History streetcar, one of the first public transport vehicles designed specifically for one-person operation One of the first examples of a
public transport vehicle that was developed specifically for one-person operation is the
Birney streetcar introduced in the United States in 1916. The Birney was pre-equipped with one of the most important safety devices for enabling one-person operation – the
dead man's switch. The dead man switch ensured that the tram would stop in the event of an incapacitated driver. The switch was introduced so that one person could operate in the driving cab on their own, which became standard for all train companies operating the London Underground in 1908.
Perth The entire
Transperth network is driver-only operated. Conversion to DOO initiated in the early 1990s when then new
A-series trains were introduced.
Pacific National trains between Kewdale and West Merriden are occasionally driver-only operated.
Canada Toronto subway The
Toronto subway system, operated by the
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), uses a mix of one-person and two-person train operation. •
Line 3 Scarborough: Complete OPTO since the beginning of operation on 22 March 1985. •
Line 4 Sheppard: Entire line converted to OPTO in October 2016. •
Line 1 Yonge-University: Entire line converted to OPTO since 20 November 2022. •
Line 2 Bloor-Danforth: Still uses two-person crews on the entire line. Future plans include the introduction of OPTO over the next decade after the implementation of
automatic train control (ATC) which would require new rolling stock as the current
T series is not compatible with ATC. The guard is responsible for operating the doors, as well as observing the platform. On 9 October 2016, OPTO was implemented on the heavy-rail Line 4, which uses four-car sets of
Bombardier Toronto Rockets. According to a 2016 presentation, OPTO is "one of the TTC's key modernization efforts" It was expected that Line 1 would have had OPTO implemented in 2019, and Line 2 would follow with OPTO in 2021. In 2021, a Corbett Communications survey of Torontonians produced similar results: 7-in-10 respondents disapproved of OPTO, and 7-in-10 disapproved of the fact that the TTC decided to not offer public consultation on the issue. This survey also revealed that 6-in-10 Torontonians would feel unsafe riding in a train operated by just one staff member.
Line 5 Eglinton and
Line 6 Finch West, the TTC's future light rail lines under construction , will use one-person operation. Line 5 will also use ATC in its tunneled section.
Greater Toronto Area GO Transit in Ontario operates with a conductor and engineer in the cab, as well as a conductor called a "Customer Service Ambassador" located within the train who is responsible for controlling the doors and making announcements.
Via Rail Via Rail operates with two locomotive engineers and several on-board staff.
Montreal Metro The
Montreal Metro operates with one-person crews.
Light rail All Canadian light rail systems are either DOO or
driver-controlled operation.
Denmark looking out of the side window to make sure all the doors are safely closed for departure In Denmark, the state owned railway company
DSB started implementing one-person operation on the
commuter rail S-train system in 1975. The S-train system has been completely one-person operated since 1978. At the start of 2013 DSB also used one-person operated trains on the two small
regional rail lines Svendborgbanen and Aarhus nærbane. As a result of several years of major annual deficits,
DSB started implementing one-person operation on several rail lines on 29 June 2013. This led to reductions in staff, followed by widespread protest and some small illegal strikes by train drivers, who accused DSB of using rolling stock which was unsafe for one-person operation. The
Danish Railway Union stated in 2011 "that one-person operation wasn't their cup of tea". The lines that were planned to become one-person operated were: Copenhagen-Ringsted, Copenhagen-Kalundborg, Copenhagen-Nykøbing F., Aarhus-Aalborg, Fredericia-Esbjerg and Roskild-Køge-Ringsted The one-person operation of the railway line Aarhus-Aalborg was implemented using temporary and very manual safety procedures – much to the dissatisfaction of the train drivers. On 17 July 2013 DSB abandoned these temporary manual safety procedures and resumed to operate the Jutlandic regional trains with guards, on the grounds that the safety of their trains was not to be cast in doubt and that this was more important than "whether or not one-man operation was implemented a month or two latter than planned". DSB has pointed to a bureaucratic safety approval system with an independent safety assessor as the main reason for the lack of progress. The one-person operation was set to start from 15 December 2013. Meanwhile, sickness absence among the sacked guards rose to six times the normal levels, resembling "sick-out"
strike action. This compelled the
train operating company DSB Øresund to offer the sacked guards a "stay healthy bonus" of up to 5000 Danish kroner per month (about US$900 or GB£600). The safety approval of one-person operation on the Coastal Line is part of a joint DSB one-person operation project, which entails that the Coastal Line will not be one-person operated before DSB has managed to obtain safety approval for other lines first. The small train company
Nordjyske Jernbaner which operates in the sparsely populated most northern parts of Denmark also uses exclusively one-person operated trains. The railway companies
Regionstog and
Lokalbanen, operating the single-track railways of
Zealand, use solely one-person operated trains as well. On all Danish one-person operated passenger trains,
ticket inspectors still board the train now and then to perform
spot checks.
