MIG wrote:
On 24 Oct, 09:43, "Jim Hawkins" wrote:
Nick wrote:
On Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:12:29 +0100, "Jim Hawkins"
wrote this:

How would you stop the trains becoming doss houses ?
How would you stop gangs of yobs from boarding for
a variety of illegal/antisocial purposes?

How would you stop them now?

Nick

It doesn't happen, largely because dossers can't afford tickets
and most yobs don't want to buy them.
But please tell me, how are they going to be stopped in a
ticket-free situation ?
I'm not rubbishing the idea of free train travel, but the obvious
potential problems need to be addressed.

Jim Hawkins

I think he was asking for evidence that a theoretical requirement to
pay for a ticket currently keeps such people out of unstaffed, open-
barriered stations.

The issue is staffing, not fares.

As we've never had free train travel there isn't any evidence of misuse,
only obvious possibilities.
It's up to the proponents of free train travel to convince us that they've
looked at likely criminality and antisocial behaviour resulting from the
idea and shown how, if it occurred, it might be countered.
Adequate staffing or policing of stations and trains is one obvious answer.
The likely costs of that would need to be taken into account, but might not
be so high as to turn an overall net saving into a loss.
But the greatest barrier to free train travel will be the hostility of the
TOCs and other comnpanies - not to mention the Tory party - to the idea.
How is that to be overcome ?

Jim Hawkins