Train Station closed to non ticket holders

[John Street]

Before Sheffield had supertram there was no way through without using the original footbridge

[bladesman123]

Before Sheffield had supertram there was no way through without using the original footbridge

 

and ????

[pushtotalk]

and ????

 

I think the point being made is that people managed and no-one cried out that the city was being "cut in two" as reported in The Star - which is a rather over the top statement given that we're talking about a bridge not a new version of the Berlin Wall.

[bladesman123]

before sheffield was built it was all fields and a river

[ormester101]

The difference here is that, to use your analogy, one would have to willingly open a front garden up to passage until it became an accepted route (and possibly the council never considered installing an alternative since it was all working OK), then suddenly decide to change your mind

 

why should the council install a route at thier cost the route that is used now across the station is using partly public money maybe the rail company should install a route .

[Spotter14]

how depressing. I hope that this isn't the start of the ticket barriers but i suspect that it might be. I usually buy a coffee and a muffin from a platform cafe when i travel by train but i'm going to stop doing so now. I'll also not be spending money in any of the concourse shops. No coffees, no cakes, no newspapers, no nothing. I'd encourage anyone else who is against the station barriers to do the same.

 

The simple principle still remains that this is theft. The station footbridge was partly set up by public money and so to restrict free public access to it is theft. No one should have to get a resident's pass or other such item to walk through the station across a bridge that they themselves paid for. The next time that i travel through sheffield station i'll be telling the ticket barrier staff that it's theft and that by restricting public access to the footbridge, they're no better than the fare dodgers they claim they want to stop.

 

Not only is it theft but it's also soulless. Over recent months my girlfriend and i have developed a saturday morning routine. She's been doing a course outside of sheffield at weekends and she travels there by train. Each saturday morning we've been getting up early together, i cook her breakfast, we travel to the station, i come onto the platform with her, we kiss goodbye then she leaves on her train. Everyday you can see tearful platform goodbyes, crushing hugs, people blowing kisses to their partners and walking alongside the train as it leaves. All of this will now be gone because some soulless corporate profiteers want to make a little extra revenue.

 

I've also seen trainspotters at sheffield station who'll be affected by this. If someone has a harmless decades-old hobby that involves logging incoming train in notebooks on the platforms, why shouldn't they be allowed to do this? Again it's soulless from east midlands trains.

 

there's also the issue of the useless ticket machine at the back entrance of the station. It's a good idea in theory but works poorly in practice. It usually asks for the exact money, which is unrealistic for people arriving at the station by tram and having no idea how much the fare will be. The machine also has a habit of rejecting perfectly normal pound coins. On several occasions i've had to exchange my pound coin for another pound coin with another commuter before the machine would accept it. If currently i arrive at the back and find the machine isn't working then i can walk across the bridge and get a ticket from the front instead. If, however, the barriers are installed, what happens when someone either wants to or can only pay by cash at the back and the machine won't give them change? Will they have to walk all the way round and across the grotty enclosed footbridge to reach the station front?

 

tickets will be sold on the barriers by staff !!

[Merlina]

I have not had reason to use this footbridge, as I live in another area of town, but if (as mentioned in 'The Star' ) the alternative footbridge involves walking a fair distance and negotiating quite a number of steps, aren't they railway authorities contrivining the Disability Discriminatin Act?

[HotPhil]

aren't they railway authorities contrivining the Disability Discriminatin Act?

Why? They might be stopping people using their land as a shortcut, but as long as they allow access for all to the services they provide, there's no disability discrimination issue. Someone using the bridge as a shortcut isn't accessing any service provided by the station.

[Cyclone]

Isn't the main point here that the bridge was partially built with public money and there is no need to restrict access to it, access to the platforms could be restricted without anyone complaining.

[HotPhil]

The bridge owners believe there is a need.