This weekend I have been in London. As usual, I took the train between Tiverton Parkway station and Paddington.
Today, I returned, and I found myself contemplating about several things actually, but one of which I am about to mention to you.
Although I had a completely valid ticket for the train on which I was travelling, not at one single point during my journey did I have to prove that I had it. This was a trip which cost me £12 because I bought the ticket in advance, but a walk-on fare from Paddington to Tiverton costs around £60. There are ticket barriers at Paddington Station, but if your train departs from platforms 1 – 10, then you can bypass them simply by walking around them (you can go to the footbridge at the end of the platforms and cross the lines that way). Not at one point on my journey did anybody ask to see my ticket, and Tiverton station itself has no ticket barriers. (The larger stations on the FGW network do have barriers though and I know that Exeter St Davids has been effectively blocked so that the only exit is through said barriers.)
Now, I don’t actually mind this, nor do I mind the fact that I spent money getting what I could have got for free. What does strike me though is that most TOCs (Train Operating Companies) are securing their stations with ticket barriers in order to make sure people buy tickets, London Waterloo has recently opened the longest single ticket barrier line in a station in the UK and, I think (though may be corrected) Europe, and I remember reading that First ScotRail has seen an increase in revenue due to the installation of ticket barriers. Of course, ticket barriers do have their issues, mainly that many rail geeks like myself, and those who have moved further up the geekery ladder to become trainspotters, can no longer get access to the ends of platforms without a ticket. I spent 90p a while back on what was possibly the randomest train ticket ever – a return journey between Exeter St Davids and Exeter Central – just to be able to get onto the platform to take some photographs.
So, I don’t really know what the point in this little rant was actually. I think it’s the hypocricy really that gets me.
Anyway – what’s wrong with sending somebody down a train with a holepunch or a stamp to actually check tickets, and why do we not see them anymore?
