Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FoSBR) - merged topics

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Can be found in the link below.
http://www.fosbr.org.uk/newsletter/67.doc

[Lee]

Friends Of Suburban Bristol Railways have organised a day celebrating recent acheivements, and looking forward to the future (link below.)
http://www.fosbr.org.uk/news.php?newsid=0000000173

[Chris from Nailsea]

Can be found in the link below.
http://www.fosbr.org.uk/newsletter/68.doc

... and sorry, but we appear to have overlooked 66 - which can be found in the link below
http://www.fosbr.org.uk/newsletter/66.doc

[Chris from Nailsea]

See the FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) website for details, at http://www.fosbr.org.uk/

[John R]

This letter poses some interesting questions.

1. The service is subsidised to the tune of ^400k pa, ie ^8,000 per week, or ^1,230 per day, if you count Sunday as half a day. If that particular train lost, say ^120 in revenue (80 x 1.50 on average), how much could you reduce the subsidy if revenue collection was more diligent.

2. Does FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have any controls in place to identify staff who appear to collect less in fares than would be expected on a particular train, or over a period of time.

3. Why don't some staff diligently check tickets and collect fares when they stand to gain a percentage of each fare sold?



 

Dear Sir,

I write to express concern at the deterioration in revenue collection on the Severn Beach railway line.

In May 2008, following Bristol City Council's unanimous decision to subsidise an extra train unit on the line for improved services to Avonmouth/Severn Beach, great improvements in regularity and reliability were introduced on the line and have lead to passenger numbers rising by more than 40% since May '08, a significant and resounding success.

However, many people have complained to FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) that, with increasing occurance, fares are not always being collected during journeys. I too have experienced this on several occasions including last Saturday (4th April) when not a single ticket was sold on the entire journey to the 80 or so passengers to Temple Meads.

The problem is not only revenue lost (and subsidised by our council) but also the loss of passenger journeys recorded. If the current trend continues, passenger loadings will appear to fall off (as official figures are based on ticket sales) and when it comes to renewing the BCC^» (Bristol City Council - about) subsidy and the rail franchise, figures will be well down and improved service levels will not be deemed necessary, thus causing a major decline in the service.

Bristol City Council must take this matter up with First Great Western immediately and effectively. If not, the huge contribution that rail can make to the Bristol traffic problem resolution will be lost and further expansion to Portishead will be in jeopardy.

Yours sincerely,
Bernard Lane,
Chair Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways

[cereal_basher]

I sampled the end of the Severn Beach Line for the first time and the guard was brilliant. All tickets were checked and fares collected after every stop. Unfortunately I feel he could be a minority.

[welshman]

I think this is a common problem.  Recently I went from Cardiff to Bristol and back, using the Taunton service.  150 going and 158 coming back.

On the outward journey, the conductor/guard/train manager/whatever he's called this week checked every ticket and also insisted on checking everyone's passes - that applied to students and oldies.

On the return journey, at about 19:30, the c/g/tm/whctw was changed at Bristol and the new lady stayed in the back cab of a 2-car 158 all the way to Cardiff.  The train was not particularly crowded.  The only evidence of her presence was barely audible muttering over the PA^▸ (Public Address).

I know that on ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) Valley Lines services the c/g/tm/whctw is under instruction not to conduct (no pun intended) ticket checks or sell tickets if there are standing passengers blocking the gangways.  This is apparently to ensure that he/she is at the rear door controls at every station.  Since most stops are only 4-6 minutes apart, this is perhaps understandable but Cardiff-Bristol is not exactly stop-start.

Lazy is the word.

[ReWind]

I have to say In my experience travelling on the Severn Beach Line, I have always witnessed the Conductor checking/selling tickets after every stop.  On a 143 (  the common SVB traction ), the conductor was under pressure to reach the front coach of the unit has he could only operate the doors from the rear of the unit ( this has now been resolved when the 143's were refurbed, the Conductor can now operate the doors from either end of the unit).

I cant remember the exact time the 143's were refurbed, but it was not long before the date of the letter i believe.

