Truro Station refurbishment and installation of ticket barriers (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

I came to the conclusion long ago that  barriers are a waste of time, effort and money. All they do is annoy honest passengers and have NO deterrent effect on fare dodgers.

Yesterday I went through a barrier line 6 times, (four at Bath Spa, two at Swindon) between 1500 and 2030 - EVERYTIME they were unmanned and locked open !

Surely they only annoy honest passengers when they're actually in use, doing what they're designed to do...? Or do you make a point of being annoyed by them even when they're not in your way?

On a more serious note though, although they certainly aren't a perfect solution (and even if the entire system was barriered with no on-board ticket checks there's still the possibility for fraud by "dumb-belling" and buying a cheap single for each end of your journey) they are certainly better than all stations being open. Before barriers at Swansea, Bridgend and Neath it was painfully obvious that many of the locals used HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services as their free ride very frequently, due to lax on-board ticket checks*. Now that's much, much less common.

*Has anyone else noticed that Swansea guards seem to come in two distinct species? There's the ones who never emerge from coach A/F (depending on direction of travel) come hell or high water and certainly don't bother with any ticket checks, and then many others who are constantly on the go checking tickets after every stop and generally giving a bit of a master-class in how it should be done!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Just a couple of points from me:

1. Ticket barriers are brilliant - when they work - for fare-paying passengers.  The problem is, they do tend to reject perfectly valid, pristine condition, tickets, purchased only minutes previously!   That's why many 'honest passengers' get a bit peeved, at having their tickets spat back at them and being told to 'Seek assistance' (necessitating reversing into the commuter scrum) so often!

2. Ticket barriers are supposed to be barriers - not locked open, while two members of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff stand and chat to each other over them, giving a grudging nod to any passenger who is determined enough to actually wave their ticket at them while passing through ...

 

[Chris2]

I was speaking to a member of staff, and they stated that there plans for ticket barriers at St. Austell is this true?

I agree with Chris that ticket barriers are good when they work, and that they are not locked open.

[moonrakerz]

Surely they only annoy honest passengers when they're actually in use, doing what they're designed to do...? Or do you make a point of being annoyed by them even when they're not in your way?

Surprisingly, they "annoy" me when they are not "doing what they're designed to do".

After being told by the Duty Manager at Salisbury, and twice in writing by her employers, what an awful problem fare dodging is, as justification for not letting me help my daughter with her luggage - it does get "up my nose" somewhat to see the very expensive devices they have installed to counter this problem just not being used. 

Do the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) really know how much fare dodging there actually is ? How do they know/calculate/guess a figure ? Has anyone does a Cost Benefit Analysis of installing the barriers - which still need to be manned - OR, once they are installed does it beome "cheaper" for the station management to leave them open and not pay someone to man them ?
It strikes me to be rather like my local council when they claim to recycle 34.98% of household rubbish - how to they arrive at this figure ?

[Tim]

[It strikes me to be rather like my local council when they claim to recycle 34.98% of household rubbish - how to they arrive at this figure ?

They use a weighbirdge at the refuse centre to measure the weight of rubbish and recycling as it comes in on the trucks and give the figures to someone who divides one number by another and sees that their calculator says 34.89 and neglects to think about rounding it to 35%.

[vacman]

I was speaking to a member of staff, and they stated that there plans for ticket barriers at St. Austell is this true?

I agree with Chris that ticket barriers are good when they work, and that they are not locked open.

St Austell isn't Planned, next is Penzance, this was going to be done (with Truro) in 2008 but was shelved due to the credit crunch, Truro is getting done partly due to staff constantly complaining about the amount of ticketless travel to/from the Falmouth branch, Penzance is still currently shelved though.

[RailCornwall]

So will pax from the Car park, with heavy luggage be forced to use the bridges or not, I'm confused.

[vacman]

So will pax from the Car park, with heavy luggage be forced to use the bridges or not, I'm confused.

as my post states, there will be 2 barriers on the "up" side and the main gateline will be in the ticket office!

[caliwag]

Surprised that the Falmouth line still presents revenue problems. Whenever I have used it the 153 unit has a guard and a ticket checker/seller.
The other day at Truro, awaiting the Padd bound 125, a couple who had arrived via the crossing ramp, enquired of the despatcher if it would be OK to upgrade to first on the train..."probably" was his useful response (equally useful was his response to "is first class at this end?"..."probably!"...the monitor didn't help either, just announced that it was an 8 coach train...wow)

Anyway there was no ticket check at the front end until after Taunton. They were travelling to Padd though.

[RailCornwall]

So will pax from the Car park, with heavy luggage be forced to use the bridges or not, I'm confused.

as my post states, there will be 2 barriers on the "up" side and the main gateline will be in the ticket office!

So i take it the answer is yes. Shame. P3 should be separately gated. Does this work include resurfacing the footpath from the car park around the BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) office and into the Ticket Office?

[vacman]

So will pax from the Car park, with heavy luggage be forced to use the bridges or not, I'm confused.

as my post states, there will be 2 barriers on the "up" side and the main gateline will be in the ticket office!

So i take it the answer is yes. Shame. P3 should be separately gated. Does this work include resurfacing the footpath from the car park around the BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) office and into the Ticket Office?

What are you on about! READ THE POST! if there are two gates on the up side then they are from the car park! the car park is on the up side!!!!!

[willc]

Not really sure that's fair. Not everyone knows which is the up side and which is the down - the people of Truro (who might just bump into this thread) would certainly understand car park side, whereas up side would mean absolutely nothing to them, and, I suspect, a good many of the people posting here, come to that.

[John R]

and to clarify "up" is always towards London, even where the geography makes it feel intuitively wrong (not a problem in this part of the world, but maybe more so if you live anywhere north of London).

[Mookiemoo]

Isnt the up terminology due to oxbridge going up to london

As some one who grew up in scouseland and spent most time in scotland/midlands - what would it take t0 get rid of this.

Maybe by July I won't care as much - but its bloody annoying

[Worcester_Passenger]

Isnt the up terminology due to oxbridge going up to london

T'other way round - you're thinking about going "up" to Oxbridge and going "down" to London.

The rational alternative is "northbound" etc.