France Several systems within France are DOO.
Marseille The
Marseille Metro is entirely operated using driver-only operation.
Paris Various
Paris Métro lines and all of the
Tramways in Île-de-France routes and lines are driver only operated, with 2 metro lines currently operating completely unattended.
Germany The
S-Bahn rapid transit system in Berlin and Hamburg were using platform train dispatchers to ensure all doors are closed and a train can safely start for the next section. Although there were a couple of test runs since the 1970s these mass rapid transit systems were the last train systems in Germany to be converted to a one-person operation as rapid transit requires to ensure a minimum time to call at a station especially in rush hours. In Hamburg the "" SAT (self-dispatching by the train driver) was first introduced in 2000 and the last station was becoming unstaffed in 2006. On the bigger Berlin S-Bahn network the "" ZAT (train dispatching by the train driver) was introduced in 2006. However it was only used on straight platforms so far. Since 2014 the
Berlin S-Bahn has used a system where an electronic monitor is in the driver's cab. There is a camera on the platform that transmits the images via
wireless LAN to the train and the train has a connection back to the (existing) loudspeakers on the platform. The system was tested since 2007 but safety concerns caused its introduction to be held off for several years. Since its introduction, platforms may be served in one-person operation by ZAT-oU or the ZAT-FM, which is the old "" ZAT-oU (train dispatching by train driver without technical support) or the new "" ZAT-FM (train dispatching by train driver with driver cab monitor). Officials pointed out that the one-person operation does even lower the time a train halts on a station – on the busy central lines the train on one side of the platform did often have to wait for the train in the opposite direction on the other side of the platform to be dispatched. Although most of the central lines will be converted to ZAT-FM, there will be about 20 stations left in the network that will continue to have platform dispatchers.
Ireland Most trains operating in Ireland are driver-only operated.
Japan In Japan, passenger trains without a
conductor are indicated by a sign reading , often accompanied by a pre-recorded in-car announcement mentioning that the train is a "one man train". Most buses are also one-person operations. In most cases, when not using an
IC card, a is taken when boarding the vehicle. This slip of paper has a number and/or barcode which corresponds to the station at which the passenger boarded; since fare is typically calculated by distance traveled, the current fare from each previous stop is shown by a screen on board. When disembarking, passengers pay in cash at a fare collection box at the exit. An increasing number of subways are moving to one-person operation, including the
Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line, which was designed to operate on one-person operation, the
Toei Ōedo Line, which was one-person operated since its opening in the year 1990, and the
Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line, which became driver-only operated from 2009.
New Zealand By 1997, more than 90 percent of all trains – both passenger and freight – operated by the then main freight and passenger rail operator in New Zealand,
Tranz Rail, had only one person in the loco cab.
Sweden In general all passenger trains on railways in Sweden have a driver and at least one conductor on board by rules, even it is not entirely mandatory. In Sweden around two daily departures on the Swedish part of the
Oresundtrain system operated by
Veolia Transport is one-person operated. This practice is however only utilized when there is an abrupt shortage of train managers. In 2013 the company's
health and safety representative – who (in Sweden) is a train driver appointed by a trade union – deemed it to be an unsafe practice demanding it be stopped. According to the RMT, the proposal set forth by Transport for London would imply driver-only operations on the whole of the London Overground network and make 130
guards redundant.
