Lack of Ticket Checking

[trentside]

I can safely say all the trains I've been on in the last few days have had ticket checks conducted onboard.

I'm guessing it still counts if I'm the one doing the checking?

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Nottingham to Leicester return yesterday. Barriers not working at Nottingham. No on board checks in either direction.
Barriers were working at Leicester though.

 

[bb21]

Nottingham to Leicester return yesterday. Barriers not working at Nottingham. No on board checks in either direction.
Barriers were working at Leicester though.

Were you on the London service? I don't think they bother with revenue beyond Leicester any more (not in my experience at least).

I can safely say all the trains I've been on in the last few days have had ticket checks conducted onboard.

I'm guessing it still counts if I'm the one doing the checking?

Did you have a valid ticket?

 

[David Goddard]

Last time I was at Nottingham (second week of July) there was a poster on the platform telling everyone which days the barriers would be in operation. Take that how you like....

 

[Starmill]

I made it all the way from Leeds to Mauldeth Road yesterday - only check was the gate at Leeds which I walked through an open and unattended gate... Was surprised about the TPE, it wasn't busy, called only at Huddersfield and neither sight nor sound of the guard for the entire journey. Oh, what's this about DOO?

Today I did Mauldeth Road - Manchester Airport (NT), Manchester Airport - Wigan North Western, Wigan Wallgate - Orrell, Orrell - Salford Central, Manchester Piccadilly - Manchester Airport (TP), Manchester Airport - Manchester Piccadilly (TP) and Manchester Piccadilly - Mauldeth Road (NT). There was an RPI on the evening Airport - Piccadilly... and that was it. I also passed the STM lot at Piccadilly and was waved past without actually opening my wallet. Particularly concerning was that the guard (same one both ways) was not selling any tickets at all for the Wigan <> Kirkby stretch as there were quite a lot of people getting on going towards both Wigan and Liverpool and none of those stations have any facilities.

 

[trentside]

Did you have a valid ticket?

Nah, but I did find a few

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Were you on the London service? I don't think they bother with revenue beyond Leicester any more (not in my experience at least).

Yes it was the London service in both directions.

 

[alex17595]

I did a West Midland Day ranger yesterday and my ticket only got check a few times.

Burton-Birmingham - Checked
Moor Street - Snow hill - Checked by Barriers
Snow hill - Smethwick G Bridge - Not Checked
Smethwick - Wolves - Not Checked
Wolves - Stafford - Not Checked
Stafford - Rugby - Checked
Rugby- Coventry - Not Checked
Coventry - Birmingham - Not Checked (I fell alseep though)
Birmingham - Bescot Stadium - Not Checked
Bescot Stadium - Walsall - Not Checked
Walsall - Rugeley TV - Checked
Rugeley TV - Stafford - Checked
Stafford - Birmingham - Not Checked (Fell asleep again)
Birmingham to Burton - Checked

It seems to be hit and miss whether I get checked or not (bearing in mind there is some short local journeys in there) but LM like checking on the TV routes!
Also I paid 7.80 for a Tamworth ticket and it never even got checked!ouch!

 

[iainbhx]

I managed a whole week without a check this week.

My usual travel pattern is

06:39 Spring Road - Moor Street (checked maybe once every two weeks, Moor Street gateline off at that time in the morning).

07:15 New Street - Crewe (New Street gateline not operating at that time, ticket checked three times in 4 months on VT)

17:21 Crewe - New Street (Checked on average once a week, New Street gateline usually not operating but you could pass that with a laundry ticket)

18:31 Moor Street - Spring Road (Moor Street gateline usually off on platform 1 by then, checked once a fortnight)

When it is checked, all they seem to look at is the date on the season they don't actually take to look at the small print - perhaps they all have exceptional eyesight - except once where an LM guard seem to think that the ticket was only valid via Galton Bridge and told me to change at Wolverhampton.

 

[Kite159]

Can't fault northern around the tees valley area, all services had a ticket check, only service without was a FTPE service, and in all fairness I was only on for a couple minutes.

Might see the SWT guard now there is space (complety full at clapham, leaving behind passengers unable to board)

 

[martinsh]

My most frequent trips (around 3-4 returns per week) are the following

Crewe - Stafford (LM or Virgin)
Stafford - Wolverhampton (LM or XC)
Crewe - Wolverhampton (LM or Virgin)

I would say the frequency of ticket checks is as follows

Crewe - Stafford - 25%
Stafford - Crewe - 50%
Stafford - Wolverhampton - 5%
Wolverhampton - Stafford - 90%

Even in the 90% there are services which I can (almost) guarantee there will be no ticket check.

 

[FQ]

Today (9/9/14).

