Station usage figures.

[whole diary]

[FarWestJohn]

Today, my sixth recent trip from Perranwell to Falmouth I have not been able to purchase a ticket.  Ever since the barriers were installed in Truro some conductors stay in the rear cab and do not come around at any of the intermediate station. Most of the the conductors are conscientious and very friendly but some hide away.
I once counted 15 walkers getting on at Perranwell and were they full of praise for First Great Western on alighting at Falmouth after a free ride.

I should think there are more free travellers between Falmouth and Penryn than those that pay. Many conductors leave it until the five minute wait at Penryn for the loop crossing before selling tickets.

I do not see how First Great Western have a clue about station usage on the Maritime line.

I noticed on the North downs line when I got on at Gomshall last week the conductor announced 'if you want to buy a ticket I am in the rear cab'. Is this the new way of things?

I just get annoyed when I sit there clutching my correct fare.

Rant over.

[jester]

Be interesting to know what time of day this was,... I understand there have been additional ticket sellers on the Falmouth branch and find it hard to believe that this could happen. I know that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) read some items on this forum and they would no soubt be interested if they thought that their new initiative was not working!

[grahame]

A slightly wider view ... here in Wiltshire, collecting everyone's fares is one of the key items, sitting alongside appropriate timetables / services, that was included in our inputs to the current franchise from last September - the 'emergency' one that was broadly a stand-still to just keep the services running - BUT we asked for services as planned in the options, and revenue protection.     And the excellent news is that we've seen dramatic improvements in both in that last year;  I'm not sure how much of that is to do with our inputs and how much was simply because we were pushing on a door that was swinging open anyway.

As services become busier (and, goodness, the Maritime line is consistently in the top handful for growth), the metrics of fare collection change.  Where a conductor has usually been able to pass through a train and collect fares from stations with no / limited facilities in the past, (s)he may now struggle, and the fare collection role is on top of train operation, answering customer questions about connections, and so on.   Then - does a conductor look to maximise revenue by collecting from the willing payers who approach him, or look to find those who are trying to avoid him, probably with less revenue taken?

The vast majority of conductors do what they can - looks like in Cornwall too - "Most of the the conductors are conscientious and very friendly but some hide away" - but there is the odd one. There may be reasons on some occasions, and the ongoing solution is often in the provision of systems which (a) give other opportunities for at least some people to pay ahead of time [e-tickets, TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) even is they just take plastic, local ticket agency, etc] or (b) speed up the individual transaction to the conductor. 

By mopping up the majority of willing pre-payers by providing a system they can use, you leave the way open for the conductors to deal with the special cases - the "couldn't pay" as there was no cash-taking TVM, or the "wouldn't pay" because they hope to avoid all staff.    Our local station's traffic has risen from 3 or 4 passengers getting on / off a train to (one day last week) no fewer than 20.   And in a 9 minute run to the next station - let's call that 8 minutes by the time you cover off station duties - it's getting hard to sell everyone a ticket if most of them are leisure journeys buying on the day.

As a side issue, passenger ticket sales stats from the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) are read in parallel alongside train usage numbers gathered by train managers;  you'll see the going through with "clickers" sometimes, and at other times estimates are submitted.  Patchy, I suspect, but it does provide an alternative measure for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and anyone subsidising, and as the patchiness is likely to be consistent it also gives trends and highlights specific trains where there are issues in faster time.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

I think FarWestJohn's experience can be replicated on the Cotswold Line. Our conductor's are usually Reading based or Worcester based. It would seem to me from my limited observations that the Worcester based conductors are more conscientous at collecting fares as there are more fares to be collected because of the sparcity of ticket purchasing facilities towards the western end of the line. It may be that Reading based conductors who are used to more stations having barriers and purchasing facilities etc, find that when they look for fares only a small proportion do not have a ticket and therefore there is less incentive to get out of their seat in the rear cab.

[LiskeardRich]

On the same topic, last Sunday I traveled Redruth to Plymouth, Redruth ticket office was closed, and my first opportunity to buy a ticket was the gate line RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context)) at Plymouth. Every ticket office in Cornwall except Truro is closed at that time on a Sunday so anyone travelling between stations in Cornwall would have had a free ride.

[Umberleigh]

On Monday I Travelled from Paddington to Plymouth on the 11.06, and then caught the following Paddington to Penzance service as far as Truro. No ticket check on either train.

[The Tall Controller]

Very difficult for the train manager to check tickets past Plymouth as they need to be at the rear of the train to unlock the doors at each station. Not helped by the fact that the train you got from Plymouth is usually full!

[LiskeardRich]

Very difficult for the train manager to check tickets past Plymouth as they need to be at the rear of the train to unlock the doors at each station. Not helped by the fact that the train you got from Plymouth is usually full!

From what I've seen they don't unlock from the rear in Cornwall. Normally the rear most platform end station which can be the 3rd or 4th carriage at some of the stations.

I think Truro is the only platform where they unlock from the rear so all coaches are open?

[jester]

I think Rob T is referring to trains on the 'down' line, lots of short platforms mean the train manager has to protect the rear unplatformed or 'risky' doors.....Others like Lostwithiel and Hayle mean only opening 3 or 4 coaches IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly)..
Back to the original post from FarwestJohn, still be interested to know when you are having problems?? Spoke to the nice new lady on the Falmouth branch about it, she seemed a bit concerned!!

[LiskeardRich]

I think Rob T is referring to trains on the 'down' line, lots of short platforms mean the train manager has to protect the rear unplatformed or 'risky' doors.....Others like Lostwithiel and Hayle mean only opening 3 or 4 coaches IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly)..

I realised this was what he was on about. However personal observations are that the TM^‡(resolve) is at the rear most platformed carriage not the rear most carriage overall.

[FarWestJohn]

I had had no problem buying a ticket on the train last week. In answer to Rich's question it was usually mid afternoon going from Perranwell to Falmouth.