Do conductors care if people pay or not?

[Kmo86]

This is no way saying anyone should try to dodge fares. Everyone should pay to travel.

I often get train I have a disabled railcard to get I think 30% off. Sometimes there is an on board announcement saying only full priced tickets will be sold on board so I assumed I had to buy ticket before getting on train. In last few week due to long queue I have needed to get on train before getting a ticket the odd time. Every time I have the conductor has sold me a ticket with discount (obviously when I’ve showed my railcard) no questions asked.

This week I got on train and as it set off there was announcement saying the ticket machine was broken so tickets could not be sold on train. A few people had planned to buy tickets on train so were bit worried about being in trouble for not paying, but no one even bothered coming round to check tickets.

As for peak and off peak they never bother about them it’s like sell you the right one for if you travel at time you get ticket then travel when you want.

Seriously if they want to stop fare dodgers they need to stop letting people on trains without tickets and make every station have places to buy tickets. It doesn’t seem fair that honest people pay when others get away with it. Pay on train and you are ok and sometimes don’t even get chance to pay if no one comes round checking tickets.

 

[LowLevel]

Some care and some don't. You have a disabled railcard so you'll be sold on board tickets without question anyway, it's a feature of most or all Disabled Persons Protection Policies (DPPPs).

I don't lose sleep over it. I'm a guard not a revenue protection inspector. I always check and sell tickets religiously but if I don't get them all done (most unusual for me, I work quite efficiently) it's not the end of the world.

I know of at least conductor who resigned from his job because he couldn't cope with not getting everyone and making sure they paid, I kid you not. It was actually stressing him out and causing depression to the point he had to walk away.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Not checking any tickets is, in my experience, common when the conductor’s ticket machine isn’t working and seems fair enough. I don’t know what you expect them to do.

‘Ticket please’
‘I don’t have one’

Then what?

 

[Kmo86]

Just out of interest. What would happen if when someone got off train there were people checking tickets at the gate and someone hadn’t got one due to no one coming round on train to sell them?

This hasn’t happened to me but there has been the odd time I get off train to have people checking tickets at gate when most of time they don’t bother at that station?

I don’t know what I expected them to do when they couldn’t sell tickets well 2 options not bother over tickets or insist people got off but then if they were going to do that they should have said well before setting off. By the way I’m not complaining I was one of people without a ticket I did have money to pay for one so wasn’t trying to avoid paying.

 

[Clip]

They get asked to get off at the next station i guess

 

[J-P_L]

Not checking any tickets is, in my experience, common when the conductor’s ticket machine isn’t working and seems fair enough. I don’t know what you expect them to do.

‘Ticket please’
‘I don’t have one’

Then what?

Sometimes conductors may be called to work a train off spare so may not have a machine allocated. In that instance they probably won’t check tickets for the reasons above but I walk down the train and if people need tickets, tell them where to purchase them at their destination.

 

[yorkie]

I often get train I have a disabled railcard to get I think 30% off. Sometimes there is an on board announcement saying only full priced tickets will be sold on board so I assumed I had to buy ticket before getting on train. In last few week due to long queue I have needed to get on train before getting a ticket the odd time. Every time I have the conductor has sold me a ticket with discount (obviously when I’ve showed my railcard) no questions asked

It is the policy of several TOCs to sell discounted fares to holders of Disabled Railcards on board even if there were facilities to purchase before travel.

This week I got on train and as it set off there was announcement saying the ticket machine was broken so tickets could not be sold on train. A few people had planned to buy tickets on train so were bit worried about being in trouble for not paying, but no one even bothered coming round to check tickets.

This makes no sense. If the machine was broken, how can you say the staff "[could not be] bothered"?!

In this case, if there is no facility at origin or on board, passengers can buy at destination with no penalty.

As for peak and off peak they never bother about them it’s like sell you the right one for if you travel at time you get ticket then travel when you want.

On your line maybe, but not on most.

Seriously if they want to stop fare dodgers they need to stop letting people on trains without tickets and make every station have places to buy tickets.

How would you achieve that at places like Mirfield? Is it even remotely affordable to do this?

It doesn’t seem fair that honest people pay when others get away with it. Pay on train and you are ok and sometimes don’t even get chance to pay if no one comes round checking tickets.

The problem is that if the train has a Guard and no other staff to check tickets, their primary role is primarily to do things like doors, not revenue. It's different on, say, the suburban electric trains out of Glasgow which have a dedicated ticket examiner.

 

[northwichcat]

Not checking any tickets is, in my experience, common when the conductor’s ticket machine isn’t working and seems fair enough. I don’t know what you expect them to do.

‘Ticket please’
‘I don’t have one’

Then what?

They can still stamp/mark period returns to prevent passengers using the return portion as a monthly season ticket.

They can also inform a passenger where they should buy a ticket (after alighting) or remind a passenger that they should buy a ticket prior to boarding if ticket facilities are available.

They can also ensure passengers are on the correct train or following a permitted route.

They could also endorse a ticket to indicate the passenger requested to purchase an additional ticket, to prevent them being accused of short faring by a RPI later on.

They can still issue a UPFN if a passenger has no ticket or no means to buy one.