Steal this journey

[danohu]

Tube strikes make the unions pretty unpopular.

What if the unions instead had a (publicised) day of turning a blind eye to fare-dodgers? That would still cost their employers plenty of money, but would presumably fill the public with enthusiasm rather than hatred.

The main problem would be that while there's plenty of legal protection for strikes, there's much less for employees refusing to perform some part of their job. Doubly so since London Underground undoubtedly already has disciplinary procedures in place for staff who help fare-dodgers. Also I'd imagine many tube employees not being too keen on people who don't pay.

Still, it'd be a nice change from strikes. Have any transport unions tried this kind of thing, elsewhere in the world? What was the result?

Comments

[blue-mai.livejournal.com]

I don't know how deliberate the result was, but when I was in Vancouver one of the transport unions went on strike for several months - bus drivers and ticket inspectors. The monorail drivers were a different union and not on strike - so the ticket machines had tape all over them saying you would be crossing a picket line if you used them, but the trains were running. It was a system that relied on honesty/inspectors (ie. no barriers), therefore free Skytrain all summer.

[oedipamaas49.livejournal.com]

nice!

[gerald_duck]

Fare dodging is a criminal offence, I thought? Assuming that's the case, specifically stating they were going to ignore it might be regarded as incitement.

Also, nobody could complain if PCSOs were making sure nobody broke the law that day…

[oedipamaas49.livejournal.com]

I did wonder if they could recoup the lost fares simply by having lots of scabs handing out on-the-spot fines.

[gerald_duck]

Well, presumably they could. And they could probably short-circuit the protest even by threatening to have enough people to check fares.

I don't think PCSOs can give out penalty fares, however. The penalty fares legislation is what gives someone the option of paying the operator some money in exchange for not getting the police involved. The police can only choose between a Stern Talking-To, a caution and charges.

This is in large part irrelevant, however, because there are barriers to stop people getting to the platform without a ticket and machines never go on strike.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

That's a cute idea!

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

What if the unions instead had a (publicised) day of turning a blind eye to fare-dodgers? That would still cost their employers plenty of money, but would presumably fill the public with enthusiasm rather than hatred.

No, it'd make them even more hated, since the regular passengers would still have paid their travelcard fares. This is a really, really bad idea, sorry, even without considering any moral implications.

[oedipamaas49.livejournal.com]

OK, maybe enthusiasm is pushing it a bit.

But you'd really be more annoyed by other people travelling free, than by being totally unable to use public transport? Really?

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Me personally, I'm not the problem; I'm pro-union strike or no. But can you imagine how this would play in public? Come *on*. At least with strikes, everyone's in it together. Rewarding crime is another matter entirely not to mention blatantly unfair. If there's one thing which works the English up, it's the appearance of unfairness.

I think you're being extremely unrealistic here.

[delkaetre-ni.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be all that bothered about one or two days of fare-strike each month, and I fork out £116/month for my Zone 1-3 Travelcard (possibly more now- I think prices have gone up in the new year). But it very much would depend on how well the fare-strike was announced, and how often the strikes are held.

One day's strike, or even two or three in a month isn't too bad - but if there was a two-week solid fare-strike, that /would/ stir up resentment, even in me. I can't afford to waste the best part of £60, and quite a lot of commuters are in a similar low-wage situation. I have a lot of sympathy, but I don't have a lot of money, and someone else wasting that much of it wouldn't be taken well.

Occasional and short fare-strikes would have to be well planned, well announced, and carefully targeted to win sympathy, win support, and avoid building up too much resentment. Keep the novelty value of it, rather than making travelcard owners feel cheated of their money.

(I'm assuming, here, that they'll open all barriers and just leave them like that, the way some stations do anyway on weekends and during peak hours. Having to jump the barriers would just be irritating - and very difficult for anyone disabled or with limited mobility.)

[oedipamaas49.livejournal.com]

mooism says:

That might work for station staff (though I share friend_of_tofu's doubts) but not for drivers or maintenance staff: I don't see how a tube driver can enable passengers to fare dodge.

[edited to protect friend_of_tofu's secret identity]

[bloodofareptile.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure this happened somewhere. I read about it in the Evening Standard. It was a few months ago.

The dredges of my brain say Spain, but it frequently lies to me.