[Misc] Will the Unions bring everyone to their knees?

[schmunk]

Quite. Just a trivial point. The best way for me to get to London and back is to buy an ordinary single up, and a 'super off peak return', the latter with an additional saving from my senior rail card. It took a clever person at Faversham station to work that one out for me. Previously when I had asked for the cheapest ticket for rush hour use was simply offered an ordinary return. The difference in price is around £10. If I travel up at just after 10.00 I don't need to buy the ordinary single and save £30. It is possible to buy these tickets from the machine but it requires two transactions and is quite complicated (not obvious when to attempt to apply the concession).

The Trainline phone app can do this for you with its "Splitsave" feature - I can get FAV-VIC return down to £40.40 for specific trains, or £42-43 for several others; is that about what you pay?

https://www.thetrainline.com/apps/get-a-link

 

[Swansman]

Tickets bought online are picked up from ticket machines (when they work) This hasn't been thought through, has it?

Why would you pick up the ticket you bought online in a machine when the ticket is already on the device (phone, laptop, tablet) you bought it on?

 

[Eric the meek]

Tickets bought online are picked up from ticket machines (when they work) This hasn't been thought through, has it?

What is needed is an automated robot Mick Lynch as a back up for when the ticket machines don't work.

 

[Swansman]

But you can't use e-tickets at all stations. And also I can't remember the last time I went to Brighton station and people weren't fighting to get the machine to take a normal ticket and then asking a Southern member to get them through the turnstiles.

Added to the huge increase in fare dodging if people know they'll be no one checking your tickets on the train or stopping you climbing over the barrier at the end

Without any doubt you'll be able to use e-tickets on every station in every developed country in 10 years time.

 

[pb21]

If they are going to get rid of ticket offices then they need to make sure the automated system is fit for purpose and works. All very well the train companies and Government saying they need to move with the times, if the system is also moving with the times too; which it isn't.

At the moment it s complete clusterf*ck of mish mashed bits of crap stuck together with old bits of daub.

 

[keaton]

Why would you pick up the ticket you bought online in a machine when the ticket is already on the device (phone, laptop, tablet) you bought it on?

Because that was in relation to the people who don't have smart phones. And I don't think people are going to start taking laptops and tablets out just to be able to get on a train

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Why would you pick up the ticket you bought online in a machine when the ticket is already on the device (phone, laptop, tablet) you bought it on?

We've already established that many people don't have internet devices or what happens when the signal is bad?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

If they are going to get rid of ticket offices then they need to make sure the automated system is fit for purpose and works. All very well the train companies and Government saying they need to move with the times, if the system is also moving with the times too; which it isn't.

At the moment it s complete clusterf*ck of mish mashed bits of crap stuck together with old bits of daub.

Exactly.

 

[Eric the meek]

Fast forward ten years and you won't find a member of staff.

Automation is coming. Whether your politics, favourite scapegoat, job, commute, safety or accessibility depends on it not coming, it's coming.

A few years ago, HSBC had 11 branches in Brighton and Hove. Today, there are 2. The Hove branch now has no counter service, just machines, which work sometimes. The three remaining staff pounce on customers as they enter the branch and are on borrowed time.

Embrace the change. Work with it, not against it.

 

[schmunk]

Fast forward ten years and you won't find a member of staff.

Automation is coming. Whether your politics, favourite scapegoat, job, commute, safety or accessibility depends on it not coming, it's coming.

A few years ago, HSBC had 11 branches in Brighton and Hove. Today, there are 2. The Hove branch now has no counter service, just machines, which work sometimes. The three remaining staff pounce on customers as they enter the branch and are on borrowed time.

Embrace the change. Work with it, not against it.

I can't remember the last time I went into a bank.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

View attachment 149044

I wasn't going to take the fishing bait but have changed my mind. We're talking 23 years here - my house has over doubled in 'value' over the last 13 years. So you're slagging off Billy Bragg for selling his home for the market value thanks to the increase in property prices ? I'm sure you'll sell your house below market value when you next decide to sell .... not !

