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Litter on trains

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edwin_m

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Coming through for litter during the journey has several benefits for the TOC. It can be done more quickly because passengers will pick up much of the litter and drop it in the bag. It then doesn't have to be done during the turnaround time, and perhaps most importantly passengers feel good when they can see someone doing something about it!

EMT London services normally have a litter collection shortly before arrival, including seat tickets on HSTs, and the Norwich-Liverpools have a contract cleaner who collects litter and often checks the toilets too between Nottingham and Chesterfield.
 
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jon0844

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Someone must have seen this practice on low-cost airlines (to speed up turnaround times) and it's good that some TOCs now do this. I guess the issue is that some staff might feel it's beneath them do rubbish collection.
 

Dave1987

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It always amazes me to see passengers complain about the state of trains when it is passengers that cause the litter etc. feet on seats is what I hate the most, I regularly tell passengers to remove their feet from the seat.

Our last trains of the night have the nick name of "the vomit commits" as there ill always be drunk people who can't handle their drink.
 

anti-pacer

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It always amazes me to see passengers complain about the state of trains when it is passengers that cause the litter etc. feet on seats is what I hate the most, I regularly tell passengers to remove their feet from the seat.

Our last trains of the night have the nick name of "the vomit commits" as there ill always be drunk people who can't handle their drink.

It's the CLEAN passengers who do use bins or take their litter with them that complain. I don't always complain to the staff either, I will happily challenge people who leave their rubbish behind.

It is unfortunate that anybody has to clean up after other people. People should clean up after themselves, unless they are very young children who physically can't.

That said, if a train is already dirty, SOME peoples mentality is to think "Ah well, it's already a mess so this banana skin (or whatever) won't make much difference". Some people don't have the social skills, or the care that us decent human beings have, and educating people to use bins seems ineffective with these people.

Hit them where it hurts and FINE them!

As for councils, well in my opinion, the only street cleaning they should have to do is leaf clearance in autumn, natural detrius, and litter bin emptying! I wouldn't dream of dropping litter, but I regularly go out and litter pick in my area to assist the council. I also do this for FREE as I care about where I live.
 

jon0844

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Lot of residents around here volunteer to do litter picks, as the local students (and, sadly, it is mostly students) leave the place in a right state.

At first you think that if you clean up their mess, they'll just be encouraged to dump more - but eventually you want the place tidy. And of course, sure enough, they dump more.

I hope I don't need to add a disclaimer to say that not all students do it, but it only takes a significant minority to make a place look a state. In their defence, partly, the council restrictions on how much you can throw out every fortnight will make it hard for houses converted to multiple occupancy. However, few seem capable/bothered to split the rubbish up to recycle and so just opt to chuck everything in the general waste bin (the smallest) and then the rest in bags at the side - which will never be collected.

To keep on topic, you can see groups of what are clearly students that go from Hatfield into town and they'll make a right state there too. The worst was a load of fried chicken left on a seat, in a nice pile, which was clearly someone taking the p**s. Or maybe not?
 

STEVIEBOY1

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I was on Finsbury Park station a few weeks ago and a local train came in from Kings Cross, two people got off who had bought and consumed a sandwich, they had the empty/used wrapper in their hand and I think were expecting there to be a litter bin bythe train doors, there was not and they just dropped the litrer on the floor of train before getting off.
Several people saw them and made comments, but although one wanted to say something to them, you have to be careful incase they get violent....

When I was at a shool in the 1960s & 1970s, if anyone was caught dropping litter, they had to stay behind for 2 evenings after school for at least an hour, one night going around the playground and playing fields picking up any rubbish, then the following evening having to write out "Lines" about their offence.
 
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Greeby

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Milton Keynes Central used to have station-based train cleaners, who would do litter pick on the terminating/starting trains in platform 2. Then London Midland got rid of them three years ago, and the inevitable results are disgusting to behold. :-x
 

anti-pacer

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Are 'Metro' services in and around London bad for litter?

I know the Underground can get pretty bad at times!
 

313103

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I echo what Matt Taylor has to say. Our trains are cleaned and mopped out before they enter service. After just one trip passengers (if you can call them that) have left their pesky Metros everywhere, have spilt their coffee nearly everywhere and left their food remnants on the train. All this in less then an hour.

