Thames Clipper - Fare Dodging

Goodness only knows what's been going on the last couple of days, waiting at Earlswood for the normal train to London Bridge each day it's been delayed (only by about 5-10 minutes) but when it's pulled into the station it's already "full and standing" (like twice the number of people that are usually on it), luckily in each case we've got seats fairly near one another (so not anything like the end of the world, just a bit...well...strange)!

Yesterday the train managed to take about twice as long as usual to get into London. I *think* because it was so full, and the tracks were so slippery (leaves on the line) it just couldn't seem to get traction when it was trying to move away (luckily the tube was pretty empty when I got down there so it made up for it, was only about 5 minutes late as I leave a big buffer just in case of problems like this)...today we arrived at Earlswood to find it was delayed by 10 minutes, and finally crept into East Croydon at just about the time we normally pull into London Bridge...kissing Flyingpops goodbye there I told her I was going to have to leg it and flew towards the Jubilee line (praying for similar luck to Monday), but as I cut through the crowds I began to fear the worst as announcements echoed "Passengers please note, the DLR is currently suffering severe delays, we advise all customers to seek alternative methods of transport" (which basically means the Jubilee line), and lo and behold! When I got down the escalator the queue was backed right up into the shops in the vault...*never* seen it that bad before...so I span on my heels and rapidly reversed course, stamped back up the escalator and made a run for the secret footbridge (empty as usual) over to the London Bridge dock...

Damn...the queue there must have been 250 people (stretching right back up towards King William Street) and I now had 10 minutes to get to my desk...I trudged miserably to the end and peered over my shoulder to see if there might be a boat due soon and (Yes!) one was just pulling in...! The queue moved really rapidly -

- and I was getting seriously near the front, but we could all hear the two crew members counting people on (they can't overload)...I crossed my fingers in my pockets and scrunched up my eyes (pleasepleaseplease!)...and they called a halt to boarding two people behind me...phew!

So this, to my knowledge, is the first time I have been on a fully loaded Thames Clipper...and I have to say I wasn't terribly impressed with how they coped, for example, the ticket office at London Bridge was closed, and no-one was going up the queue taking fares, so when these hundreds of people got on, all of them still had to cough up...and guess how many people were selling tickets on board? One...

So it's no surprise to learn that 10 minutes later when we pulled into Canary Wharf only about 15 people had managed to buy them, then began this absolutely crazy scene where the two members of staff at Canary Wharf were both trying to issue tickets (their machines take *forever* to issue them especially if people are trying to pay by card) and check and punch (yes, they have a punch system like the old days on British Rail) existing tickets and check season ticket holders out...it didn't take long before the impatient crowd just gave up trying to pay and walked out via the entrance ramp, and of course when others saw the staff failing to check (or even really seem to care) many, many more people (I'm guessing about half the number waiting) just left the queue and legged it while the poor woman was struggling to juggle money (endless searches for change in terribly inefficient bum bag)/tickets (literally handfuls of paper tumbling into the water below the dock - now lost to any auditing process)/ticket machine/ticket punch/etc. etc...

Of course I did the right thing and waited and paid my money, but they really need to find a better payment system, it's all very well when 20 people use the boat on a normal morning, but all too often they seem to get caught with their pants down when the other services fail and they become the only option...normally it would just mean a huge number of people standing in long queues, however today, from the looks of things, it cost them a whole lot of money for their inefficiency...