Great Western Coffee Shop

I wonder what La Sturgeon's new colleagues in the Green Party will make of this? (Especially in light of her commitments that Scotland should lead the way in green transport)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-58279271

ScotRail has reviewed the timetable across the whole network to ensure the service meets the needs of customers and the Scottish Government’s aims as Scotland recovers from the pandemic and in the future.

We are proposing a new timetable operating around 2,100 services per weekday as the foundation to encourage a return to public transport following the pandemic. Most customers will find the number of calls at their station and the destinations served are similar to today. However, there are some areas where there is greater change, which is being done for several important reasons.

Our analysis shows prior to the pandemic, on a number of routes across the country, significantly more seats were being provided than were required for the number of passengers travelling. For example, under five and a half million passenger journey miles were completed on a typical weekday, which was just 23 per cent of the available number of seats. In other words, seats were empty for 77 per cent of the distance that was travelled.

Returning to a pre-pandemic timetable would result in trains operating 26 million more vehicle miles each year for little customer benefit. As well as increased emissions, that would increase ScotRail costs to the taxpayer by £30million to £40million each year.

The proposed new timetable will also focus on improved punctuality and reliability of services, building on the record punctuality delivered during the pandemic. Research from Transport Focus has highlighted this is a key priority for customers. The proposed new customer focused timetable will reflect predicted levels of service as well as the need to provide the best value for money for taxpayers. ScotRail said the proposals are a new starting point and in the future, new methods of analysis developed during COVID-19 will refine and improve the service offer as the operator learns more about how customer travel behaviours are changing.
The consultation will be open until 1 October 2021 to seek opinions on the proposed timetables from our customers and stakeholders.

Despite some reporting, this is almost the same process as for the SWR one; the differences are that Scottish government commissioned it from Scotrail and the consultation (https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/fit-future) is open to the public as well as stakeholders. But the rubric is awfully similar ...

A wide and public consultation has the potential to result in a far more robust and better informed and developed outcome than is likely to be the case otherwise. And such a consultation also help to reassure the public that the change is being thoroughly investigated prior to a decision being made.

ScotRail is undertaking a public consultation for the May 2022 timetable. The objectives of this are:

1.  To identify areas where the proposed timetable could be improved to better meet the needs of customers without materially adding cost.
2.  To manage expectations about the level of service we will provide in the coming months and years by providing context to the forecast of customers returning to rail travel, as well as the need to provide a cost-efficient railway.
3.  To be open and transparent about the future timetable with our staff, customers, and stakeholders.

So maybe Lee's "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" reaction to SWR's approach was wide of the mark.

You can belittle or insult my approach or opinions as much as you like, stuving - It really isnt anything that hasnt been thrown at me multiple times in the past.

You can belittle or insult my approach or opinions as much as you like, stuving - It really isnt anything that hasnt been thrown at me multiple times in the past.

The fact is that those of us who have kept an eye on what goes on over the years know that the rail industry in general and DfT Rail - and the SRA before them - has always felt that there were far too many of the "wrong trains" on the network, all the fault of the pesky passengers for insisting on services that actually take them where they want to go when they want to go there - how dare they!

The key differences coming into play now is that NR is being transformed into GBR and given control of specification, and Covid is being used as the excuse to make the cuts they have wanted to see all along. The reason they are trying to remove public consultation from the equation is because they know rallying the public through that was how we put a stop to such utter cobblers last tine they tried to make it fly in the mid-2000s.

It's like planning a murder - They have always had the motive, and this is what happens when you give them the means and opportunity to go with it. If their early plans are allowed to go ahead unhindered, then history suggests that they will become emboldened, that line and station closures will follow, and the death of the rail network as we know it will be complete.

The good news is that one of the reasons that murder is notoriously hard to get away with is because the perpetrator often overlooks those tiny details that the more observant among us manage to spot, thus triggering the killer's ultimate downfall. Believe me, that is as true today as it was in the mid-2000s...

The even better news would be if enough of those ordinary passengers - including "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" if he or she so wishes - that are about to have that rail network ripped away from them in such a underhand manner once again stand up and be counted alongside those of us who are speaking out because we have once again spotted the early warning signs.

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Covid is not being used as an excuse to cut services, it is a valid reason.  The Treasury has made it quite clear to ToC's and NR that the emergency Covid state funding of the railways is unsustainable and cost must be reduced, fortunately the Government have mostly left the rail industry to manage the cost cutting, it will be painful.

There is no doubt that GBR would have carried out a rationalisation of services as the 'free market is best' of the rail franchise model changes to GBR model

What would be interesting would be a system-wide rolling average target for seat occupancy that would trigger service increases or decreases. I seem to remember Chris Green using a figure of 67% for his Thames Turbo's, quickly eaten up of course!

Individual targets would be harder as some lines are at capacity, especially in the peaks and some are socially needed and could not be reduced further without effective closure.

What do you think?

OTC

Either use the link I gave earlier, or go to the Detailed Assessment section (https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/fit-future/detailed-assessment) direct.

Combining threads here, sorry….

As I understand things currently, no other services in the Coffeeshop region are definitely threatened with removal ...- and of those 5 that are, other than being ‘through’ services to London for just 2/3/4 stations (that have no other through services to London) - and we don’t know what service is going to be offered by GWR yet - they may be very good connections, who knows?

I think waiting to find out more from GWR possibly? Otherwise we may find there are meatier causes to fight.

Combining threads here, sorry….

But other than the stated removal of those 5 through services that are discussed in the SWT thread, which services fall under your definition above? As I understand things currently, bo other services in the Coffeeshop region are definitely threatened with removal - and of those 5 that are, other than being ‘through’ services to London for just 2/3/4 stations (that have no other through services to London) - and we don’t know what service is going to be offered by GWR yet - they may be very good connections, who knows?

I think waiting to find out more from GWR possibly? Otherwise we may find there are meatier causes to fight.