Penalty Fares Scheme Template
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Passenger Information Penalty Fares Scheme 1 Introduction 1.1 We, Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Ltd, give notice, under The Railway (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018 that we wish to make an amendment to our existing penalty fares scheme. With effect from Monday 16th July 2018 our scheme will include Maghull North Station. 1.2 The ‘new build’ Maghull North station will be located just off School Lane adjacent to the former Ashworth Hospital site, between the existing Maghull and Town Green stations on the Ormskirk branch of our Northern Line. 1.3 We have prepared this scheme taking account of the following document. • The Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018. 1.4 In line with The Railway (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018 guidance, we have sent copies of this scheme to: • Rail Delivery Group • Merseytravel • Penalty Services Limited • Transport Focus 2 Penalty Fare Trains 2.1 For the purposes of this scheme, all the trains that we operate on the following routes will be penalty fares trains. Liverpool – Southport Liverpool – Ormskirk Liverpool – Kirkby Liverpool – Hunts Cross Liverpool – West Kirby Liverpool – New Brighton Liverpool – Chester Liverpool – Ellesmere Port A map showing the routes on which the penalty fares trains run is attached as Appendix A. 3 Penalty Fare Stations 3.1 For the purposes of this scheme, the following stations will be penalty fares stations. Aigburth Bank Hall Bromborough Ainsdale Bebington Bromborough Rake Aintree Bidston Brunswick Aughton Park Birkdale Capenhurst Birkenhead Central Blundellsands & Chester Birkenhead North Crosby Conway Park Birkenhead Park Bootle New Strand Cressington Bache Bootle Oriel Rd Eastham Rake Ellesmere Port Liverpool Central Liverpool Rice Lane Fazakerley South Parkway Rock Ferry Formby Leasowe Sandhills Freshfield Lime Street (Low Level) Seaforth & Litherland Green Lane Little Sutton Maghull Southport Hall Road Maghull North Manor Road Spital Hamilton Square Meols St Michaels Hightown Moorfields Town Green Hillside Moreton W Grove Road Hooton New Brighton Wallasey Hoylake Old Roan Walton Hunts Cross Ormskirk Waterloo James Street Orrell Park West Kirby Kirkby Overpool Kirkdale Port Sunlight A map showing where these penalty fares stations are is attached as Appendix A. 4 Compulsory Ticket Areas (CTAs) 4.1 The Railway (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018 allow an operator to create compulsory ticket areas (CTAs) at stations. A CTA is an area at a station which a person must not enter or be present in without being able to produce: (a) a valid travel ticket authorising travel on a train arriving at or departing from that area; or (b) a platform ticket authorising their entry to or presence in that area. 4.2 The scheme will not create any compulsory ticket areas, i.e. passengers not wishing to travel will not be required to buy a ticket, e.g. those passengers who are meeting passengers or seeing passengers off. 5 Ticket Selling Facilities 5.1 The ticket facilities provided at each penalty fares station are set out in Appendix B. There are ticket office facilities at all stations with the exception of Bache, Capenhurst, Little Sutton and Overpool, where a TVM (Ticket Vending Machine) is installed to sell tickets. Ellesmere Port is only partially staffed and a TVM is installed to provide ticket facilities when the ticket office is closed. A second way of buying tickets at the busier staffed stations is provided in the form of a TVM. This is because all the staffed stations within the Scheme are staffed from 15 minutes before the first train until 15 minutes after the last train seven days per week (except Chester for the first train to Liverpool on Saturdays). We realise that there will be occasions when the ticket office could be unstaffed and have put the following arrangements in place: 5.2 Ticket Office unstaffed 5.2.1 If absence is known in advance, staff rosters are adjusted to avoid a ticket office being unstaffed. If a ticket office unexpectedly becomes unstaffed the Merseyrail Control will arrange for staff to attend as soon as practicable (normally within 30 minutes). The staff that may be called on are other station staff, Station Managers and Authorised Collectors. Station Managers and Authorised Collectors are equipped with mobile telephones to enable rapid communication. In addition each staffed station is equipped with a land line and a mobile telephone. 5.3 Temporary arrangements 5.3.1 During any period when a station is unable to sell tickets the following arrangements apply. If an Authorised Collector encounters a passenger who boarded at the relevant station, they sell the ticket as requested including discounted, but not quota linked tickets and do not issue a Penalty Fare Notice. In addition the destination station at which the passenger completes their journey will also sell them a ticket. Authorised Collectors and station ticket office staff will be advised by email and/or text message from the Merseyrail Control at the start and finish of temporary arrangements and the relevant station. 