If I'm sat on a train with an advertised departure time of 1100 I would expect it to leave the station at 1100. Not 1102 after waiting for you to run down the platform, open the doors and get on board. The clue is in the word 'departure'. Maybe the larger stations should follow the airport model and display latest boarding time as well as departure time?
I agree, the departure time is the time that the train departs not as some believe to be the last time you can board the train prior to departure!
If a train is advertised as the 11:09 to York then it should depart at 11:09 not depart at 11:10 or 11:11 because it was held up by passengers dawling along the platform or leaving boarding to the very last second.
Look at it this way, I want to get the 11:09 to York and I have the mindset that I should be able to board up to 11:08:59 then suddenly I have a accident running on the platform as I hear the doors closing, is that my fault for not getting there with time to board or is it the TOCs fault for not moving the public departure time forward?
Judging by some comments, it’s the fault of the nasty customer hating TOC!
If they want the doors to be locked so long before the departure them then the public departure times should be brought forward by a minute or two. Easy!
I think it's a sign that the operator has poor performance and they think that getting trains away a few seconds early is going to make a difference. Of course, it won't. However it will generate much deserved bad publicity for the company.
This is a classic example of the TOC is always wrong and can do no good with their anti passenger mindset.
There is no need to bring the public departure times forward, Joe Public should know by now that the 11:09 departure should be departing at 11:09 and that isn’t the time the doors close prior to departure!
IC services should be timetabled to start the dispatch process 40 seconds to the PUBLIC departure time with the doors closed and right away given for a prompt departure at 11:09.
The conspiracy theory that some have here that TOCs have poorly performing performance figures so think they deliberately choose to close doors early for a earlier departure is misleading and those who sprout this should know better.
Passengers expect a on time service, they don’t expect or pay for a service that is constantly late because people try to board at the very last second and as a example a 11:09 departure leaving at 11:11 might only be 2 mins late leaving the station of origin but well into its journey that 2 min delay would incur delays at other stations en route so a 2 min delay could end up being a much bigger delay.
At stations where departures are removed from station screens 2 minutes prior to departure, this isn’t done so TOCs can massage their performance figures but because there are proven records of accidents happening at that station because people are running for the train eg East Croydon, Luton etc
Yes this might not seem to be customer friendly but it reduces accidents which is far more important.