Ways To Make Revenue Protection More Fair

[Discuss223]

With the Office For Rail & Road conducting a survey on the process of Revenue Protection, it got me thinking, how could Revenue Protection be made more fair to all?
The answer for me lies mostly with information. Customers need to know what their obligations are and what the terms of their tickets are. Below I will outline some suggestions I have to make it a more clarified process with very little room for discretion or excuses.

1. Every single station should have a sign at the point of entry that specifies:- The obligation to purchase a ticket before boarding; To have a valid ticket that's valid for class of travel and on the date and time of travel; with the operator of travel for TOC specific tickets, the obligation to retain tickets until leaving the station at the end of one's journey, as these may be checked at any point; railcard discounted tickets only being valid with possession of said railcard and being able to produce it upon request; break of journey rules - some tickets that seem flexible have break of journey restrictions in them; routing validity - outlining where specific tickets are valid via (or not); child discounted tickets only being valid for a customer under 16 years old; timing restrictions with railcard discounted tickets, as we saw with the issue with Northern that was in the press.

2. Northern TVMs should ALL accept cash - our national legal tender. I've noted reports on social media of people being issued a Penalty Fare for not using the TVM which says "card only" on it, so didn't get a Promise To Pay slip - I can see how the confusion occurred there.

3. Advertising campaigns that would raise awareness of purchasing before beginning the journey - for example, an acronym of BBB - buy before boarding.

4. Tickets sold on board by the Train Manager should also come with a warning that it is an offence to board a train without a valid ticket.

5. Extending penalty fare announcements to include the possibility of prosecution for offenders - Currently, EMR and LNER announcements at stations only mention Penalty Fares.

With the information outlined, I don't see how anyone could have an excuse for travelling without a valid ticket.


What do you think, are the railways currently getting it right with the advertising of their Revenue Protection systems or does it need to be made more clear?

 

[SynthD]

Are we avoiding the expensive options like staffing more stations so that more barriers can be in operation? What are the stations involved in the most unticketed travel?

1. It would be far more words than that, and never read off a wall. There may be other ways to do this, like require all retailers to email a specific script about once a year. This could also be handed out as a leaflet to others, eg those using cash at a staffed ticket office, and anyone warned about their actions.
2. Why Northern? It’s legal for companies to choose what tender they accept for a purchase. I don’t disagree with this proposal, but I would like the cost of this known beforehand.
3. I don’t see many adverts, and tune out normal sounding announcements. This could be targeted at the younger parts of social media, maybe adblockers don’t work on tiktok.
4. Except that’s not true in some areas. I’ve never had a permit to travel, how should they be included? We shouldn’t expect every permit to travel machine to be replaced by a self serve ticket machine that takes cash and card.
5. Is that true? The disputes sub forum here makes it seem like some TOCs avoid prosecution unless it is exceptionally grand. I don’t want menacing announcements.

I don’t think we should move with any haste towards a time where there is no excuse. Staff training is never enough, and so valid excuses will be denied.

 

[Discuss223]

Are we avoiding the expensive options like staffing more stations so that more barriers can be in operation? What are the stations involved in the most unticketed travel?

1. It would be far more words than that, and never read off a wall. There may be other ways to do this, like require all retailers to email a specific script about once a year. This could also be handed out as a leaflet to others, eg those using cash at a staffed ticket office, and anyone warned about their actions.
2. Why Northern? It’s legal for companies to choose what tender they accept for a purchase. I don’t disagree with this proposal, but I would like the cost of this known beforehand.
3. I don’t see many adverts, and tune out normal sounding announcements. This could be targeted at the younger parts of social media, maybe adblockers don’t work on tiktok.
4. Except that’s not true in some areas. I’ve never had a permit to travel, how should they be included? We shouldn’t expect every permit to travel machine to be replaced by a self serve ticket machine that takes cash and card.
5. Is that true? The disputes sub forum here makes it seem like some TOCs avoid prosecution unless it is exceptionally grand. I don’t want menacing announcements.

I don’t think we should move with any haste towards a time where there is no excuse. Staff training is never enough, and so valid excuses will be denied.

I don't know if many people would read a pre-scripted email, with all of the other messages that bung up an email inbox these days. Surely having the information printed for all to see at the station would be a good bet.

Northern are the only operator that I am aware of with this system in place at small stations. For example, Beeston in Nottingham gladly accepts cash.
The TOCs could use algorithms to combat users of social media, for example, someone looks up train times ahead of their journey, sees the sponsored message and remembers to buy before boarding.
I can't think of any stations off the top of my head that has no Permit To Travel Machine or Ticket Vending Machine these days but surely Envo machines are intelligent enough to know that issuing a ticket from a station with no facilities means there's no need to warn about Penalty Fares etc and to know when to issue a warning message on a ticket about buying before boarding at said origin station.
Yes, only PFs are mentioned in the announcements. I've read a few threads in that forum where the TOC has taken people to court, namely Luke Purcell who was prosecuted by EMT for not having a ticket for his journey to Chapeltown.

Regarding your last two sentences - if there is enough information out there so that everyone should know how to play buy the rules, surely anyone who chooses to knowingly avoid following them should be dealt with as the railways see fit? I'd have no problem with someone walking past posters that say they should buy before they board and getting a Penalty Fare or indeed someone who had the opportunity to check the routing guide and was advised to do at the point of purchase being interviewed under caution for being off-route. Harsh but fair should be the approach.

 

[BanburyBlue]

This one frustrates me...

4. Tickets sold on board by the Train Manager should also come with a warning that it is an offence to board a train without a valid ticket.

I see this regularly on my commute and I've never heard the Train Manager once say "you should have bought your ticket before you boarded", so giving the passenger the idea that it's okay to buy on board.

 

[AGH]

The point presumably is simple i.e. you pay for your journey regardless. So give people the maximum opportunity to pay. Buy on board, tap & go, TVM, app, end of journey etc. So long as they pay then all that matters. Ticketing simplification obvs helps but with as much options to pay, if you don't then you throw the book at them. Could have had so many free journeys lately due to no checks, barriers left open etc then the responsibility rests with the industry in the first instance.

 

[Thirteen]

I think getting Project Oval done is important then it makes paying for travel so much easier.