"LNER is planning to impose compulsory seat reservations on their trains" ...

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Personally, happy for the policy unless you are making a journey of 90 mins or less where flexibility is more likely required/happy to stand.

Journey planners can know (by being programmed correctly) which journeys this policy can be applied to. So a reservation can be made at the point of booking (however you buy your ticket) - and if one buys a ticket for a journey that there are no reservations available, the customer is advised that they may well have to stand or travel on a different service.

[ellendune]

Personally, happy for the policy unless you are making a journey of 90 mins or less where flexibility is more likely required/happy to stand.

Journey planners can know (by being programmed correctly) which journeys this policy can be applied to. So a reservation can be made at the point of booking (however you buy your ticket) - and if one buys a ticket for a journey that there are no reservations available, the customer is advised that they may well have to stand or travel on a different service.

I can see it being sensible for long distance travel, but the trouble is that long distance trains also function as local trains for parts of their route.  Essentially between Didcot and Bristol Parkway and Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) there are no local trains.  So we are all forced to use long distance services.  Also I can't see it being popular for Reading Paddington people who have got used to fast services having to use local services if they do not have a booked seat. 

[Bmblbzzz]

Making bookings for open tickets has been mentioned as a problem; but it would seem logical that with compulsory reservations, a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) will work towards ceasing sale of open tickets.

[Ralph Ayres]

Having to book greatly reduces the benefit of a frequent service. London to Leeds for instance is half hourly for most of the day but much of the benefit is lost if you can't just turn up and get on the first train, change plans on the day and so on.  It also increases the effective travel time; you can't rely on being able to rebook on the next train if you miss one so always have to aim to turn up early, and will quite possibly see the previous train leaving!

[Lee]

LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) are releasing a series of videos entitled "LNER - In the Driver's Seat" - https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/video-puts-you-in-the-drivers-seat-of-an-lner-train-on-its-9197746/

LNER Driver Zak Mohamed kicks off the series taking viewers on his regular route between London King’s Cross and Leeds via Grantham. You can see his journey below.

Zak said: “I just love my job and I am proud of what I do. It is fantastic to be able to share some of my knowledge and some of the views from my seat, so people can get a glimpse of what it’s like in the train cab from a driver’s perspective.”

David Horne, LNER managing director said: “While we continue to follow government guidelines around travel, LNER wants to inspire people as they look to plan ahead for the future by sharing some incredible views which really are the jewels in the crown of our route and who better to guide audiences through the journeys than some of our drivers.”

The short videos will continue to be shared on LNER’s social media channels over the coming months.

Coming soon - "LNER - In the Passenger's Seat", where they want to inspire people as they look to plan ahead for the future by sharing some incredible views from customers who were lucky enough to book theirs first...

[CyclingSid]

"LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) - In the Passenger's Seat", where they want to inspire people as they look to plan ahead

Maybe this is the sort of thing that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wants to be copying, rather than ticketing ideas to reduce the number of passengers.