...with the comment about First slowing down the service particularly there definitely appeared to be a reasonable amount of belief in what they were saying, too. The brief exchange just amused me a little, rather than irritating, and I thought it worth sharing here.
Some people clearly have no idea how a business works, and that there's no logical reason for First to slow down any trains, increase fares and sack staff if they're banking on growing passenger numbers.
Yes, a private company has a duty to make money for shareholders, but most shareholders (who could be you or me) are sensible enough to realise you don't suddenly make oodles of profit by making stupid decisions.
People can genuinely show concern for how First might re-brand the route, restyle the interiors, what they might change in terms of catering and whether the allocation of advance tickets may change on any given service - but there's certain stuff that is fixed and First cannot (and will not) change, like rolling stock or the majority of staff employed today. Chances are they'll even re-hire a lot of fixed-term contract staff if they get the chance, without Virgin meddling any further.
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They'll probably repaint one or two trains for the launch of the franchise and the rest will run around in VT Silver with FWC vinyl's stuck on the side until they're due a repaint. Either way in the grand scheme of things I'm less than convinced by the argument that repaints somehow cost a great deal of money.
More ignorance from the general public I guess.. in that they don't realise the trains would need repainting periodically anyway, and I'm sure Virgin has given the 390s a new coat of paint/vinyls already during their operation.