Why do conductors still exist? In the 21st century aren't doors centrally controlled and monitored with CCTV? And why does this archaic practice of leaning out the door still exist? Is it not dangerous to hang out the side of a moving train, and are they not setting a bad example for their passengers?
Commuter and high speed trains and locomotives don't have monitors in the train. Even for metro trains the more common practice has become to build mirrors or monitors at the end of the platform instead of building them inside the driver's cabin. Conductors are also there to check the tickets and to provide information and some safety for the passengers
>>2004005>provide information and some safety for the passengersis the real draw. you want a real person in a uniform to deal with crazy people/drug addicts/violent types that need to be dealt with. a nerd in a uniform with a walkie-talkie to tell the train cop that you need to cuff a guy and lock him in a bathroom is a big deal.
>>2004144Oh, I forgot that the vast majority of /n/ posters are Americans and there are no grey areas in your thinking (or lack thereof).
>>2001989We only have conductors on long-distance services in Switzerland, not on commuter and regional services. They check tickets, make announcements of connecting services and assist the engineer with opening and closing doors and passengers boarding. Maybe they also have some other operational functions I'm not aware of.On the local train types there's only random ticket controls.
>>2004174>If I ignore violent freaks, they'll leave me alone>I am very smartCongratulations, you're an extra in Demolition Man.
>>2001989CCTV don't matter if there is no person to physically inspect all passengers for payment. Conductors exist to ensure Proof of Payment.Example 1: Amtrak vs BART. BART has a reputation, Amtrak does not. This is because an Amtrak Conductor will kick your ass off in the middle of san leandro, hayward, richmond, antioch or south stockton if you didn't pay. They do not allow for retroactive payments, they just remove you by force. If you cry or fight back a cop comes and beats the shit out of you, then removes you. This is why we need Conductors.
>>2004284>san leandro, hayward, richmond, antioch or south stocktonnotice to europeans: all these places have large homeless coon populations and are a great place to get raped
>>2004200I think that they also assist in reversing, since there are a lot of places where trains have to back into a station, for example.As for OP, I dunno. I like porters/conductors. It's a cool job, and in my experience they always have interesting stories to tell and info about the local industries along their usual routes if you strike up a conversation. I like the idea of keeping the job as traditional as possible without relying too hard on technology. If they can hold on and lean out of a moving train without falling off, that's fantastic. If not, they shouldn't be working there.
>>2004202>every unruly passenger must be a gangbanging jogger murderer on crack and methThat is exactly the braindead black and white thinking I was talking about in the previous post.
>>2004284Amtrak in CA deals with far less passengers though, it's a lot easier to police two trains an hour max with at most 40 people per train than 6-16 trains per hour each with hundreds of passengers.
>>2004347>>2004284Also Amtrak is a much more expensive service, price of entry helps keep the riff raff out too.
>>2001989It's fucking cool.https://youtube.com/shorts/McqTy4cLIPEAlso a very nice commuter rail conductor pulled me onto a train that I was running for after the train had started moving which was fucking awesome.
>>2001989unions
>>2004350kill yourself
>>2004174>lives in a country where all the violent freaks are condemned to live in the racial ghetto>all the psychotics are put into asylums & forced to take meds so they don't break with reality and start stabbing people>>2004309they are dickheadyes, it's not fun and it really makes you never want to take public transit if the crazy guy is threatening you and your wife. i wouldn't recommend it. fucking euros or australians and your disneyland ass continents.
>>2004309Most american light rail is quite literally filled with drug addicts, these aren't just tired looking people, they are drugs addicts. It isn't black and white thinking, on american transport its very common for there to be screaming, crack smoking, homeless people, they aren't just misunderstood "unruly passangers", you will methpipes on the ground in places like that.
>>2004434>fucking euros or australians and your disneyland ass continents.Fuck you and your crab-in-a-bucket mentality. What you should be cursing out is the third-world place you live in.
>>2001989Conductors exist because low platforms still exist.Ignoring Amtrak's funding problems, which are equally valid for most regional operators in shares tracks with, building high level boarding on stations from the 1900s costs money and time.Closing stations increases the chance that people will drive instead, because the parking situation at most stations is shit anyway, so a podunk Amshack or gutted building for a regional line is better than not having it. But paying a contracting firm to build an ADA compliant concrete base 4 feet high costs 10s of thousands per station, and almost always comes with environmental impact surveys and pork barrel requests that spike the price into the cool low millions range. And if the station isn't ADA, you need a person available to unlock and operator the wheel chair lift.Paying a wagie 200K over 5 years is less than the cost of upgrading the station, and so conductors remain.
>>2001989Unions