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Fast forward ten years and you won't find a member of staff.

Automation is coming. Whether your politics, favourite scapegoat, job, commute, safety or accessibility depends on it not coming, it's coming.

A few years ago, HSBC had 11 branches in Brighton and Hove. Today, there are 2. The Hove branch now has no counter service, just machines, which work sometimes. The three remaining staff pounce on customers as they enter the branch and are on borrowed time.

Embrace the change. Work with it, not against it.

Work with it, when it works properly. Everything is done on the cheap, and not always customer friendly. See my post 204 where I was threatened because a ticket machine wasn't working.

 

[beorhthelm]

But ticket machines can't issue all types of ticket (eg PlusBus)

Ticket machines break (and they aren't too swift to get them fixed).

Twice recently at Portslade:

- ticket office closed (during a time it was advertised it would be open)
- ticket machine (south side) broken
- barrier staff wouldn't issue tickets
- woman with pram / pushchair and young kids sent over the level crossing to buy ticket from machine at north side

Just because stations have ticket machines, it doesn't mean they are working.

Safety of passengers? Disabled access?

just because you have ticket offices and staff, doesnt mean they are working either.

 

[keaton]

Without any doubt you'll be able to use e-tickets on every station in every developed country in 10 years time.

Or more likely they'll just close loads of stations

 

[LamieRobertson]

Or more likely they'll just close loads of stations

I’d say the “e ticket” thing is just as likely

 

[Stato]

Will the Unions bring everyone to their knees?

I'm not sure they have that power, but lets all hope so.

Given that the country, under the current administration, is on its arse, managing to get up onto our knees would be a move in the right direction.

 

[Eric the meek]

Work with it, when it works properly. Everything is done on the cheap, and not always customer friendly. See my post 204 where I was threatened because a ticket machine wasn't working.

You have my sympathies. You're talking to someone who finds car parking machines confusing.

That obviously wasn't a pleasant experience, compounded by a bolshie member of staff.
But what is more unpleasant? A ticket machine that isn't working, or a staff member who threatens you?

My point was not to defend technological progress, but just to warn that it is happening and is unstoppable.

 

[Swansman]

We've already established that many people don't have internet devices or what happens when the signal is bad?

95% of all people in the UK use the internet. Technological progress and cost cuts won't stop because of the 5% who aren't using it. Similar to how many employers won't give you the option to get your money in cash just because a few people decided they don't want a bank account. I'm sorry, your govt and private companies wont keep ticket offices around at the cost of some £500m just because a small minority are not willing to tag along in the development.

Because that was in relation to the people who don't have smart phones. And I don't think people are going to start taking laptops and tablets out just to be able to get on a train

As a smartphone refuser, I actually do that. I buy my ticket online, go on the train, take out my laptop, the conductor bleeps it and its done. But in a very short time everyone will be expected to have a smartphone, similar to how it expects you to have a mail box rather than running offices for £500m to service the small percentage who refuse to get one.

 

[Swansman]

Or more likely they'll just close loads of stations

Why?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

95% of all people in the UK use the internet. Technological progress and cost cuts won't stop because of the 5% who aren't using it. Similar to how many employers won't give you the option to get your money in cash just because a few people decided they don't want a bank account. I'm sorry, your govt and private companies wont keep ticket offices around at the cost of some £500m just because a small minority are not willing to tag along in the development.



As a smartphone refuser, I actually do that. I buy my ticket online, go on the train, take out my laptop, the conductor bleeps it and its done. But in a very short time everyone will be expected to have a smartphone, similar to how it expects you to have a mail box rather than running offices for £500m to service the small percentage who refuse to get one.

We no longer have conductors which is a major problem with disabled access, and security on the trains.
I explained this in my post 204 when the ticket machine at the station wasn't working, we wanted to pay on the train, but no conductor.