Last February, I unexpectedly had to make a journey from Chippenham to Bristol. It was a Sunday evening (or Saturday - can't remember now) and the ticket office was closed. There are TVMs▸ , but they were not working. Okay, I thought, I'll get a ticket on the train. I did not see any staff on the train (HST▸ ). How will I get through the barriers at BRI» ? I guess I'll just have to explain the situation and buy a ticket there, hope they will sell me one if I go up to them and ask. But there were no staff on the platform and the barriers were all open! Very odd. ...
A couple of thoughts
Under "Cap and Collar" - previous franchise from 2005 - around 80% of 'extra' income went to the government which meant that of every ^1000 in extra fares collected at the margin of operations, only ^200 was retained and there was in effect a 400% tax on income for First. It stifled the business case to put extra revenue protection in place, or to have a robust maintenance systems to ensure that TVMs worked 99.9% rather than 98% of the time.
Once that system was (thank goodness) replaced, it's taken a while to recruit extra staff, train them, have them in place - and on ticket machines / parts, things take incredibly long ... you can't just buy an "
Avantix▸ " off the shelf, and have you noticed that the new TVM at Melksham a taken 6 months longer than promised, and still isn't there.
Looking at staff, you've got staff sickness to consider too, and again having people around just in case a colleague is ill is expensive - more than the fares taken. With barriers at all London - Bristol stations on the direct normal route except Chippenham, lighter checks at Chippenham should be OK, though that system isn't as robust as I describe for a variety of reasons that frequent posters will realise.
But for on the community end of things, we share elements of the frustration based on the need for income for First, and for good passenger numbers and ticket sales numbers, in order to ensure that future services meet the needs of people travelling. Mind, some of the figures are a bit (or much) higher than was expected and in places there are growth pains ... I can name you some stations where you can't but tickets out of hours (or at all), you're unlikely to see the conductor in the few minutes to the next similar station as you may be standing in a train that's got several coaches.