TPE introduce "Last minute reservations"

[Bungle965]

It seems TPE have looked and seen how popular (sarcasm) CrossCountry' ten minute reservation system is and have introduced their own.
https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/travelling-with-us/last-minute-reservations
I have attached a picture of what one of the seat reservations look like.
With the trains as overcrowded as they already, the idea of walk up reservations in my opinion is a bad idea and I imagine that it'll only be more for the guard to deal with when a conflict arises.
Sam

 

[Bletchleyite]

I like the idea (which could certainly help to reduce the Manchester Piccadilly platform 14 scrum, which is worse than the classic Euston one), but this is going to cause havoc on the Class 185s with the level of overcrowding there is, and as such it really needs to be held back until the new stock is all in service.

Better than XC's because you can do it online and not have to faff about sending texts.

This amuses me, though:
"This facility is only currently available for Standard Class and First Class seat reservations."

Exactly what other kind of reservations does TPE offer?

 

[Starmill]

The frequency with which people ask me to move from an unreserved seat as it is is ridiculous. Especially given lots of them take umbridge when told no. This will probably make it even worse. Of course, it's part of the package of retail changes, including the new seat selector, train loading indicator, Advance tickets from ticket vending machines and so on.

The scheme has been available for a while but the supposedly pre-reserved seats haven't had the labels displayed yet in any of my trains. Hardly fills me with confidence!

 

[Bungle965]

I like the idea (which could certainly help to reduce the Manchester Piccadilly platform 14 scrum, which is worse than the classic Euston one), but this is going to cause havoc on the Class 185s with the level of overcrowding there is, and as such it really needs to be held back until the new stock is all in service.

The idea is good but really the implementation of it needs to be after they have their new fleet introduced and as a result have a bit more capacity on their trains than they currently do as you say yourself.
They seem to have rolled it out with the seat selector which is definitely a good idea, just this one which isn't so much.
Sam

 

[Bletchleyite]

Actually...it also offers a seat selector. That is a true "killer app".

Seriously - I would pay good money to use this (at least a fiver per direction) - please, let's have it nationally on all TOCs. It could end the Euston scrum!

I do suspect they'll need to levy a fee for it to avoid people booking seats on multiple services, though.

 

[Starmill]

Actually...it also offers a seat selector.

Seriously - I would pay good money to use this (at least a fiver per direction) - please, let's have it nationally on all TOCs. It could end the Euston scrum!

I do suspect they'll need to levy a fee for it to avoid people booking seats on multiple services, though.

Given the normal website offers a seat selector, it would be totally pointless not to if you built a special platform for it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Given the normal website offers a seat selector, it would be totally pointless not to if you built a special platform for it.

That is true, though XC's website offers a seat selector and their SMS-based TMR does not.

It also provides a workaround for where you want to seat select on a journey involving VTWC and TPE which you can't do at the time of booking due to the lack of a national seat selector standard (which is sorely needed). As I mentioned, I would happily pay a fee for this service, including a little extra (provided it was only a couple of quid) for extra legroom seats or, if wanting to work, a table.

 

[Starmill]

Seriously - I would pay good money to use this (at least a fiver per direction) - please, let's have it nationally on all TOCs. It could end the Euston scrum

What will you do when you get on the train and it's too busy for you to even get to that seat? Apply for a refund of your £5? I wonder if they would give it to you. Alternatively and more likely, the pink card is missing because the train's last duty was a non-reservable service, so your seat you just paid £5 to reserve is already occupied by another passenger who politely declines your request to move.

 

[Starmill]

That is true, though XC's website offers a seat selector and their SMS-based TMR does not.

Precisely - seriously limiting its useful application.

 

[swt_passenger]

This amuses me, though:
"This facility is only currently available for Standard Class and First Class seat reservations."

Exactly what other kind of reservations does TPE offer?

Bikes perhaps?

 

[Bungle965]

I wonder if TPE will still stand by their 50% refund of a single ticket if a passenger can't get a seat if the reservations haven't been placed.
Sam

 

[Jozhua]

I wonder if TPE will still stand by their 50% refund of a single ticket if a passenger can't get a seat if the reservations haven't been placed.
Sam

Wait, is this a thing? If so, this will save me a lot of money! (although going from Manchester to Derby I already get delay repay almost every single time)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Bikes perhaps?

Ah yes, good point. Would be a good one to add.

 

[Bungle965]

Wait, is this a thing? If so, this will save me a lot of money! (although going from Manchester to Derby I already get delay repay almost every single time)

From TPE's customer charter

Seat reservations for TransPennine Express services can be booked up to 18:00 hours on the day before travel. If we do not provide you with your reserved seat, and there are no other seats available, we will compensate you: • If you have a reserved seat but have had to stand, we will refund you 50% of the single leg cost of your journey. • If you have booked a seat in First Class but there is only one available in Standard Class, we will refund the difference between the fare you paid and the equivalent Standard Class fare. This will be paid in e-vouchers, redeemable on our website, or National Rail travel vouchers. To make your claim, please ensure that the conductor on-board endorses your ticket or reservation coupon. Please ensure claims are made within 28 days of the date of travel.

