In article m,
John B wrote:
There is always a guard present on the train but he/she never
materialises to check tickets.

It isn't feasible for guards to do ticket inspections on lines like
the NLL/Goblin, where loadings are tight and stops are only a few
minutes apart - indeed AIUI Silverlink Metro guards aren't even
revenue trained.

I think I've seen all the regular guards go through with a
portable ticket machine. And they /do/ check the tickets -
rarely in the morning peaks, occasionally in the evening peaks
and often off-peak (it must be admited that I don't often
travel off-peak).

It really annoys me when Silverlink seems to be doing nothing about
this. Talking to several fare-paying regulars on this line,
ticketless travel is rife.

In the last 6 months I've handed over my Oyster many times
(and had it looked at - but not scanned - many more times).

Silverlink recently imposed a penalty fare scheme, which sounds rather
unlike "doing nothing about this".

But the penalty fare scheme doesn't operate on the goblin.

Northbound trains in the morning also tend
to be cancelled, leaving many customers unable to board at
imtermediate stations, such as Leytonstone, due to the 2 carriage
train being full.

This problem is a PITA - and seems to be worse now that there
are 3TPH in the peaks. Can't think of any reason why they may
be linked.... ;-)

--
Shenanigans! Shenanigans! Best of 3!
-- Flash

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 19:20:10 +0000 (UTC), Mike Bristow
wrote:

In the last 6 months I've handed over my Oyster many times
(and had it looked at - but not scanned - many more times).

I quite frequently take Heathrow Connect between Paddington and Ealing
Broadway. The conductors very rarely have a handheld reader any more.
I just thrist my wallet at them in a "scan this" pose, and normally
they just say "OK, thanks".

One once asked to see that I had an Oyster card in there, which I did,
though I told him I didn't understand why he wanted to see it as it
could quite easily not have held a valid ticket.