Last week, I travelled every day from Kings Cross Thameslink to
Bedford on 'City Fliers' in the morning and returned back to London
with Midland Mainline, on a weekly First Class season.

I noticed that on none of the five occasions I travelled with
Thameslink for over an hour in the am (ok, after the peak) there was
no conductor/RPI on board to check tickets. Is this usual or unusual?
I know Thameslink services are Driver Only Operated but I'd have
thought there would be some sort of revenue protection on board. Then
again, major stations on the City Flier route such as St Albans, Luton
Aiport, Luton and Bedford all have ticket barriers so I guess
fraudsters can be 'caught out' but I found it unusual nonetheless that
I saw no revenue protection staff on board any of my journeys, as I
noticed a few Standard passenger sat in First Class and on board staff
would act as a deterrent. The same has applied in the past to WAGN
services from Kings Cross to Peterborough where I've never noticed an
RPI on board.

"Henry Littleton" wrote in
message om...
Last week, I travelled every day from Kings Cross Thameslink to
Bedford on 'City Fliers' in the morning and returned back to London
with Midland Mainline, on a weekly First Class season.

I noticed that on none of the five occasions I travelled with
Thameslink for over an hour in the am (ok, after the peak) there was
no conductor/RPI on board to check tickets. Is this usual or unusual?
I know Thameslink services are Driver Only Operated but I'd have
thought there would be some sort of revenue protection on board. Then
again, major stations on the City Flier route such as St Albans, Luton
Aiport, Luton and Bedford all have ticket barriers so I guess
fraudsters can be 'caught out' but I found it unusual nonetheless that
I saw no revenue protection staff on board any of my journeys, as I
noticed a few Standard passenger sat in First Class and on board staff
would act as a deterrent. The same has applied in the past to WAGN
services from Kings Cross to Peterborough where I've never noticed an
RPI on board.


I have only ever had my ticket checked onboard once in 8 years!!!!!

"Henry Littleton" wrote in
message om...
Last week, I travelled every day from Kings Cross Thameslink to
Bedford on 'City Fliers' in the morning and returned back to London
with Midland Mainline, on a weekly First Class season.

I noticed that on none of the five occasions I travelled with
Thameslink for over an hour in the am (ok, after the peak) there was
no conductor/RPI on board to check tickets. Is this usual or unusual?
I know Thameslink services are Driver Only Operated but I'd have
thought there would be some sort of revenue protection on board. Then
again, major stations on the City Flier route such as St Albans, Luton
Aiport, Luton and Bedford all have ticket barriers so I guess
fraudsters can be 'caught out' but I found it unusual nonetheless that
I saw no revenue protection staff on board any of my journeys, as I
noticed a few Standard passenger sat in First Class and on board staff
would act as a deterrent. The same has applied in the past to WAGN
services from Kings Cross to Peterborough where I've never noticed an
RPI on board.

How did you know they were standard ticket holders? Did you check their
tickets?

Then
again, major stations on the City Flier route such as St Albans, Luton
Aiport, Luton and Bedford all have ticket barriers so I guess
fraudsters can be 'caught out'

Of course barriers don't stop the determined fare evader. I've seen two
scale the fence at St Albans with a group of ticket inspectors standing
nearby.

but I found it unusual nonetheless that
I saw no revenue protection staff on board any of my journeys, as I
noticed a few Standard passenger sat in First Class and on board staff
would act as a deterrent.


Travelling daily between Harpenden (no barriers) and the City I guess we
have ticket inspections on less than 1 in 40 journeys. Not always very
effective either. Sometimes see them minutely checking the tickets of seated
passengers, waiting patiently for the inspection, whilst ignoring the
"yuffs" who suddenly decide they would rather be in another carriage, and
leg it at the next station. Once saw a well dressed woman who was seemingly
in such a deep sleep that loud requests for her ticket couldn't wake her.
Once the inspectors had gone she woke up soon enough at her stop. I suppose
the inspectors didn't give her a gentle shake for fear of being accused of
assault. Are they under instructions not to touch passengers, or detain
people who don't want to hang around to answer question?

Jon McD

In article , Jon McD
writes
Once saw a well dressed woman who was seemingly
in such a deep sleep that loud requests for her ticket couldn't wake her.
Once the inspectors had gone she woke up soon enough at her stop.

You're implying that she was faking it.

I will note that I've often fallen asleep on my commutes, including
trains with intermediate stops, yet always seem to wake about 30 seconds
before my station. The subconscious seems to have better route knowledge
than the conscious brain!

--
Clive D.W. Feather, writing for himself | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8371 1138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work:
Written on my laptop; please observe the Reply-To address

On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 18:10:09 +0000, "Clive D. W. Feather"
wrote:

I will note that I've often fallen asleep on my commutes, including
trains with intermediate stops, yet always seem to wake about 30 seconds
before my station. The subconscious seems to have better route knowledge
than the conscious brain!

The subconscious (body clock etc) has surprising abilities at times; I
seem to have this uncanny ability to wake automatically two or three
minutes before my alarm goes off - almost every day!

I can't sleep on trains (or buses), anyway - too noisy and too much
movement...

Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

(Neil Williams) wrote the following
in:

On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 18:10:09 +0000, "Clive D. W. Feather"
wrote:

I will note that I've often fallen asleep on my commutes,
including trains with intermediate stops, yet always seem to wake
about 30 seconds before my station. The subconscious seems to have
better route knowledge than the conscious brain!

The subconscious (body clock etc) has surprising abilities at
times; I seem to have this uncanny ability to wake automatically
two or three minutes before my alarm goes off - almost every day!

That's a very uncanny ability indeed. My ability is nearly the
opposite: to wake several minutes after my alarm clock has gone off.

I can't sleep on trains (or buses), anyway - too noisy and too
much movement...

My problem with sleeping on public transport (or practically any
transport for that matter) is that there's nowhere to rest my head.

--
message by Robin May, but you can call me Mr Smith.
Hello. I'm one of those "roaring fascists of the left wing".

Then and than are different words!

In article ,
(Clive D. W. Feather) wrote:

In article , Jon McD
writes
Once saw a well dressed woman who was seemingly
in such a deep sleep that loud requests for her ticket couldn't wake
her. Once the inspectors had gone she woke up soon enough at her stop.

You're implying that she was faking it.

Not without some validity IME. A young man in one of those parkas with a
hood that almost completely covers the face was apparently so asleep on
the 10:15 from Cambridge the other morning that the inspector arranged to
stop it at Stevenage and call an ambulance. The ambulance crew managed to
wake him, after which it became apparent that he had no ticket and claimed
to have no money.

I've seen that before, ticketless travellers who claim to have no money.
One certainly had plenty. He showed off his wad of notes before the
inspectors came into sight.

I will note that I've often fallen asleep on my commutes, including
trains with intermediate stops, yet always seem to wake about 30
seconds before my station. The subconscious seems to have better route
knowledge than the conscious brain!

Could be. I set the alarm on my pager just to be sure!

--
Colin Rosenstiel