Crystal ball - will coronavirus effect our travel (public and private)?

[whole diary]

[Henry]

 Heard that as from 23/03/20 a reduced service by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), Sleeper services not running.
 Not an 'official' source though.
 

[broadgage]

 Heard that as from 23/03/20 a reduced service by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), Sleeper services not running.
 Not an 'official' source though.
 

If confirmed, a significantly reduced service is IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) a reasonable response to the present emergency and consequent staff shortage.
In the interests of still permitting essential travel throughout the nation, I would hope that trains will still serve the entire network, though reduced in number.
Unless loadings on the reduced service are very low, I would hope that trains will still be full length. Although proper "social distancing" might not be possible on a train, 200 passengers on a 9 car is clearly preferable to 200 passengers on a 5 car, despite the fact that 200 on a 5 car is not overcrowded by ordinary standards.

Withdrawal of the sleeper, if confirmed, seems rather perverse. A cynic might suspect that they want to discourage use.

[didcotdean]

This was the surface car park opposite Didcot Parkway (Julians) taken mid morning from the back (Lydalls Road). It would usually be completely full.

[Sixty3Closure]

Travelling into London tomorrow from Twyford but guess getting a seat won't be a problem. Then to Carmarthen in the evening which is pretty quiet at the best times. Suspect it might just be me and the train crew.

[grahame]

I have been out for a walk - "fresh" air and not near many people.   Saw 3 buses and a train ...
Buses of Swindon - to Calne and Marlborough - with 2 passengers on board
Faresaver - to Bath - with 1 passenger on board
Frome Bus - town bus - with 1 passenger on board
All between 14:00 and 14:30 which is normally just about the quietest time, but never the less ...

[stuving]

After two attempts, I got onto the Waitrose website, logged on and got a long list of purchases I've made on weekly visits. (Shall have to edit that)  I worked my way through it, bypassed a couple of pages suggesting things that I might like or have forgotten, and reached the booking-a-delivery page. I ploughed on and finally got a spare slot on April 21.

I'm not blaming Waitrose (and I think they may improve things, so I'll be keeping an eye on the bookings page) - obviously there's been a torrent of new business.  I think that the Government restrictions aim for the ideal, but there will be an inevitable shortfall in implementing them. At this early stage, I'm not sure how completely I want to go in slavishly adopting them - especially give the nonchalance, cynicism and stupidity of others.

I was looking at the  Waitrose and Tesco sites on Monday, and noted Waitrose.com was down as it was on Tuesday. Then I got an e-mail, which at least said what they were doing, both in stores and online - though nothing really addressed the very long wait for a delivery slot. The site did eventually respond, with the same information, though (as at this moment) it tends to be overloaded and just say hang on.

I've now had an e-mail from Tesco (well, Dave Lewis), saying similar things. That hasn't made it onto Tesco.com - yet.

I was surprised to get into the car park at the local Tesco - it's nearly full on a normal Tuesday morning. And most things I wanted were in stock, though I didn't look for the known shortages. Wine and beer had obviously been popular over the weekend ... which is hardly irrational! Waitrose (my local walk-to shop) this morning seemed worse off, so either that was since Sunday or they've been slow to restock. Not an egg in the place, which strikes me as odd (and was on my list). In practical terms, the immediate impact of these shortages on routine items is to prevent me reducing the number of shopping trips per week, which I was planning.

[grahame]

 Heard that as from 23/03/20 a reduced service by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), Sleeper services not running.
 Not an 'official' source though.
 

A message to Stakeholders from GWR:

“Covid-19 Update

We are working with government, the wider rail industry and FirstGroup to make sure that we keep services running during the current situation. We know how critical it is that we continue to provide a service for key workers. To help with that we have made some immediate changes to the way we operate.

This means that:

* The Night Riviera Sleeper service will stop running after its journey this Friday (20 March)
* We will no longer offer Pullman dining on board our trains from tomorrow (Thursday 19 March). Colleagues will be redeployed as Customer Hosts
* We will continue to offer food and drink at seat services, but we will no longer offer fresh food on board. We will also be encouraging card payments rather than cash if possible
* The First Class lounge in Cardiff will close at the end of usual hours on Friday evening, with the First Class Lounge at Paddington and the sleeper lounges in Truro and Penzance closing at 10am on Saturday (21 March) morning
* Revenue Protection teams will be redeployed to gatelines to help customers with their journeys
* We will ask customers to present tickets for checking on a flat surface to avoid unnecessary handling
* We have amended our refunds policy to make it easier for customers to claim refunds on unused tickets.
 
The situation is very fast moving and we will continue to work with our industry partners and the Government to consider what further changes may be needed to ensure we keep services operational. We will update you as soon as any decisions are made.

Best wishes”

[broadgage]

That seems to be a reasonable response under the present emergency conditions.
I have two longer term concerns.
Firstly, when the emergency is over will Pullman dining be re-introduced? Even if very poorly patronised initially. I recall that in the aftermath of the Hatfield accident, all Pullmans were "temporarily" withdrawn. Most never returned.
I fear that this will be an excuse to permanently withdraw dining. Then remove the kitchens to prevent Pullman dining ever being re-instated.
Secondly I have fears for the longer term future of the sleeper. When the emergency is over, run the sleeper without telling anyone about the re-instatement. Then withdraw it.