London Overground Rail Operations stated in response that they had given "the RMT assurances on employing conductors in alternative customer service roles and offering a generous voluntary redundancy package to those who want it." The RMT stated that "any proposed extensions of DOO would be fought by the union on grounds of safety and efficiency". The British government has proposed the extension of driver-only trains as a part of the new
Northern franchise and has left it optional to the new operators of the
Trans Pennine franchise. Additionally it has been proposed for the new Hitachi Super Express Trains which will be in use on the
East Coast and
Great Western franchises. In April 2016, drivers belonging to the
ASLEF trade union refused to pick up passengers using DOO on the new Class 387 trains on the
Gatwick Express route. This is the system currently used for the 10-car Class 442 used on Gatwick Express, but the union claimed that extending this to 12-car trains put too much pressure on the driver and was unsafe. The operators
Govia Thameslink Railway took legal action, and the union ultimately dropped the claim. In the summer of 2016, guards working for
Southern and belonging to the
RMT trade union went on strike over plans to introduce DOO on more Southern services.
Scotland DCO was first implemented in the 1980s, and currently more than 56% of
ScotRail's trains are one-person operated, mainly electric services around the Glasgow and Strathclyde regions. When First ScotRail launched a plan to implement one-person operations on the newly opened
Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link in 2010, the
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) staged several strikes, claiming that the system was unsafe. ScotRail replied that they had been using one-person operated trains since the 1980s, and that the
Class 334 trains planned for the Airdrie-Bathgate line had not even been delivered with a conductor's door panel. The strikes were ultimately ended by the unions, in part because of disagreements within the RMT about which principal stand to take on one-person operations. Other sources point to a "strike breaker" clause in ScotRail's contract, which enabled ScotRail to draw compensation from Scottish taxpayers during a strike, as another factor in the union's ending of the strikes. Even though the trains are now driven without a
guard, a
ticket inspector is still present on every train, The dispute was resolved when ScotRail agreed that a conductor would be kept on all new trains with the driver opening the doors and the conductor shutting them.
Current driver-only / one-person operations Metro systems •
London Underground – Has operated entirely driver-only or one-person operated services since 2000. Certain Underground trains (on the
Jubilee,
Central,
Victoria and
Northern lines) are
driven automatically with a 'train operator' to carry out other duties such as door operation. •
Glasgow Subway – Operates an entirely driver-only operated service and has done since the Modernisation in 1977–1980. •
Tyne & Wear Metro – Has been entirely driver-only operated since it opened in 1980. •
Trams – Most tram systems in the UK are one-person operated, including:
London Tramlink,
West Midlands Metro,
Nottingham Express Transit,
Manchester Metrolink and
Blackpool Tramway.
Sheffield Supertram and
Edinburgh Trams are DCO as they employ conductors, but do not assist with the doors or any operational roles. Many systems employ some form of ticket examiner for revenue and customer service reasons. •
Docklands Light Railway – operates automatically and every DLR train has a Passenger Service Agent (PSA) on board when it is in service. He has the role of a conductor, but also has the ability to take manual control of the train. •
Bus – All bus services in the United Kingdom are one-person operated. The last regular bus services were
London Buses routes
9,
10,
11,
24,
38 and
390 operated by
New Routemasters that had their conductors removed in 2016.
London heritage route 15 that was operated by
AEC Routemasters was the last bus route to have conductors until it was withdrawn in 2020.
National Rail •
Abellio Greater Anglia – All trains operating out of
Liverpool Street are driver-only operated as far north as
Colchester with the exception of
Norwich services, which are DCO. Formally, trains operated by
'locomotive hauled' rolling stock required the presence of a guard/conductor. •
c2c – Operates an entirely driver-only operated train service. •
Chiltern Railways – Services operating to
Aylesbury Vale Parkway and south of
Banbury are driver-only operated with the exception of
'locomotive hauled' services. •
Great Western Railway – Most 'Networker' Class
165 and
166 and 'Electrostar'
British Rail Class 387 operated services are driver-only trains, operating mostly in the Thames Valley from
London Paddington to
Bedwyn,
Banbury and
Oxford. For operational reasons, Networker services to
Basingstoke,
Gatwick Airport and services west of
Oxford towards
Worcester via the Cotswolds are operated with a guard/conductor. •
Govia Thameslink Railway – Operates an entirely driver-only operated train service on the Thameslink and Great Northern sub-brands. •
Heathrow Express – Operates an entirely DCO service; they do provide a 'customer service representative' on board for revenue and customer service duties. •
London Overground – Has operated an entirely driver-only operated service since July 2013. •
ScotRail – Most electric train services in the
Strathclyde area are either driver-only or driver-controlled operation, as some services maintain a ticket examiner for revenue and customer service duties. •
Southeastern – Operate a large network of driver-only trains on their Metro services, mainly around South-East London. The
HS1 services are DCO as they have an 'on board manager' for mainly revenue and customer service duties. Mainline Services from Kent are also DCO when operating within London. •
Southern – Operates driver-only trains in South London and on the
Brighton Main Line. After
disputes with both the
RMT and
ASLEF unions over the extension of driver-only trains across the rest of the network, ASLEF Drivers accepted a deal on 8 November 2017, resulting in the implementation of
Driver Controlled Operation throughout the rest of the network which was not previously operating DOO services, excluding routes to
Milton Keynes Central,
Uckfield and
Ashford International to
Eastbourne. , used for closing the doors
Safety The UK rail safety regulator, the
Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), has stated that its research found no increased risks from driver-only operation. In December 2016, the overall rail regulator, the
Office of Rail and Road (ORR) responded by letter to the Transport Select Committee's enquiry into rail safety. In their related press release an ORR spokesman said: The RMT union disputes the independence of both the RSSB because of the involvement of train operating company representatives on its board. and says that both RSSB and ORR are disregarding wider safety issues by one-person working beyond the operation of the doors.