Leamington Spa-Birmingham Moor Street (Chiltern 67) - No Check
Birmingham Moor Street-Leamington Spa (Chiltern 67) - No Check
Leamington Spa-Solihull (Chiltern 67) - No Check
Solihull-Leamington Spa (Chiltern 168) - Check!!!

 

[jon0844]

Checked on FCC TL last Friday. Only onboard check I've had in months!

Said RPIs didn't appear to be finding anyone without tickets, which I guess is a good thing. I also noticed that they're all wearing cameras now - but I don't think they do on the GN side (yet)?

 

[philjo]

I have just been on a 2 week round trip to Slovenia.
On the outward journey I had my ticket checked immediately on FCC before I had even sat down! On the continent my ticket was checked on every train in France/Switzerland/Austria & Slovenia.
Coming back the German ICE & thalys trains also checked the tickets on board. The only train without a check on the way home was FCC out of Kings cross (& the barriers open at both ends) !

I have had several FCC ticket checks during the previous few weeks, sometimes twice on the same train (the RPIs seem to get off at WGC and another one gets on at Stevenage or Hitchin)

 

[atraindriver]

On the continent my ticket was checked on every train in France/Switzerland/Austria & Slovenia.

You got checked in France???! What did you do, walk up to them and say "You must check my ticket, please!"?

A few years ago I managed, over the course of a few days, Martigny [CH] - Le Chatelard Frontière - Chamonix - St-Gervais-les-Bains - Lyon - Avignon - Perpignan - Villefranche - Latour de Carol - Toulouse - Paris - Lille - Calais without a single ticket check.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm certain that I've not had tickets checked on even 5% of French journeys.
To me, SNCF's Chefs du Train seem to view their job as something closer to the traditional British guard than that of the Conductor we see today.

 

[CC 72100]

You got checked in France???! What did you do, walk up to them and say "You must check my ticket, please!"?

Hahaha

It's no wounder that France in its own media often calls itself the 'Fare evasion capital of Europe', they take a rather relaxed view about it all.

Travelling on SNCF suburban trains in the Paris area, only once in 8 months was I inspected on-board (ironically enough the first time using my 'privileges' as a monthly ticket holder to travel 'out of zone), which doesn't sound like an awful lot when you consider the fact that stations outside zone 1 are often un-gated; If I think of Transilien stations that I used outside of zone 1, it would only be Versailles Chantiers + Versailles Chateau RD that had gates.

Thinking about it even more, Paris St Lazare had no gates whatsoever. So somebody travelling from Paris St Lazare to say Mantes-la-Jolie (a journey of 30 minutes on one of the Intercités trains which stops, and just over an hour on the 4-an-hour suburban services) will be able to board with no ticket check and then leave the station at the other end freely.

At Paris Gare de Lyon, the Transilien line 'R' trains (and the TER Bourgogne trains which also stopped at some suburban stations load 10 push-pull sets, highly recommended - thanks 87015) leave from un-gated platforms. Melun (first stop) has barriers, all stations afterwards don't.

But don't think barriers are any sort of effective prevention. People either jump over them, or at Paris Est, go to an unbarriered main line platform, then jump down, walk across the track onto the suburban platforms, behind trains if need be.

The RER is barriered throughout, but that is no obstacle given the fact that the barriers are not really very good at all and can easily be vaulted over. I had an on-train spot check on the RER twice in 8 months, both by RATP staff when in the RATP part of the line.

On the main-line trains, when I've been on there for any more than an hour, I've often been checked. I was once checked on a TER train between Paris Gare de Lyon and Melun (zone 5) by a team of RPIs, who asked to leave the train for not having a valid pass. I was then told that the police would be asked to remove me, with force if required, at Melun, and so I should really sign the 'fine' thing. I refused because I was perfectly valid - in buying a monthly travel pass (zones 1-3), on the weekend I could travel in all zones as a sort of 'reward'. Pity the RPIs weren't told that....

Of course, If I'd have been given a fine and not paid it, I'd have been in the majority. According to this news article (http://www.leparisien.fr/economie/p...acces-aux-quais-du-tgv-11-09-2014-4127131.php) in which the SNCF talks about how it wants to crack down seriously on fare evasion ( ), apparently only 12% of the equivalent of Penalty Fares are ever paid.


So, what other genius method have the SNCF got to crack down on fare evasion? Well, they're currently turning many local lines into DOO, which caused (justifiably) two weeks of strikes in June. :roll:

(Also, welcome to the forum, atraindriver)

 

[talltim]

My regular commute, Chesterfield-Sheffield, I get checked every journey. I travel with EMT, XC and Northern at random, depending on which train is next when I get to t he station.