Revenue protection in the Bristol area (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[tramway]

Quite a few queuing to exit Filton this morning as approx 6 RPO ably assisted by approx 6 BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) did a full check this morning. 

That^ll boost the Filton footfall figures. 

I can^t remember the last time it was done, but it really should be a bit more frequent, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) must be losing thousands a week on the evidence on just 2 services at about 7.45. 

Was a tad cosy this morning from TRO^» (Trowbridge - next trains) with the 07.01 failed at Westbury and the normally 4 car 07.24 turning up as a 2. 

[asdfg]

Quite a few queuing to exit Filton this morning as approx 6 RPO ably assisted by approx 6 BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) did a full check this morning. 

That^ll boost the Filton footfall figures. 

I can^t remember the last time it was done, but it really should be a bit more frequent, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) must be losing thousands a week on the evidence on just 2 services at about 7.45. 

There a far too many students from Yate openly boasting that they don't pay in either direction. And some of them even have the cheek to to ask why FGW don't put on more carriages!

From what I have seen, the MOD workers do pay and most have season tickets. It's the students that need to be targeted.

[fatcontroller]

Was a tad cosy this morning from TRO^» (Trowbridge - next trains) with the 07.01 failed at Westbury and the normally 4 car 07.24 turning up as a 2. 

The normally 4-car 07:24 was a 2-car because the additional 2-cars were attached to the broken 07:01 (to make a 5-car).

So the correct number of coaches ran towards Bristol this morning, just not in the right order!

[tramway]

Thanks for that FC^‡(resolve).

The only announcement I can recollect was that the 7.01 had failed so we all jumped on the first available service.

Some of us who have a little bit of leeway in arrival time may have elected to wait for the following 5 car if we had been made aware it was still running.

Yes Paul, the majority are students, but on a stopper from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) to Parkway on a very busy train doesn't give the guard much chance of catching many of the culprits. I'm not sure how often RPOs travel, but if they could be seen a bit more just on some of the locals around Bristol would go quite a way in deterring the habit.

[willc]

And you could say the same about most of the rest of the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) network. Haven't seen an RPO on the Cotswold Line for getting on for two years. More frequent visits might gee up some of the conductors to go out and collect fares as well - still far too hit and miss, with some guaranteed to check and sell tickets, others never being seen.

Seems to be too much reliance on 'oh well, the barriers at Oxford/Reading/Paddington will get them'. Not if they're only travelling between intermediate stations they won't. I have never been asked to show a ticket when catching an evening train from Charlbury to Moreton-in-Marsh over several years. Or doing what I did last month, when I went from Moreton-in-Marsh, to Oxford, to Birmingham International (barrierless) without my ticket being checked once.

When I lived in Norway, you simply did not chance ticketless travel on the Oslo Metro, because the odds of being checked by their hit squad, at all hours of the day and night (even after midnight one time), in uniform or plain clothes, was high. On average, I'd reckon to encounter them two or three times a month - seem to remember being checked on only my second ever journey. Okay, they have a compact system to cover but the deterrent factor was definitely there, especially as the fines are pretty steep if you are caught.

[tramway]

I did consider starting a new thread entitiled ^Ticket checks at Filton cause chaos at Westbury^ as we had a repeat of yesterday. 

06.45 Frome/Cardiff  managed to get as far as Westbury again where it decided it didn^t want to play any more, (scared of the dark as it didn^t have any lights ) causing pandemonium again at Trowbridge. First announcement I heard just after arriving at approx 7.15 was that the failed unit was blocking platforms at Westbury and the next service was probably going to be the delayed Cheltenham. In these situations it is tempting to hop on this and change at Chippenham, but the delay left a very marginal connection time for the 07.43 to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).

