On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 07:14:24PM +0100, Bruce wrote:
"Tim Roll-Pickering" wrote:
Permit To Travel machines predate the widespread use of automatic ticket
barriers. In the old days it was frequently possible to travel between two
stations and not encounter any ticket inspection whatsoever at any point in
the journey, especially if you travelled off-peak and/or didn't start/finish
at one of the biggest stations. It was thus very easy to get a PTT for just
5p and if you did come across an inspector you could claim that the ticket
machines at the start of your journey weren't giving change or taking notes
(something an inspector on the train or at another station could not verify)
and produce a £5 (or higher) note and pay your fare.
While doing this, you would have to be careful not to jangle the other
coins in your pocket. That would give the lie to your claim of having
only 5p.

If you have no idea how much the ticket is, it would be stupid to guess,
given that you don't know if there will be a manned ticket office at the
other end to sort it out for you. Sure, 5p is unrealistically low, but
given that there are single tickets less than two quid, I'd never put
more than a pound in, just to make sure I don't get ripped off.

The problem with the Permit to Travel machines is that they were based
on trust. If it was ever safe to trust people with this kind of
system (some would say that in the 1950s and 60s, it was) it certainly
isn't now.

True. But you can't solve social problems with technology. You need to
either have manned ticket offices, manned ticket barriers (where the man
can sell you a ticket or help you use the ticket machine; the ticket
machine must accept all common means of payment), or staff on trains
who, again, will accept all common means of payment. Southern, at
least, appear to be slowly learning this, although their ticket machines
are still a bit crap at selling travelcards.

--
David Cantrell | Minister for Arbitrary Justice

While researching this email, I was forced to carry out some
investigative work which unfortunately involved a bucket of
puppies and a belt sander
-- after JoeB, in the Monastery