Fare dodging.

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

Meanwhile, welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, WelshBluebird! 

[The Grecian]

I used to work in the Devon County Council education department at one time (though not school transport) and can confirm that the policy was for children over 3 miles to get free school transport to their catchment school or the nearest school with an available place if none was available at the catchment school (e.g. if they moved in term time). Torquay Grammar School wouldn't qualify on either ground for children from Devon as it's a selective school. So children/their parents from Starcross-Newton Abbot stations would be paying for transport. I don't know how Torquay BC arrange their travel system though.

[WelshBluebird]

So pretty similar then (although I think the actual distance is different in Wales, and last I heard people were starting to get rail passes to get to the school). I bet the services around the time school starts / finishes are a nightmare for staff!

Meanwhile, welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, WelshBluebird! 

Cheers. Been nosing around for a while .

[Glovidge]

Maybe they could introduce top-up cards or something and you'd have to scan your card to get on the train? Until they do something though people will fare dodge/ board the train hoping a conductor won't do his job

[eightf48544]

Maybe they could introduce top-up cards or something and you'd have to scan your card to get on the train? Until they do something though people will fare dodge/ board the train hoping a conductor won't do his job

It's called Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services).

I've been following this thread for awhile and to summarise ther seem to be two schools of thought.

One is that you should always pay your fare even if the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) makes it impossible by not providing any facilities before on or after your journey.

The other is that provided you intend to pay the fare when the oportunity is provided if the TOC concerned cannot be bothered to provide such an oportunity then it's OK to travel free.

Both agree deliberate fare dodging is wrong.

My view is that although the TOCS make an enormous fuss about the huge sum of money lost to fare dodgers there is a cynical bean counter somewhere who has calculated that the cost of collecting this lost money would be far greater than the money actually collected.

Mc ulty in his porosals has endoresed trhis view as he wants a general man power reduction on the railway. More lost revenue!

[coolsecretspy]

i have traveled a few times on the train without a ticket now, but this is because of the fact that the station where i live is not always open, if this is the case i will get on the train and wait for the guard on the train to do ticket checks and then i will buy a ticket if nobody comes along and does the ticket checks then i buy the ticket from the guards or the ticket office at the destination station.

[Glovidge]

Maybe they could introduce top-up cards or something and you'd have to scan your card to get on the train? Until they do something though people will fare dodge/ board the train hoping a conductor won't do his job

It's called Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services).

I've been following this thread for awhile and to summarise ther seem to be two schools of thought.

One is that you should always pay your fare even if the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) makes it impossible by not providing any facilities before on or after your journey.

The other is that provided you intend to pay the fare when the oportunity is provided if the TOC concerned cannot be bothered to provide such an oportunity then it's OK to travel free.

Both agree deliberate fare dodging is wrong.

My view is that although the TOCS make an enormous fuss about the huge sum of money lost to fare dodgers there is a cynical bean counter somewhere who has calculated that the cost of collecting this lost money would be far greater than the money actually collected.

Mc ulty in his porosals has endoresed trhis view as he wants a general man power reduction on the railway. More lost revenue!

Oyster cards only exist for people in the South East/ London area, how about a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) card or even beter a national public transport card? Although I am against it on civil liberty grounds it ld be a way of guaranteeing income?

[eightf48544]

A national transport card to ITSO standards does exist. The problem has been that until the readers were made both ITSO and Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) compliant it couldn't be rolled out in on Networkrail in Greater London.

Hasn't SWT^▸ (South West Trains) got an ITSO product?

[paul7575]

Yes, SWT^▸ (South West Trains) has had ITSO format seasons for a while now, but only on routes which are outside London, because DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)/TfL^» (Transport for London - about) have not made the infrastructure inside the London zones compatible yet.

Smartcards are currently available to season ticket holders on a number of routes, which do not involve travel in the London Travelcard area.
 
These include journeys between station on the following corridors:
 Wokingham, Staines and Windsor and Eton Riverside
 Woking to Weymouth
 Woking to Havant via Guildford
 Woking to Alton
 Ascot to Guildford via Aldershot
 Island Line
 
Work is continuing on the software integration of the Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) smartcard system with the national system used in our scheme. This work is being undertaken by the Department for Transport in conjunction with Transport for London.
 
When complete, it should be possible to extend our Smartcard scheme to include journeys encompassing the London Travelcard area, including journeys to and from Waterloo.

However, AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) they don't intend to provide Oyster style PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go) functionality on 'Stagecoach Smart' as it is known.

Paul