I did a return MerseyRail journey. On the outward journey there were at least two ticket inspectors on the train but on the return journey there weren't any.

I've been on the Metrolink quite a few times and the only time I've seen a ticket inspector was on an evening journey when there was a Man United match on. The inspector boarded at Piccadilly Gardens and alighted before Altrincham but he was more concerned about the tram being as full as possible rather than checking all the tickets.

Stagecoach (operator of the Sheffield Super Tram) have just taken over the Manchester Metrolink so when the engineering works have finished there may be more regular checks.

Not having ticket inspectors on every train indicates to me that Merseyrail are confident that their methods are working and that the majority of travellers have a valid ticket?

On entry to Huddersfield station you have to either go past people checking tickets or join the back of the ticket office queue. (Ticket machines are also located at the entrance) This caused problems for someone I know who went in to renew their railcard but wasn’t planning to make a rail journey on the same day. After purchasing a new railcard they had to go past the people checking tickets with a new railcard and no ticket. This made one member of staff think that he had made a rail journey without purchasing a ticket. It would also allow someone to go to a window at the ticket office and ask something like “How would I get to Birmingham from here?” and then have access to the platforms without a ticket.

I myself had a problem with automated ticket barriers on the Spanish railway. When you are issued with a ticket there you have to be careful to allow the ink to dry before putting your ticket away. I didn’t and consequently the machine wouldn’t accept my ticket on exit at the station. It should also be noted that on Spanish rail tickets there are arrows showing which way to insert your ticket in to a ticket barrier, suggesting that automated ticket barriers are seen as the norm there.

"Bring Back the proper RPI's like Merseyrail"

The only answer is to ensure that when someone does get caught to make sure the resulting fine is so large that it will act as a deterrent. Not as many people board a train in the South East now without a ticket because of the possible consequences of doing so. A revenue inspector is not there to collect money mainly but to act as a deterrent. Likewise a speed camera that catches somebody speeding is a speed camera that has failed to do it's job as a deterrent.

Interesting to see this old thread reopened because I don't know how many years it is since the mania for creating "open stations" started. It was probably just after privatisation when all the companies seemed to think of was saving money and getting rid of (experienced) staff. Then they found (bit obvious really) that when you removed the ticket barrier a significant number of people decided to travel without bothering to buy a ticket.

To be fair to Great Western, as it was at the time, in this area they got a grip on this fairly quickly and put barriers in the form of ticket gates back in. As well as immediately noticing an increase in ticket revenue, they found that the problem of train vandalism was very much reduced as (again, a bit obvious) vandals tended not to buy tickets before travelling.