Sam

 

[Jozhua]

From TPE's customer charter

Sam

Ah for reserved seats ☹️, guess I'll keep avoiding their services for as much as possible until they introduce longer trains!

Also I hate these last minute seat reservations, making seats reserved doesn't make the train longer and in my experience actually reduces capacity!

 

[route101]

What will you do when you get on the train and it's too busy for you to even get to that seat? Apply for a refund of your £5? I wonder if they would give it to you. Alternatively and more likely, the pink card is missing because the train's last duty was a non-reservable service, so your seat you just paid £5 to reserve is already occupied by another passenger who politely declines your request to move.

Happens on the Scottish TPE service P14 , SCRUM , if your not on the ball or train is reverse formation . No chance to get to reserved seat

 

[Bungle965]

Happens on the Scottish TPE service P14 , SCRUM , if your not on the ball or train is reverse formation . No chance to get to reserved seat

This problem is particularly prevalent on Strike Saturdays where those services end up catering for Northern passengers displaced by strike action as well.
Sam

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Last minute reservations is a bad idea. Offering last minute "counted place" deals, no probson the understanding no seat reservation is offered and the train may already be full. But not walk-up reservations. We cannot handle the loading as it is and far too many trains are being sent out with every single seat reserved (except the priority seats) and calls from front line staff to management to reduce the number of pre-booked seats are repeatedly falling on deaf ears. Its not "yield-management" when standard full fare passengers cannot get a seat,

 

[Jozhua]

Last minute reservations is a bad idea. Offering last minute "counted place" deals, no probson the understanding no seat reservation is offered and the train may already be full. But not walk-up reservations. We cannot handle the loading as it is and far too many trains are being sent out with every single seat reserved (except the priority seats) and calls from front line staff to management to reduce the number of pre-booked seats are repeatedly falling on deaf ears. Its not "yield-management" when standard full fare passengers cannot get a seat,

Totally agreed! When I'm paying large sums of money to travel on a "premium service" with "Express" in the name because I have to travel last minute I'm extremely frustrated when I don't even get a seat! There are often people standing on TPE services even with 20/30% of the seats free because no one wants the bother of being kicked out...

Seat reservations can and do have a use on British railways, however their misuse by TOCs to attempt to "solve" overcrowding is resulting in a worse experience for everyone involved. In some other countries, they don't offer seat reservations but instead don't sell more tickets than seats on the train...

I feel sorry for front line staff who have to deal with the disruption this broken system causes and hope passengers can help get management to listen!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think they're a great idea as long as they are available via a wide range of outlets - booking office, TVM, mobile app, Web - and with a seat selector as this has.

Imagine arriving at Euston, either pulling your phone out or popping to a TVM and requesting yourself coach A, seat 45 (oi! no! it's mine!), wandering around at your leisure and sauntering in a relaxed manner down to the train knowing you've got a seat. Or imagine going to the TVM and knowing it was going to be heaving as there were none left, and being able to make a decision whether to stand (in which case no point rushing, as you already know you're standing) or to try clicking the next train in the list, grabbing a reservation on that and going for a swift pint instead?

Done right it has the potential to remove the stress from walk-up travel entirely without having the restrictions of "when it's full it's full" compulsory reservations.

 

[185143]

I like the idea (which could certainly help to reduce the Manchester Piccadilly platform 14 scrum

I strongly disagree. All it will cause is people refusing to board at the door nearest these seats, or they won't sit there and will just stand by the doors-making passenger loading take longer than it often already does!

 

[modernrail]

I don't quite understand the proposed system. If I board at Liverpool to travel to Leeds and sit in an unreserved seat could somebody potentially book that seat from Manchester to Leeds after I have boarded and try and kick me out? If so, I am afraid I would be one of those people making a fuss, absolutely zero chance I would move.

 

[Bungle965]

I don't quite understand the proposed system. If I board at Liverpool to travel to Leeds and sit in an unreserved seat could somebody potentially book that seat from Manchester to Leeds after I have boarded and try and kick me out? If so, I am afraid I would be one of those people making a fuss, absolutely zero chance I would move.

I'm unsure if it's only specific seats which have that label on it which can be reserved through the journey or whether it's the lot, I would hope that they would only do a select amount.
Sam

 

[modernrail]

Surely there is a sensible half way house. It would be great if you could book until say 30 minutes before a train leaves it's first station. People would quickly get used to that system and use it and I would use it all the time.

The other thing that would help massively is being able to cancel yiur seat reservation if you don't need it. Plenty of passengers would be bothered to do that if it was easy as they appreciate it helps fellow passengers. For instance Virgin and LNER have a habit of ignoring seat preferences despite those seats being available and unreserved. Where that happens to me I sit in the sort of seat I asked for and not my reserved seat that ignored my request for some bizarre reason. It often happens when I request a table seat to work at. I would very much like to be able to cancel the other seat reservation so somebody else can sit there.