5.4 Temporarily unstaffed ticket offices/Non-functioning TVMs 5.4.1 At single person stations, staff are required to be in the ticket office at all times apart from exceptional circumstances. These occasions include emergencies and assisting with disabled customers. There may also be occasions when the staff are away from the ticket window but still in the ticket office, e.g. when counting cash. 5.4.2 When the member of staff is going to be away from the ticket office for a period of time exceeding 5 minutes and will be unable to hear and respond to a passenger’s request for service, station staff are instructed to advise the Authorised Collectors by way of email and/or text message. They will also display a sign that advises passengers to pay at their destination. 5.4.3 The Merseyrail Control also send emails and/or text messages to the Authorised Collector to advise of any ticket office closures. If an Authorised Collector finds a customer who claims that they were unable to purchase a ticket because the ticket office was closed, the Authorised Collector rings the station to confirm the position. 5.5 The ticket facilities at each penalty fares station are sufficient to meet the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement and Passenger’s Charter queuing standards under normal circumstances at all times of day. At Chester (the only station within this scheme that Merseyrail do not control the ticket office or gateline) we will ensure that passengers are not charged a penalty fares when queuing standards are not met at this station. The process will be as follows: 5.5.1 Authorised collectors will be instructed to contact Chester ticket office by mobile phone to confirm whether there has been a queuing issue when any passenger from Chester provides this reason for not purchasing a ticket, when not previously advised of a problem. 5.5.2 Authorised Collectors will always use their discretion and will not issue a penalty fare to a passenger from Chester unless advised that there had not been queuing problem. 5.5.3 If the above methods of communication fail completely and a passenger or passengers are issued with a penalty fare as a direct result; the independent appeals body will be instructed to uphold any appeal subject to confirmation from us. 5.6 At staffed stations, staff will check ticket machines every day to ensure they are performing properly. Staff will put faults right themselves wherever possible; otherwise our maintenance contractors will repair any faults. Under our maintenance contract, machine faults will normally be put right within 24 hours. 5.7 TVMs at Bache, Capenhurst, Ellesmere Port, Little Sutton and Overpool will be monitored at all times by our Security Contractor, who will report any faults to the Authorised Collectors on duty via email and/or text message. If an Authorised Collector finds a customer who claims that they were unable to purchase a ticket because the TVM was not working, the Authorised Collector will contact the Security Contractor to confirm the position. 6 Publicity and Warning Notices 6.1 In line with The Railway (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018, notices informing passengers that we are going to introduce a penalty fares scheme will be displayed at each penalty fares station. An example of the notice is shown as Appendix C. 6.2 As well as these notices, we will do the following to make sure that the introduction of the scheme is well publicised. We will display additional warning posters and make announcements on trains and at stations using the wording contained in appendix c. 6.3 Before the scheme is introduced, we will brief front-line staff and customer services staff about how the penalty fares scheme will work. 6.4 We will produce leaflets that will explain how the scheme works and which will include a map showing the penalty fares stations and the routes on which penalty fares trains run. These leaflets will be available, free of charge, at all staffed penalty fares stations from at least three weeks before the scheme is introduced. We will do all we reasonably can to make sure that copies of the leaflet are available at each staffed penalty fares station and from our customer services department for as long as the scheme remains in force. We will provide a full copy of our Penalty Fares Scheme, and The Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018 to each person who requests information about the scheme. 6.5 In line with The Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018, penalty fares warning notices will be displayed at each penalty fares station from the date the scheme is introduced and for as long as the scheme remains in force.