06:45 Frome to Cardiff Central due 08:46

This train will be terminated at Bristol Temple Meads.It will no longer call at: Filton Abbey Wood, Patchway, Newport South Wales and Cardiff Central.This is due to a train fault. Last Updated: 25/01/2011 07:26

The next announcement advised that anyone who was left on the platform and wished to go beyond Bristol to join the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) service and change. So in addition to what is normally quite a busy service it now had the 07.01 lot and now those like me who were looking for the 07.24 Parkway. 10 Coach capacity now reduced to 3, deep joy. 

Not sure if the Frome ran in service to BRI at all but what I assume was the 07.24 arrived at BRI as a 5 car approx 5 min after the SWT had terminated. 

Anyway the point being the RPOs were out again at Filton this morning so it was a bit of a scrum leaving the station.

[fatcontroller]

The Frome - Cardiff departed Westbury approx 54' late after attaching another unit onto the front of the train to box in the defective driving cab.

Very frustrating for all as it is the same set as yesterday after it spent the rest of yesterday on SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) being "repaired"!

[tramway]

Cheers again FC^‡(resolve), I just hope this isn't a taste of things to come as First need to meet the increasing premium payments and also approaching re-franchise time. SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) must be looking like a graveyard at the mo as there seems to be quite a few 158s missing. Regional fleet taking a back seat to the premium HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) services again no doubt.

Simplistic view I know but from a customer perspective that's all we can assume, not many HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) failing after 15 min in service as far as I can tell.

They will also be getting good figures from the overloaded BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) FIT section from the RPO exercise which will be unavailable via a FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information) request from DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about) no doubt.

[SDS]

Word the FoI in the right way and im sure you could get the figures, but as said you need to word it in such a way so they cant claim any exemption or "we dont hold the information" rubbish.

[fatcontroller]

Cheers again FC^‡(resolve), I just hope this isn't a taste of things to come as First need to meet the increasing premium payments and also approaching re-franchise time. SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) must be looking like a graveyard at the mo as there seems to be quite a few 158s missing. Regional fleet taking a back seat to the premium HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) services again no doubt.

Simplistic view I know but from a customer perspective that's all we can assume, not many HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) failing after 15 min in service as far as I can tell.

They will also be getting good figures from the overloaded BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) FIT section from the RPO exercise which will be unavailable via a FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information) request from DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about) no doubt.

158954 aside - there are current enough 3-car 158's available to go around. Shortage of 2-car ones ATM^‡(resolve). 2 receiving maintenance at SPM and one receiving heavy maintenance in Birmingham.

[Lee]

158954 aside - there are current enough 3-car 158's available to go around. Shortage of 2-car ones ATM^‡(resolve). 2 receiving maintenance at SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) and one receiving heavy maintenance in Birmingham.

FC^‡(resolve) - are the 2-car 158's still going to be re-marshalled into 3-car 158's, and if so when?

[dog box]

Regional fleet taking a backseat to hss ....utter rubbish as SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) as far as i was aware was now primarily a DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) maintainence/ repair Facility undertaking only nightly servicing/ fuelling to HST^▸ (High Speed Train) sets.

[willc]

And getting back on topic, London Midland are getting tough, with posters giving the names of people they have prosecuted going up at stations. They have recently netted a Mr Darth Vader, of Walsall...

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/01/25/darth-vader-had-no-train-ticket/

[fatcontroller]

158954 aside - there are current enough 3-car 158's available to go around. Shortage of 2-car ones ATM^‡(resolve). 2 receiving maintenance at SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) and one receiving heavy maintenance in Birmingham.

FC^‡(resolve) - are the 2-car 158's still going to be re-marshalled into 3-car 158's, and if so when?

Yes - but need the LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) 150's to arrive first.

[asdfg]

I'm not sure how often RPOs travel, but if they could be seen a bit more just on some of the locals around Bristol would go quite a way in deterring the habit.

I'm sure I overheard a lady, who got on my train this morning at Filton Abbeywood, say to another passenger that she had her ticket checked this morning "on the bridge". So that would make it the second time this week there's been a check at this station.