Northern/Merseyrail Arrangement

[First class]

Hi,

Does anyone know if a Merseyrail Priv entitles you to free travel on Northern trains? This is not my ATOC RST one, but the free company travel pass you get.

They are both owned by Serco-Ned Railways and if it is valid then you kinda have most of the North of England/ Scottish borders for free travel!

Finally, does anyone know whether FSR are the kind of operator that will 'let you off' if you have a word with the conductor before you get on with your priv? (exc. sleepers)...

 

[hairyhandedfool]

You can travel on Northern services with a Merseyrail pass. The Northern pass also allows travel on Tyne & Wear metro services so it is possible the Merseyrail pass does too, but I can't say for definate. You should be able to find out from Merseyrail HR exactly what is valid.

As for the FSR query I imagine it is dependant on the guard you get, but if you ask them nicely....

 

[nedchester]

Always amuses me these staff who try to 'eff' it!!

As soon as a member of the public suggests ticketless travel they come down like a ton of bricks!!!

 

[me123]

Some of the staff on Scotrail are quite leniant with staff travel: I even saw a member of staff blag a 50% discount on the catering service.

 

[First class]

Always amuses me these staff who try to 'eff' it!!

As soon as a member of the public suggests ticketless travel they come down like a ton of bricks!!!

Haha, but has a passenger ever asked a guard whether they can get on free of charge?

Come down to Merseyrail and they'll just say just find a seat.... only problem is, if Penalty Fares Inspectors get on, the guard has never seen you, or told you anything before in your life....

Furthest I've got without having a ticket checked was Truro from Liverpool via Bristol.... only on the Truro-Falmouth branch did a wessex inspector deface my ticket with his conductor number...

 

[nedchester]

Haha, but has a passenger ever asked a guard whether they can get on free of charge?

Come down to Merseyrail and they'll just say just find a seat.... only problem is, if Penalty Fares Inspectors get on, the guard has never seen you, or told you anything before in your life....

Furthest I've got without having a ticket checked was Truro from Liverpool via Bristol.... only on the Truro-Falmouth branch did a wessex inspector deface my ticket with his conductor number...

Well my nearest MerseyRail station is about half a mile away (unstaffed!) so I know what you mean!

 

[First class]

Well my nearest MerseyRail station is about half a mile away (unstaffed!) so I know what you mean!

Well Bache/Capenhurst aren't in penalty fare zones anyway, so you could probably get away with going to Hooton for absolutely nothing! Theoretically you could probably get to Ellesmere Port from Hooton without getting a ticket, but PFs do operate from Hooton so wouldn't recommend that one!

The guards on Merseyrail just seem to be happy opening/closing doors! Takes too much time writing paper tickets and working out discounts!

 

[nedchester]

Well Bache/Capenhurst aren't in penalty fare zones anyway, so you could probably get away with going to Hooton for absolutely nothing! Theoretically you could probably get to Ellesmere Port from Hooton without getting a ticket, but PFs do operate from Hooton so wouldn't recommend that one!

The guards on Merseyrail just seem to be happy opening/closing doors! Takes too much time writing paper tickets and working out discounts!

Good guess. Capenhurst is my local station. I'll be there with my bike tomorrow for my train to Rock Ferry for work.

One of the grippers did tell me the other week that they were going to get 'machines' to issue tickets rather than the books as at present. Would seems a lot better one of my bug bears is not being able to buy tickets off the MerseyRail network from the guards. Very poor.

 

[First class]

I can confirm that electronic ticket machines will be issued to guards soon, other managers inform me that they are waiting a response from a union regarding them.

Little Sutton really should be staffed, the station building is lovely and staffing that line could really improve it- fare evasion, (mostly undeliberate I would imagine), is a problem. I've seen a few inspectors at Bache station issuing paper tickets on the platforms a few times, similar situation at Capenhurst, but only once.

Electronic machines also allow usage statistics to be recorded, unlike the paper tickets, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a big change in ORR statistics with these introduced.