Re: Drugs on trains

[Vaughan Williams <ender2000@my-deja.com>]

> Fair enough. But how much raw data would you have actually based all
> this on? My point wasn't to have a go at you, the way you described it
> was that based on your observations on the Epping and Bundoora lines,
> the ones you mainly travelled on (90% to quote your figure), the
> problems were where you had mentioned. I thought the media took it out
> of context and used it as an overall observation based on the way you
> expressed it.

Fair point,
I was asked to suggest problem lines and made it clear to the
journalist that the evidence I could offer was anecdotal.
  Has anyone ever known a security guard to do a citizen's arrest? Or a
> conductor or guard? I have a feeling most of them prefer not to stir
up
> any trouble, sometimes it's easier to pretend not to see a lot of
> things, especially when one perceives the risk of a shortened life
> span...

Security guards certainly do, though I don't know about trains.

> Pre-privatisation, they could and did fine willy nilly. One thing I
> hated about buying monthlies is that on rare occasions you forget they
> expire (after all, you're not used to lining up to buy a ticket) and
> when you go to use them it's too late. I received 2 fines this way,
the
> second time I got told that if I went to my regular station I could
get
> a letter to say I was a regular traveller. Problem is I had just moved
> house and didn't have a regular station.

CSE cannot and to my knowledge have never been empowered to hand out
fines. They can demand details and a fine will often arrive in the
mail, but AFAIK the practice was not to write a ticket on the spot.

The situation now is that all fines have to go through the DPT's office.

> I would suggest roving conductors on every train to sell/check tickets
> and for security purposes would be cheaper and more practical, as you
> suggested with re-instating guards. People would feel secure (more so
> than staffing stations, you wouldn't see much of station staff and
> they can't do much on the train if they aren't on it) with roving
> staff, and if the conductor had some sort of power to enforce
> laws/regulations, it would probably reduce vandalism on board
> vehicles. I doubt the cost of staffing every station would be worth
it.

Its not an either/or. Both are required. I'm inclined to give staffing
stations a higher priority than train conductors though.

> You never addressed whether the security cameras and help points were
> doing their job. I know in the case of Watsonia station, the crime
went
> down quite a lot when the cameras were installed. My dad runs
> Neighbourhood Watch in the area, so it is from a good source.

Theyre a partial solution at best. Video footage ex post facto is of
limited value. And clearly they aren't much use as a deterrent.

Vaughan


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