So perhaps the gentleman who wrote the letter always sat at the front of the train, therefore rarely seeing the Conductor.

I do agree that ticket checks on other routes, such as CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) - TAU^» (Taunton - next trains) and BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) - WSM are less eventful however.

[vacman]

Unfortunately there are too many lazy guards and theres no dicipline from management!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm.

To be fair, on a couple of occasions recently, I was pleasantly surprised to see a 'conductor/guard' move purposefully forward through the length of the train, and start their ticket inspection from the front of the front carriage - catching some passengers out, I believe! 

[inspector_blakey]

It seems to be somewhat hit-and-miss, and dependent largely on the staff concerned. I do not use the SVB branch often but on the occasions I have recently (all off-peak, it must be said) the conductors have been very efficient. Their job must be made somewhat easier now by the simplified fares (which I think are largely in multiples of ^1 or 50p).

From my regular journeys on high-speed services and the Bristol - Keynsham - Bath locals I recognize plenty of the staff by sight and can now generally tell whether I'll get a ticket check or not as soon as I see the conductor who's working that service. This suggests to me that the same staff, day after day, must fail to pay in any revenue from their Avantix^▸ (Ticket Issuing System used on board trains) machines. I can only speculate about why this is not dealt with: because of issues with staff contracts (I would hazard a guess that some ex-BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) staff probably are not required by their terms of employment to undertake commercial duties), a lack of management will to deal with the problem or would the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) kick off if guards were being disciplined for failing to collect revenue?

[devon_metro]

Hmm.

To be fair, on a couple of occasions recently, I was pleasantly surprised to see a 'conductor/guard' move purposefully forward through the length of the train, and start their ticket inspection from the front of the front carriage - catching some passengers out, I believe! 

That trick is quite good at Highbridge. If two TMs^‡(resolve) are on, one hides up front and as the chavs see the visible guard moving to the front they do the same and out pops the second TM. Classic!

[vacman]

It seems to be somewhat hit-and-miss, and dependent largely on the staff concerned. I do not use the SVB branch often but on the occasions I have recently (all off-peak, it must be said) the conductors have been very efficient. Their job must be made somewhat easier now by the simplified fares (which I think are largely in multiples of ^1 or 50p).

From my regular journeys on high-speed services and the Bristol - Keynsham - Bath locals I recognize plenty of the staff by sight and can now generally tell whether I'll get a ticket check or not as soon as I see the conductor who's working that service. This suggests to me that the same staff, day after day, must fail to pay in any revenue from their Avantix^▸ (Ticket Issuing System used on board trains) machines. I can only speculate about why this is not dealt with: because of issues with staff contracts (I would hazard a guess that some ex-BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) staff probably are not required by their terms of employment to undertake commercial duties), a lack of management will to deal with the problem or would the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) kick off if guards were being disciplined for failing to collect revenue?

It's in all guards contracts to issue/check tickets as they were restructured in the late 90's, although it was in there beforehand for Conductor guards.

[Tim]

some ex-BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) staff probably are not required by their terms of employment to undertake commercial duties),

Some of the best staff are ex-BR and some are new.  I'm not sure thatthere is much of a correlation.

At root it is a management issue. 

[grahame]

The Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways)) are a very active and well established group in the Bristol area - far more "IRL" [In Real Life] than the Coffee Shop in their campaigning to retain and improve services in the 'burbs around Bristol; their web site is at

http://fosbr.org.uk

FOSBR and FOSBR related posts are more than welcome here (always have been!) ... and may be more frequent in the future - I met up with some of the group this evening, and was able to express that welcoming approach in person (having discovered with of the FOUR exits from Stapleton Road lead to "The Sugar [hic] Loaf".

FOSBR have been part of some notable successes with improvements on the Severn Beach line - their achievements make the one extra train per week achieved so far on the TransWilts look very limited (and it is).  However, we look forward to giving them a run for their money here in Wiltshire, and hope they'll make enormous strides ahead too and remain a tough act to catch up with!


Awaiting the Avonmouth train at Stapleton Road


The Frome train pulls in to Stapleton Road