It doesn't answer the question of the unfairness of a passenger having paid an eye watering open fare having to stand. The answer to that is simple. Get rid of those ridiculous fares. If that needs to be balanced out by also getting rid of the cheapest advance fares, so be it. Not so much an problem on TPE but a massive problem on the West and East coast main lines.

 

[Spartacus]

Surely there is a sensible half way house. It would be great if you could book until say 30 minutes before a train leaves it's first station. People would quickly get used to that system and use it and I would use it all the time.

The other thing that would help massively is being able to cancel yiur seat reservation if you don't need it. Plenty of passengers would be bothered to do that if it was easy as they appreciate it helps fellow passengers. For instance Virgin and LNER have a habit of ignoring seat preferences despite those seats being available and unreserved. Where that happens to me I sit in the sort of seat I asked for and not my reserved seat that ignored my request for some bizarre reason. It often happens when I request a table seat to work at. I would very much like to be able to cancel the other seat reservation so somebody else can sit there.

It doesn't answer the question of the unfairness of a passenger having paid an eye watering open fare having to stand. The answer to that is simple. Get rid of those ridiculous fares. If that needs to be balanced out by also getting rid of the cheapest advance fares, so be it. Not so much an problem on TPE but a massive problem on the West and East coast main lines.

Spot on, I've always thought being able to reserve a seat on a train while it's en-route is just asking for trouble.

This whole thing would be far more useful for bicycles, since they've made bike reservations mandatory now. If you're using the train for the return portion of your ride chances are you won't have a clue which service you'll be gettting until close to time.

 

[robbeech]

My idea (which I appreciate wouldn’t be available to everyone if they don’t have a smart phone) with the system is to be able to select a seat. By sending the text to XC or using an app or website in this case for TPE but adding a seat number C46 for example on the end / selecting the seat from a diagram it would specifically reserve you that seat.

This has several advantages, one is, if you get on a train and sit in c46 you can reserve c46 to stop someone else doing it. Additionally if you know you like c46 you can request it before it arrives and if it’s available it’ll reserve it. If not it’ll say.
Of course a web / app based interface is more customer friendly and can show much more detail.

I do like the concept of being able to cancel a reservation easily. If it was a case of selecting a current seat, pressing cancel, confirmation window ‘ok’ and it was done then more people would do this. The ability to amend a reservation easily would help. Change C46 to the 1800 not the 1700 or similar. Of course there would be differences in rolling stock and availability but it should be easily implemented.

 

[talltim]

This amuses me, though:
"This facility is only currently available for Standard Class and First Class seat reservations."

Exactly what other kind of reservations does TPE offer?

Damn. I wanted to reserve a cab ride

 

[jfollows]

My idea (which I appreciate wouldn’t be available to everyone if they don’t have a smart phone) with the system is to be able to select a seat. By sending the text to XC or using an app or website in this case for TPE but adding a seat number C46 for example on the end / selecting the seat from a diagram it would specifically reserve you that seat.

I completely agree with you, because this is the only way in which this loathsome new innovation becomes in any way tolerable. Providing clear and simple instructions at your seat on how to reserve the unreserved seat you're now sitting in to avoid it being reserved for someone else en route is just about acceptable to me, although of course it's going to disadvantage the people who can't understand the process or who can't use the technology as you rightly say.

I boycott XC (not really all that hard for me in Wilmslow) because of what they've done likewise with their reservation system, if not for other reasons.

I fail to understand how "the industry" fails to grasp that giving someone a bad experience which will be seen as totally the fault of the railway company, either by turfing someone out of a previously-unreserved seat or by whizzing through a station without stopping "to make up time" just alienates passengers one at a time, ensuring that each of them will do everything possible to avoid travelling by train ever again.

 

[route101]

This problem is particularly prevalent on Strike Saturdays where those services end up catering for Northern passengers displaced by strike action as well.
Sam

I can imagine! Last time i noticed red and yellow lines on the platform and someone on loudspeaker to enforce order .

 

[Bletchleyite]

I completely agree with you, because this is the only way in which this loathsome new innovation becomes in any way tolerable. Providing clear and simple instructions at your seat on how to reserve the unreserved seat you're now sitting in to avoid it being reserved for someone else en route is just about acceptable to me, although of course it's going to disadvantage the people who can't understand the process or who can't use the technology as you rightly say.

I boycott XC (not really all that hard for me in Wilmslow) because of what they've done likewise with their reservation system, if not for other reasons.

I fail to understand how "the industry" fails to grasp that giving someone a bad experience which will be seen as totally the fault of the railway company, either by turfing someone out of a previously-unreserved seat or by whizzing through a station without stopping "to make up time" just alienates passengers one at a time, ensuring that each of them will do everything possible to avoid travelling by train ever again.

I'd suggest that the Euston scrum (or its more on topic Manc Picc P14 cousin) is just as likely to do that.