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Petition to bring back the buffet on GWR

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Mountain Man

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Do you consider that the present patchy provision is acceptable? I absolutely do not. If you do, then more fool you; you must have unscrupulous companies taking advantage of you all the time.

This is sensible particularly with kids, but it doesn't mean it's OK for GWR not to provide a service they advertise simply because they can't acquire suitable equipment and recruit suitable staff.
I don't really care tbh. I never use catering on trains. Its a rip off, and I think you must be made of money to use it on a regular basis.

I always take my own food and drink because I really dont see the point in paying a lot more than I need to for something.

People defending buffets are defending the right to pay way over the odds for something you can get for less before the journey.

Personally I would just get rid of catering on trains to stop people getting fooled into buying it.

Its the same as people who shop in shops at stations. Why on earth you would pay so much more unnecessarily is beyond me
 
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Bletchleyite

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People defending buffets are defending the right to pay way over the odds for something you can get for less before the journey.

Where can I buy a cup of tea that's still going to be hot 3.5 hours into the journey and not taste foul like flask tea usually does, then? I don't think the TOC is going to like me getting a camping stove out to make one.

OK, maybe you don't like hot drinks, but plenty of people do.
 

Mountain Man

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Where can I buy a cup of tea that's still going to be hot 3.5 hours into the journey and not taste foul like flask tea usually does, then? I don't think the TOC is going to like me getting a camping stove out to make one.

OK, maybe you don't like hot drinks, but plenty of people do.
You complain about foul tea? Yet support buffet tea? That's a contradiction.

A decent hot drink will be drinkable in a couple of hours in the right sort of cup.

I like hot nice tea and coffee. That is not something you buy on a train buffet
 

404250

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I like hot drinks, but can wait a few hours between each one. Nobody needs one on a train or any journey. Have a tea or coffee in the morning and throughout the day when you have a solid kitchen, not when on wheels.
 

Bletchleyite

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You complain about foul tea? Yet support buffet tea? That's a contradiction.

A decent hot drink will be drinkable in a couple of hours in the right sort of cup.

I like hot nice tea and coffee. That is not something you buy on a train buffet

A buffet car is quite capable of putting boiling water in a cup. And if you're more for coffee, most of them now have a coffee machine producing decent coffee.

I like hot drinks, but can wait a few hours between each one. Nobody needs one on a train or any journey. Have a tea or coffee in the morning and throughout the day when you have a solid kitchen, not when on wheels.

Nobody needs any drink other than water - but do we really want to lower our railway to that level? Might as well fit hard plastic seats (yes, I know) in a 3+3 formation, no carpets and a riveted steel interior if you're going to take that line.

Fundamentally if a service is offered it should be delivered reliably.

If it can't be delivered reliably it should be withdrawn.
 

Mountain Man

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If it can't be delivered reliably it should be withdrawn.
I agree. Rip out buffets, stick in a few vending machines for cold drinks and snacks and add in seats.

Buffets serving lousy drinks and microwaved rubbish are not needed in the 21st century
 

43096

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I agree. Rip out buffets, stick in a few vending machines for cold drinks and snacks and add in seats.

Buffets serving lousy drinks and microwaved rubbish are not needed in the 21st century
It is perfectly possible to do decent microwave food, if you pick the right product. DB manage it in their Bordbistros.

You just advocate a continuation of the race to the bottom. A world where you use the train because you have to rather than choosing to.
 

Mountain Man

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You just advocate a continuation of the race to the bottom. A world where you use the train because you have to rather than choosing to.
People do post some utter nonsense.

How is getting rid of over priced poor quality food and drink a race to the bottom?

Selling people microwaved burgers and lousy coffee at vastly inflated prices THAT is the bottom.

I advocate trains use their space better and have more seats which will actually benefit passengers.
 

43096

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People do post some utter nonsense.

How is getting rid of over priced poor quality food and drink a race to the bottom?

Selling people microwaved burgers and lousy coffee at vastly inflated prices THAT is the bottom.

I advocate trains use their space better and have more seats which will actually benefit passengers.
What about trains that provide a decent catering service, as per DB and (particularly) CD? The fact that the catering on many UK trains is dross just serves to illustrate my point. It is do-able if the TOCs could be bothered.
 

Mountain Man

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What about trains that provide a decent catering service, as per DB and (particularly) CD? The fact that the catering on many UK trains is dross just serves to illustrate my point. It is do-able if the TOCs could be bothered.
No one has been bothered in the last 40 years, nationalised railways or private sector so I'm not exactly optimistic we're suddenly going to get an improvement now. The food on the go sector in the UK is so strong there is no need for on board catering at sky high prices when people can bring their own or buy it before they travel.