And yes I know that Pullman dining and the sleeper are franchise commitments, but these are easily negotiated away, after doing a survey that shows that they are not wanted.

[grahame]

And yes I know that Pullman dining and the sleeper are franchise commitments, but these are easily negotiated away, after doing a survey that shows that they are not wanted.

Thirteen days from the end of the current commitments. Then what will there be?  Pullman and sleepers are just tiny elements ... there are much bigger questions and I don't know any answers.

[Celestial]

That seems to be a reasonable response under the present emergency conditions.
I have two longer term concerns.
Firstly, when the emergency is over will Pullman dining be re-introduced? Even if very poorly patronised initially. I recall that in the aftermath of the Hatfield accident, all Pullmans were "temporarily" withdrawn. Most never returned.
I fear that this will be an excuse to permanently withdraw dining. Then remove the kitchens to prevent Pullman dining ever being re-instated.
Secondly I have fears for the longer term future of the sleeper. When the emergency is over, run the sleeper without telling anyone about the re-instatement. Then withdraw it.

And yes I know that Pullman dining and the sleeper are franchise commitments, but these are easily negotiated away, after doing a survey that shows that they are not wanted.

Good to see that at this time of national and global crisis you are worrying about the important issues.  I'll tweet Laura Kuenssberg to see whether she can ask Boris at this afternoon's press conference when they will be re-introduced. With maybe a follow up as to ensuring that supplies of Port are maintained.

[broadgage]

I agree that there are more important issues facing the country than sleeper trains and Pullman dining. I would not be expecting the near term resumption of either facility. I also stated that withdrawal of these services was a reasonable response to present circumstances.
I did also state that my concerns were for the longer term.
There seems to be a culture in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail industry of "what downgrades can we get away with" and a national emergency such as the coronavirus is a splendid opportunity to "temporarily" withdraw facilities. Some no doubt hope that such downgrades can be made permanent.

After the Hatfield accident there was chaos on the railways, and someone no doubt said "we have much greater challenges than on train dining"
Nevertheless, normality eventually returned, but the majority of the Pullmans never returned.

[Marlburian]

Quite apart from suggestions that Coronavirus will be with us, albeit in reduced form, for more than a year (and after that may need to be combated with vaccines), life will change significantly.

Some employers may realise that home-working is actually quite efficient and they can save on expensive offices. The economy is going to take years to recover, with companies paying off the emergency loans they're going to be given. Personal debt will be a burden. So will national debt. How many of the pledges given in the Budget (was it really only last week) can be honoured. Will we really be able to afford HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))? Will there still be enthusiasm for international travel?

[Celestial]

I agree that there are more important issues facing the country than sleeper trains and Pullman dining. I would not be expecting the near term resumption of either facility. I also stated that withdrawal of these services was a reasonable response to present circumstances.
I did also state that my concerns were for the longer term.
There seems to be a culture in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail industry of "what downgrades can we get away with" and a national emergency such as the coronavirus is a splendid opportunity to "temporarily" withdraw facilities. Some no doubt hope that such downgrades can be made permanent.

After the Hatfield accident there was chaos on the railways, and someone no doubt said "we have much greater challenges than on train dining"
Nevertheless, normality eventually returned, but the majority of the Pullmans never returned.

I did use the Pullman once, from Bristol Parkway, and it was lovely, albeit an indulgence that has no relevance to the future of public transport. If an accidental long term consequence of this crisis is the Pullman's abolition then in the grand scheme of things, global, national, or even just transport related, it is completely unimportant, and of no relevance to more than a handful of well heeled passengers (or those on expense accounts). There are enough opportunities for fine dining to not feel that you can't cope with 3 hours between London and Plymouth without a restaurant quality meal.

[TonyK]

I did use the Pullman once, from Bristol Parkway, and it was lovely, albeit an indulgence that has no relevance to the future of public transport. If an accidental long term consequence of this crisis is the Pullman's abolition then in the grand scheme of things, global, national, or even just transport related, it is completely unimportant, and of no relevance to more than a handful of well heeled passengers (or those on expense accounts). There are enough opportunities for fine dining to not feel that you can't cope with 3 hours between London and Plymouth without a restaurant quality meal.

I look forward to the next part of this discussion!

[TaplowGreen]

I did use the Pullman once, from Bristol Parkway, and it was lovely, albeit an indulgence that has no relevance to the future of public transport. If an accidental long term consequence of this crisis is the Pullman's abolition then in the grand scheme of things, global, national, or even just transport related, it is completely unimportant, and of no relevance to more than a handful of well heeled passengers (or those on expense accounts). There are enough opportunities for fine dining to not feel that you can't cope with 3 hours between London and Plymouth without a restaurant quality meal.

I look forward to the next part of this discussion!

The toilet rolls may start flying, Broadgage has got a secret stash, remember!