Access Disabled passengers view the introduction of DDO as a major step backwards in accessibility because of the combination of several issues, which conflict with the government's stated intent of allowing 'turn-up-and-go' service for disabled people right across the network. Many UK railway stations are unstaffed and so boarding or disembarking assistance for a disabled person can be provided only by the train crew, and level access between platform and train is extremely rare. If there is no guard to put the onboard wheelchair ramp in place or otherwise assist the disabled person in boarding/debarking, access cannot be provided short of the driver leaving the cab. The
Department for Transport's own
Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee described DOO and unstaffed stations as a "toxic combination" that potentially breaches the government's obligations under the
Equality Act 2010.
United States Atlanta Both the
MARTA and the
Atlanta Streetcar are DOO systems.
Baltimore All light rail lines and the subway line operate on single-person operation.
Boston On the Boston subway, also referred to as
"The T", all three subway lines became completely one-person operated at the end of March 2012. This marked the ending of the gradual implementation of one-person operations that started in 1996 with parts of the subway's shortest line, the
Blue Line, continued with the
Orange Line in 2010 and ended with the longest line, the
Red Line in 2012. The
Green Line is also DOO, but uses one crewmember per car; a typical train has two cars and thus requires two crewmembers. According to
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesperson Joe Pesaturo, the Carmen's Union "has never embraced" one-person operation. On 31 October 1993, the Orange Line began operating DOO trains as well, which gradually spread to the entire network.
Cleveland Cleveland's only heavy rail metro line, the
Red Line (RTA Rapid Transit), is operated using DOO.
Light rail All
US light rail systems are driver-only operated.
Los Angeles In
Los Angeles, the city's rapid transit system (known as the
Metro) has been using one-person operation on all of its transit lines since it began operating in 1991.
Miami The
Miami-Dade County Metrorail is DOO operated.
New York City In the
New York City area, the subway trains over and with over five cars are operated by a two-person crew of a
motorman and a
conductor. On 1 September 1997, OPTO began on the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and Rockaway Park Shuttle during all times, and on the B-West End Shuttle and 5-Dyre Avenue Shuttle during late nights. The following
New York City Subway services and
rolling stock are used for one-person operation :
Full-time one-person operation •
Franklin Avenue Shuttle (
R68): 2 cars •
Rockaway Park Shuttle (
R46): 4 cars (except summer weekends when extended trains operate)
Part-time one-person operation •
5 train (Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street) during late nights (
R142): 5 cars •
A train on the
Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard branch during late nights (
R46): 4 cars •
G weekends (
R160) : 5 cars •
M weekends (
R160): 4 cars
Philadelphia Area •
PATCO Speedline has also had one-person OPTO operation from its opening in 1969. •
SEPTA's Broad Street Subway, Market-Frankford Subway-Elevated, Media & Sharon Hill Light Rail and Norristown High-Speed Lines are all OPTO.
Washington, D.C. The
Washington Metro has always operated under the "one man rule" from the opening of the first line in 1976. In addition to the
DC Streetcar. ==Freight trains==