I keep seeing this claim or interpretation that trains would have run with only one member of staff (the driver) but TOCs have been at pains to say over and over again that they intended to keep running with an on board supervisor (or equivalent term) with duties focussed on revenue proitection and customer service, and that one would always be rostered - so the only time a train would ever run with literally only the driver on board would be in cases where a rostered supervisor was unavailable for whatever reason.
The RMT’s concern all along has been that removal of the safety critical aspect of the guards’ role dilutes and casualises the grade, thereby making it vulnerable to being dispensed with. Resistance to this seems a perfectly reasonable position for a trade union representing guards to take, no?!
Admittedly emphasising the customer service aspect of the guards’ role would be better than harping on about (marginal) safety considerations.
The guarantees you mention from a passengers (remember them?) perspective simply preserve the status quo of having to leave a train half way along and watch it pull out and continue as ECS to the original destination (as I and many others had to do one winters evening at Chichester) because the guard had finished his shift.
As a driver who has worked guarded trains for a couple of years now, I can’t think of a single incident where a train has been cancelled due to having a guard vice driver.
On the other hand the experience of boarding a train and encountering an aggressive beggar, or someone smoking a spliff, happens to me on a regular basis on the DOO services I commute on.
I don’t believe the passenger experience is improved one iota through DOO and fares are no cheaper.
I'm not disputing what you say however as someone who uses northern trains sometimes it seems like eternity for the guard to open the doors even on stations with straight platforms. I swear at Preston I could grab a brew and still be back in time before they have opened them
I believe northern still employ the guard-opens-local-door-before-releasing procedure. Driver open guard close would reduce this.
I currently operate guarded trains alongside DOO services and am often stopped and away quicker than the adjacent DOO service on the slows.