is also now required.

However professional most of my train op colleagues are, some have previously shown very poor judgement when it comes to cab rides.

 

[bluegoblin7]

Unofficial cab rides have always been a no-no in my book. However, a new official cab ride policy has recently been agreed at Trains Functional Council with the introduction of the catchily named, "Cab visit disclaimer and acknowledgement of risk" form. One of the acknowledgements being that the visitor may witness traumatic events for example. Photographic ID is also now required.

This is useful to know, I’d missed that it had been agreed. Goes to reply to a TOM

 

[Nigel]

Not long after I first moved to London in the 1970s, I lived in Turnham Green for a short time. Then, as now, the Piccadilly line only stopped there after 10:30pm at night. I remember one evening waiting at Hammersmith just before 10:30pm when a Piccadilly line train pulled in - it was not clear whether or not it would be stopping at Turnham Green. I was standing at the front of the platform, so I enquired of the driver (whose cab door was open) whether he would be stopping at Turnham Green - he said he was, but by this time he had already closed the train's passenger doors, so he told me to just get in via the cab door.

 

[Jimini]

Years ago (pre-Covid), I was on a rammed central line tube heading eastbound in the evening rush hour. When we got to Bank, the driver opened his (platform) door and let five passengers in, three of whom entered the main carriage through the cab door, and the remaining two got a cab ride!

 

[bramling]

Unofficial cab rides have always been a no-no in my book. However, a new official cab ride policy has recently been agreed at Trains Functional Council with the introduction of the catchily named, "Cab visit disclaimer and acknowledgement of risk" form. One of the acknowledgements being that the visitor may witness traumatic events for example. Photographic ID is also now required.

However professional most of my train op colleagues are, some have previously shown very poor judgement when it comes to cab rides.

IIRC things “kicked off” a few years ago after someone had an unofficial cab ride and the train was involved in a one under.

Have to say, I’ve always been surprised any of this happens. On the mainline it was always that any non-staff must be accompanied by a traction inspector (or modern equivalent), and the LU equivalent of this would be an operating official grade - so essentially a duty manager. The idea being that the manager supervises what is happening - both what the visitor is doing, and also discreetly keeping an eye on what the driver is doing.

The difficulty is that most drivers, especially since Covid, aren’t really used to having people in the cab with them. Some drivers are fine at being able to manage potential distraction, whilst for others distraction can be a problem, especially when something out-of-course happens.

 

[Mawkie]

The difficulty is that most drivers, especially since Covid, aren’t really used to having people in the cab with them.

I'm not sure I agree with this. I frequently have staff travelling with me, Station staff, trains managers doing assessments, duty reliability managers going to incidents, P-Way doing track inspections in the heat, etc. I had people in my cab on both trips yesterday for example. If I'm finishing my driving period at the other end of the line, I very rarely travel back to my home depot 'on the cushions'.

Some drivers are fine at being able to manage potential distraction, whilst for others distraction can be a problem, especially when something out-of-course happens.

Ageed.