We have turn round cleaners at Richmond these are mostly night staff who give the train a deep clean. At Stratford where more then often two or three sacks per train are not uncommon to clean off. At Willesden Junction for the Clapham trains, note that when service are running through during the peaks the cleaner boards and travels with train to clean as much as they can. At Gospel Oak for our class 172's and a very recent introduction of a cleaner at Barking.

I have often said that all the rubbish collected through the day should be put on a train and the doors left open so the public see how much S!"£ they leave behind.

The state of the trains have got worse since the introduction of free newspapers, once you could go through and not find one, now all you have thousands upon thousands of rubbish metros in the morning and bloody Sub Standards in the evening.
 

anti-pacer

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I echo what Matt Taylor has to say. Our trains are cleaned and mopped out before they enter service. After just one trip passengers (if you can call them that) have left their pesky Metros everywhere, have spilt their coffee nearly everywhere and left their food remnants on the train. All this in less then an hour.

We have turn round cleaners at Richmond these are mostly night staff who give the train a deep clean. At Stratford where more then often two or three sacks per train are not uncommon to clean off. At Willesden Junction for the Clapham trains, note that when service are running through during the peaks the cleaner boards and travels with train to clean as much as they can. At Gospel Oak for our class 172's and a very recent introduction of a cleaner at Barking.

I have often said that all the rubbish collected through the day should be put on a train and the doors left open so the public see how much S!"£ they leave behind.

The state of the trains have got worse since the introduction of free newspapers, once you could go through and not find one, now all you have thousands upon thousands of rubbish metros in the morning and bloody Sub Standards in the evening.

Are these cleaners on all day?
 

jon0844

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The state of the trains have got worse since the introduction of free newspapers, once you could go through and not find one, now all you have thousands upon thousands of rubbish metros in the morning and bloody Sub Standards in the evening.

Many passengers genuinely believe that they're doing a favour to other passengers by leaving their papers behind, but of course they aren't. People get on and invariably pick up the paper on the seat and put it on the floor, another seat or the luggage rack.

Or at Old Street, they get off and chuck their paper on the platform or one of the few benches and don't have a brain to work out that when the train leaves, the resulting rush of air sucks the papers on to the track.

Metro did install some bins at stations like Finsbury Park but I don't think they are there any longer?
 

STEVIEBOY1

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I echo what Matt Taylor has to say. Our trains are cleaned and mopped out before they enter service. After just one trip passengers (if you can call them that) have left their pesky Metros everywhere, have spilt their coffee nearly everywhere and left their food remnants on the train. All this in less then an hour.

We have turn round cleaners at Richmond these are mostly night staff who give the train a deep clean. At Stratford where more then often two or three sacks per train are not uncommon to clean off. At Willesden Junction for the Clapham trains, note that when service are running through during the peaks the cleaner boards and travels with train to clean as much as they can. At Gospel Oak for our class 172's and a very recent introduction of a cleaner at Barking.

I have often said that all the rubbish collected through the day should be put on a train and the doors left open so the public see how much S!"£ they leave behind.

The state of the trains have got worse since the introduction of free newspapers, once you could go through and not find one, now all you have thousands upon thousands of rubbish metros in the morning and bloody Sub Standards in the evening.

I agree with your comments above and also about the free papers being a major cause of litter.

When I come home in the evening from London, I walk through the train and take about a dozen metros/standards as my neighbour has loads of pets and he uses the newspapers in their cages. Mind you I do get some funny looks from other passengers sometimes.
 

sheff1

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When I come home in the evening from London, I walk through the train and take about a dozen metros/standards as my neighbour has loads of pets and he uses the newspapers in their cages. Mind you I do get some funny looks from other passengers sometimes.

One enterprising lad (no more than 10 years old) came through a northbound EMT after Leicester with an armful of discarded papers shouting 'anyone want to buy a newspaper" :D. Unfortunately for him, no one did :cry:, although it made people smile.
 

anti-pacer

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One enterprising lad (no more than 10 years old) came through a northbound EMT after Leicester with an armful of discarded papers shouting 'anyone want to buy a newspaper" :D. Unfortunately for him, no one did :cry:, although it made people smile.

There's a future employee of Lord Sugar! :lol:
 
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