Great Western Coffee Shop

Who looks out for the passenger?  I've been looking forward to a summer of the UK getting back towards normal - but it seems that on the railways, the government, train companies, staff and unions are in conflict.  And on the buses, driver shortages and financial constraints are leading to losses of services and unplanned gaps in those that remain.  Not a happy story when we are encouraged to to go greener and this summer offers - or offered a window of opportunity.  There seem to be a handful of glamour projects around, where other services shrink or are lost completely. I don't like where we are, and I certainly don't like the direction.

What's missing from my comments above?  Anything much about customer or passenger care, or (re)growing the business.  I fear many passengers are asleep as far as what's going on is concerned.  Others are watching and wondering about what's happening.  Just a few are raising their voices - though it's unclear to me how to best raise those voices effectively.

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Who do we bark at. The staff? The operators? The unions? The government?

It was obvious that as soon as restrictions were lifted that strikes were going to be called. Was anyone really surprised?

Indeed - in many ways you are paraphrasing my question.  I wish I had an answer there. And there is are follow-up questions "do we bark individually?", "what organisations and mechanisms have we to help us the barking?". These are questions without obvious answers to me. 

In alphabetic order, I suggest to you:
* Community Rail Partnerships
* Elected Representatives
* Extinction Rebellion
* Government Consultations
* Local Transport Authorities
* Railfuture
* Social Media Groups
* Transport Focus
* TravelWatch SouthWest
* User Groups

Extinction Rebellion I wouldn't bother with - they haven't exactly managed to influence anyone with responsibility yet on any matter. Their methods are very much open to question.

In a bit of a hiatus until GBR get off the ground frankly. Until then (and even maybe after), the Treasury are pulling the purse strings & anything that costs money will be very hard to obtain.

Yes to elected reps of all bodies with a budget of course. Also make sure that you respond to the draft GBR legislation consultation to ensure that GBR will be a body that will listen to people 'barking'. That list ios currently very small.....

This is the central issue ad as a result there is no “maybe after” in the equation.

I felt something of a line voice at the time of privatisation because I thought it would be a good thing, finally getting the government out of the railways hair.

How wrong I was. We have seen 20 years of government meddling in micro-management, and things are only set, at best, to remain the same in the foreseeable future.

Those who have supported renationalisation through some naive belief that it will bring ticket price reductions will find out the truth the hard way, as will those who have smirked and said “Well it couldn’t be any worse, could it?”

I didn’t make many friends on this forum earlier this year when, after coming back from South Africa and finding out what happened to the Bristol to Waterloo service, took a view based on this being purely a TOC business decision. But then we lost the GWR Brighton services, and then I read about services in West Wales; more truncation of through services and poor connections in their place.

A pattern is emerging; those lines where another operator runs occasional services are having those services withdrawn. This may have a positive effect in reducing revenue sharing (although I don’t know if this has any significance under the current regime). But it also has significant disadvantages both to longer distance passengers and also on route knowledge. Once that route knowledge is lost I do not see retention or regaining that knowledge as a matter uppermost in the minds of those in control of GBR.

So you can bark at the culprits if you like, but bearing in mind who you are barking at I doubt it will make much difference.

The only thing that really gets through to these people is a lack of votes in Ballot boxes. So if you happen to live in Wakefield or Tiverton and Honiton....

Agreed - perhaps the way forward is not just to bark - but to growl and bite.  The ballot box is an interesting one if it became a (bi)election issue. 

With "just" one station out of 4 in the constituency I live in loosing "just" one of its services last December, and on zero campaign budget, we got 1,600 signatures on a petition in the constituency asking for no more than the trains to continue for a year while a proper consultation was run and alternative provided.  It wasn't even the biggest town or biggest station in the constituency that was involved.   

I wonder what we could do if we could get {quote}* Community Rail Partnerships  * Elected Representatives  * Extinction Rebellion * Government Consultations * Local Transport Authorities * Railfuture * Social Media Groups * Transport Focus * TravelWatch SouthWest * User Groups{/quote} mostly in line. For sure we would not get them all - some are in the pay of the government, or are likely to be sanctioned if they step out of line.

I was naïve: one of the biggest surprises of raising the issue of the Bristol to Waterloo trains was that industry organisations prepared in a disinterested way to represent the passenger interest in this - just didn't exist - and then of course the hand of the TOCs were tied.

Looking back to 2018, the previous franchisee wouldn't have had firm plans to grow an already rewarding service without a reason.

New franchisee, industrial action, one pandemic, increasingly authoritarian political leadership, and the hands of the DfT further tightening on the rail industry that the UK seems to believe is privatised, and... pfffft!

And now, here we are in 2022, with Network Rail unable to provide... robust signalling staff cover for wide area rail operating centres, routine dependence on requiring staff to work rest-days in an industry whose essence involves working the sort of hours that many people would not want to work long-term. So, morale increasingly  through the floor, with all the woes *that* brings.

Mark