Revenue Control

I Spy RCIs?

Submitted by Tubeworker on Tue, 15/11/2016 - 22:23

Revenue Control Inspectors (RCIs) have increasingly been working in full uniform, whereas many operations were previously undertaken in plain clothes. LU's aim is clear: by putting more uniformed staff on stations, they're attempting to mask the impact of their job cuts. It makes it more difficult for the RCIs to do their job.

There's a conversation we should have as a workforce about fares and revenue. Tubeworker believes public transport should be properly funded so fares could be massively reduced, or even made free. In such conditions there'd be a strong case for absorbing the RCI role into the general operational stations workforce. In the here-and-now, we're all for rich piss-takers who evade fares to the tunes of thousands being hauled over the coals, but we're less comfortable with working-class folk being slapped with £80 fines for trying to get around an increasingly expensive city on the cheap.

But whatever we think about the fares, revenue, and the politics of public transport, the way RCIs (a workforce which has suffered substantial cuts of its own down the years) are currently being used is a hypocritical sham. It's part of an attempt on the part of LU to pull the wool over passengers' eyes regarding the extent of frontline cuts, and means the company is hindering attempts to recoup lost fare revenue while claiming that budgetary concerns make cuts inevitable.

Piecemeal privatisation

Submitted by Tubeworker on Sat, 24/05/2014 - 06:32

LU used to get revenue inspectors to go out onto trains asking to see tickets in order to compile statistics on LU revenue lost due to unpaid fares.

Now LU has contracted out this element of a revenue inspector's duties to a private company. Its workers wear a hi vi emblazoned with 'in partnership with Tfl' on it.

This is a slippery slope which our unions must fight.

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RCIs Bad For Business?

Submitted by Tubeworker on Sun, 20/05/2012 - 11:51

Mike Brown promised at Fit for London that LU Revenue Control Inspector (RCI) numbers were not being reduced: "There is no plan whatsoever to cut Revenue Inspectors". But the truth appears otherwise....

Revenue managers keep spouting reduced fraud levels and new technology and talking about reducing numbers by 40%, refusing to guarantee that RCI jobs are safe.

Tubeworker would prefer a free transport system: no need for inspectors to fine poor people for evading extortionate fares.

But what we have at the moment is an automated Oyster system which guarantees revenue and makes millions from incomplete journey charges (£4.60 off peak or £6.90 in the peak each time you fail to touch in or out).

LU is making so much from their ill-used captive customer base that they think Revenue Inspectors are superfluous. So we get the worst of both worlds. The public is ripped off and Revenue Inspectors are out of work. A classic employers’ decision, putting LU's 'business needs' ahead of public service.

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Frontline Experience

Submitted by Tubeworker on Wed, 21/03/2012 - 08:13

TfL has implemented a project called "Frontline Experience". It is a TfL wide plan not just applicable to London Underground, involving senior managers spending time with frontline operational staff in order to get experience of working on frontline operations.

Already, senior managers have stood alongside station staff and Revenue Inspectors but what exactly is it they are doing? When asked, the senior bosses have said it isn't anything to do with the Olympics coming up - so what is it then?

It states on the Intranet that one of the objectives is to save money and we all know how this company goes about saving money. It's not by curbing their own wasteful excesses but by spying on staff and plotting to get rid of us.

It seems that London Underground has told these managers to wear plain clothes and stop passengers to check their tickets despite them not having the required licences or legal training to carry out this role.

The unions are silent on this subject. Have the reps been consulted? We want to know what is going on and what the unions are doing about it.

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RCIs On The Move?

Submitted by Tubeworker on Tue, 13/01/2009 - 10:26

LUL wants to move sub-surface RCIs from Baker Street to Wembley Park.

The only slight problem is ... they don't want to go! Not surprising, as it will mean more travelling for lots of them, and the facilities may not be as good.

Actually, there is another slight problem ... Wembley Park is not actually an SSR station - it's a Jubilee line station, so management may be overstepping their own rules. No, really?

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