Seat checks - how do they work?

Don31 wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:Its supposed to be slightly complicated to keep folks from catching on and having their own stash of seatchecks and stealing rides - yes some people do that....

I'll keep a seat check every once in a while, they make good bookmarks.....

They do make good bookmarks and they are one of the few railroad items that you can collect without paying a lot of money.

ScottTheNiceGuy wrote:I always liked how crews south of Long Branch(either on the shuttles going from Long Branch or the 2300 trains from Hoboken)would never use the tickets and just remember who got on. That gets a lot of respect in my book.

As hard as it might be to believe, if you work the same trains, you get to know who the regulars are, and then who the other passengers are, and when they sit down, its like ZING - "ticket please?" Also another clue is people usually take a minute to two to get themselves settled in, so thats another tip as to who just got on.

WaitinginSJ wrote:

Don31 wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:Its supposed to be slightly complicated to keep folks from catching on and having their own stash of seatchecks and stealing rides - yes some people do that....

I'll keep a seat check every once in a while, they make good bookmarks.....

Not going to lie, I've gotten a few strange looks from conductors when they saw that I was doing that.

Don't be surprised if you get a conductor who demands the seatchecks back. I've worked with a few. Dont forget, they do say "Property of NJ Transit."

Transit used to advise people to leave their monthly passes in view, in front of them. I can't find it in the timetable now. But selling tickets, I had enough people come up to me, saying they'd left their monthlies on the train, that I always tell people not to do that.

fishmech wrote:Everytime I go Trenton-NYP and back, the seat check remains completely unripped/punched/whatever.

Usually, when you are headed to the end of the line, nothing is punched or ripped. My guess is that it's done to save time, especially inbound, as most are headed towards the end of the line (Hoboken, NYP, Newark, etc).

ScottTheNiceGuy wrote:I always liked how crews south of Long Branch(either on the shuttles going from Long Branch or the 2300 trains from Hoboken)would never use the tickets and just remember who got on. That gets a lot of respect in my book.

On the PVL, westbound, seat checks are issued at Hoboken, and after Secaucus are all removed. They must get VERY few intra-zone riders north on that line.

Port Jervis wrote:On the PVL, westbound, seat checks are issued at Hoboken, and after Secaucus are all removed. They must get VERY few intra-zone riders north on that line.

The same should be true for Main and Bergen trains. Before Secaucus, when I commuted on the Port Jervis line, no seat checks where ever used on PM rush hour expresses. Virtually nobody got on after Hoboken, even onto the trains that stopped in Hohokus or Mahwah.

On AC line I have seen them use the punched ticket as a seat check. On the last time was Amtrack Siver Star they hand wrote the city code on a cardboard tag and put in the over head rack.

mrsam wrote:

Port Jervis wrote:On the PVL, westbound, seat checks are issued at Hoboken, and after Secaucus are all removed. They must get VERY few intra-zone riders north on that line.

The same should be true for Main and Bergen trains. Before Secaucus, when I commuted on the Port Jervis line, no seat checks where ever used on PM rush hour expresses. Virtually nobody got on after Hoboken, even onto the trains that stopped in Hohokus or Mahwah.

On my last PJL train use (March 18), the conductor took mine somewhere around Harriman and I never saw the conductor again until getting off at Campbell Hall, of which I was the only one to do so. By that point, most of the train was empty

Few years ago I found a rubber banded pack of about 100 of the blue seat checks on a train leaving nyp in the afternoon. Returned it to the customer service person at Trenton the next time I rode, got in too late it was closed that time. I don't even need to do the fine math on how much that could have cost njtr if someone else had found it.

- A

TREnecNYP wrote:Few years ago I found a rubber banded pack of about 100 of the blue seat checks on a train leaving nyp in the afternoon. Returned it to the customer service person at Trenton the next time I rode, got in too late it was closed that time. I don't even need to do the fine math on how much that could have cost njtr if someone else had found it.

- A

Do you know how long 100 seat checks will last in a certain color, given the rotation of various colors? Even if you used two a day (one each way), it would still take several years for that color to come around that many times that you could exhaust your "supply"

TREnecNYP wrote:Few years ago I found a rubber banded pack of about 100 of the blue seat checks on a train leaving nyp in the afternoon. Returned it to the customer service person at Trenton the next time I rode, got in too late it was closed that time. I don't even need to do the fine math on how much that could have cost njtr if someone else had found it.

It seems to me that you were also the kid who always had front row tickets to the game right behind the plate; but only when someone was talking about the game.

Steve F45 wrote:everytime i've taken a train on the PVL or BCL, they've used the hole puncher. I've never understood the system, it always seemed like they would just go nuts with the number of holes in the ticket.

NJT Tickets and seat checks are too easy.

Here's a pic of a SEPTA train ticket.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/srhbth/436567705/

My round trips to the airport via center city result in no less than 9 precise punches, and they usually pull out a pen and circle the "2C 3C" boxes, then three more conductors will inspect the ticket before its used up. I love helping the conductors. "Oh yea, clip 'final cancel' now."


On the other hand, when I took SEPTA and NJT from Philly to NY Penn, I bought tickets in Suburban Station Philadelphia, and was surprised when she handed me two NJT Tickets, one that said "Philadelphia to Trenton" The Septa conductor just punched it, and put it back in my seat like he would with any other single ride SEPTA ticket. Why doesn't NJT do this, instead of worrying about seat checks?

MelroseMatt wrote:

Steve F45 wrote:everytime i've taken a train on the PVL or BCL, they've used the hole puncher. I've never understood the system, it always seemed like they would just go nuts with the number of holes in the ticket.

NJT Tickets and seat checks are too easy.

Here's a pic of a SEPTA train ticket.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/srhbth/436567705/

My round trips to the airport via center city result in no less than 9 precise punches, and they usually pull out a pen and circle the "2C 3C" boxes, then three more conductors will inspect the ticket before its used up. I love helping the conductors. "Oh yea, clip 'final cancel' now."


On the other hand, when I took SEPTA and NJT from Philly to NY Penn, I bought tickets in Suburban Station Philadelphia, and was surprised when she handed me two NJT Tickets, one that said "Philadelphia to Trenton" The Septa conductor just punched it, and put it back in my seat like he would with any other single ride SEPTA ticket. Why doesn't NJT do this, instead of worrying about seat checks?

The picture that you linked is the equivalent of a NJT CFR (cash fare receipt) which is cut on board the trains when fares are purchased.

CNJGeep wrote:

TREnecNYP wrote:Few years ago I found a rubber banded pack of about 100 of the blue seat checks

Do you know how long 100 seat checks will last in a certain color, given the rotation of various colors? Even if you used two a day (one each way), it would still take several years for that color to come around that many times that you could exhaust your "supply"

you're assuming the person who found 100 seat checks would use them solely for their transport. Although I doubt anybody would manage to use up all 100 checks because of certain colors being good only on certain unknown to the public days, it's possible they might have 10 or more commuting friends to whom they would give the checks.
It'd be a bigger problem if they tried to find other people to whom they could sell the seat checks, but if all they wanted to do is give them away it might actually happen that a good number of the 100 checks might get used for free rides.
Of course the other wrinkle is the lucky recipient of the free seat check would also have to know what the day's punching or marking style was. Are conductor's punches distinctive? When I was a kid I heard tales that they were as unique as snowflakes, which I found hard to believe even then. Do all crew members usually know what shape punch the rest of the crew has?