Why bother with tasteless brown rubbish being sold as coffee when you can buy a good cup before you board?
 

Bletchleyite

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People do post some utter nonsense.

How is getting rid of over priced poor quality food and drink a race to the bottom?

Overpriced is a matter of opinion. The cost of sales onboard is higher so a higher price is reasonable.

With regard to quality, do you feel M&S's premium range of ready meals is poor quality? This is the kind of stuff you want to be selling if you want to make a microwaved Bistro offering good - as DB do.
 

cactustwirly

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Overpriced is a matter of opinion. The cost of sales onboard is higher so a higher price is reasonable.

With regard to quality, do you feel M&S's premium range of ready meals is poor quality? This is the kind of stuff you want to be selling if you want to make a microwaved Bistro offering good - as DB do.

Ready meals are Ok, but I wouldn't pay £7 for them.
 

Mountain Man

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With regard to quality, do you feel M&S's premium range of ready meals is poor quality? This is the kind of stuff you want to be selling if you want to make a microwaved Bistro offering good - as DB do.
They are nothing special by ready meal standards, so yes, I would call it poor quality. Over priced and reliant on people getting sucked in by marketing and brand. People think paying a lot equals quality, it doesnt

If thats the best then definitely they should rip out buffets
 

Bletchleyite

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They are nothing special by ready meal standards, so yes, I would call it poor quality. Over priced and reliant on people getting sucked in by marketing and brand. People think paying a lot equals quality, it doesnt

If thats the best then definitely they should rip out buffets

"Nothing special" doesn't mean "poor quality". Tesco Value ready meals are of poor quality. M&S food is not. You could argue it was expensive, but not of poor quality.
 

Bletchleyite

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Its overpriced compared to fair value for the product they are offering.

Price is not cost.

Part of fair value includes the cost of providing it. £4 for a bottle of a given beer from a supermarket would be very poor value. The same bottle in a central London pub would be excellent value, because the cost profile of a pub is completely different.
 

Mountain Man

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"Nothing special" doesn't mean "poor quality". Tesco Value ready meals are of poor quality. M&S food is not. You could argue it was expensive, but not of poor quality.
By judgement its poor quality so I'll argue what I like thank you very much.
 

cactustwirly

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Part of fair value includes the cost of providing it. £4 for a bottle of a given beer from a supermarket would be very poor value. The same bottle in a central London pub would be excellent value, because the cost profile of a pub is completely different.

But the train isn't a pub...
 

Mountain Man

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Part of fair value includes the cost of providing it. £4 for a bottle of a given beer from a supermarket would be very poor value. The same bottle in a central London pub would be excellent value, because the cost profile of a pub is completely different.
No, value is a perception for the purchaser. It a relationship between selling price and the economic worth someone places on an item. Cost and profitability has nothing to do with value
 

Bletchleyite

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No, value is a perception for the purchaser. It a relationship between selling price and the economic worth someone places on an item. Cost and profitability has nothing to do with value

And that economic worth is for me higher in a location where it costs more to provide the service. Not everyone is as realistic/understanding, of course.
 

Mountain Man

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And that economic worth is for me higher in a location where it costs more to provide the service. Not everyone is as realistic/understanding, of course.
Well that's your view. It isnt mine. I don't believe the service should be provided because it represents poor value compared to the alternative, ie. Buying before you get on.

I'm more than happy if people want to throw money away.
 

Mountain Man

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No, but it's more like a pub than a supermarket in cost profile terms.
Its competing with supermarkets so that's the relevant comparison.

I can buy a drink from a supermarket and take it on the train, its a direct competitor. I can't buy a drink in a pub and take it on the train.

Whilst some clearly prioritise throwing money to subsidise train buffets, I'd rather save the money
 

Entertexthere

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I just think that the buffet car is a bit of a fun novelty in my eyes: the thought of buying something like a packet of biscuits on a train just sounds fun to me. I don't know whether other people have that mindset but I sure do :D
 

hexagon789

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No one has been bothered in the last 40 years, nationalised railways or private sector so I'm not exactly optimistic we're suddenly going to get an improvement now. The food on the go sector in the UK is so strong there is no need for on board catering at sky high prices when people can bring their own or buy it before they travel.

Why bother with tasteless brown rubbish being sold as coffee when you can buy a good cup before you board?

I'm with Mountain Man. No buffet, no trolley

You don't have to use them, but some people do and want the option. It's about choice, having neither suits only one set of people, having at least some form of catering suits more people as you are at the very least giving them the option to partake or not.
 

Mountain Man

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You don't have to use them, but some people do and want the option. It's about choice, having neither suits only one set of people, having at least some form of catering suits more people as you are at the very least giving them the option to partake or not.
Getting rid helps everyone by providing more seating capacity available to all.
 
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