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Bank Holiday Moan-athon

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plymothian

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26 Sep 2010
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735
Location
Plymouth
Has the first article about "disgusting overcrowded conditions" appeared yet? There's certainly plenty of tweets

Collect 5 points for each of the following passenger clichés:

- I paid x for this ticket, where's my seat?
- Mention of 'dangerously overcrowded'
- Putting on extra carriages
- Putting on more trains
- TOCs have overbooked trains
- Make all trains reserveable
- Treated like cattle
- Declassify first class

Collect a further 3 points for the following TOC clichés:

- Did you have a reservation?
- Staff trained to prevent boarding
- Don't board the train
- Don't have any more stock
- A ticket does not equal a seat
- Crowding is not dangerous
- Tickets are flexible

To be honest, just for once I'd like a TOC on one Bank Holiday to say 'right, you asked for it, 1 ticket = 1 seat, when they're all gone, tough'.
 
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gimmea50anyday

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Joined
8 Jan 2013
Messages
3,456
Location
Back Cab
Is this based on social media tweets or newspaper website's?

One operator per forum member (see which toc can claim a full house first on the bank holiday moanathon bingo) or can we use any number of tweet feeds?
 

plymothian

Member
Joined
26 Sep 2010
Messages
735
Location
Plymouth
If you were going by twitter, and you had GWR, you'd have a full house by now.

Maybe for the August Bank Holiday, in the games forum, someone could set up Bank Holiday bingo with each member playing with his/her chosen media outlet.
 

Bald Rick

Veteran Member
Joined
28 Sep 2010
Messages
29,070
It is with a heavy heart that I can report a journey this morning from St Albans to London (1118). 8 coach train, 50 people standing in my coach, similar in all the others, so roughly 1000 people on board. Similar to the shoulder peak on a working day.

I didn't hear a single moan.
 

SPADTrap

Established Member
Joined
15 Oct 2012
Messages
2,352
I did see a tweet from the VTEC twitter team blaming passengers with flexi tickets for the over crowding! How dare everyone else travel when I want to!
 

Rapidash

Member
Joined
3 Sep 2013
Messages
669
Location
Torbaydos, Devon
Should have seen my commute this morning, full of middle aged parents dragging not-so-enthusiastic teens to The Big Weekend. Full and standing, but plenty of smiles to be seen. I can't imagine it'll be like that on the way back, mind!
 
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LAX54

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2008
Messages
3,753
The Evening Standard led the way last night: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...escribe-madness-and-pandemonium-a3258846.html

Or "TRAINS OVERCROWDED WHEN EVERYONE TURNS UP TO TRAVEL AT SAME TIME SHOCKER!!!!"

I think that ticks a good number of your boxes?


Make all trains pre-booked and reservation only, then watch the complaints go up ! lol

Do some of these people think, that they will be the only people on the train going away on a Friday evening on a Bank Holiday Weekend?
 

Sleepy

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Joined
15 Feb 2009
Messages
1,537
Location
East Anglia
:) Sorry but if you turn up on bank hol. weekend / half term holiday Friday for the 1900 Pad - Penzance without a reservation you must be nuts !!!

This train is always full & standing every normal Friday :roll:
 

ChathillMan

Member
Joined
13 Sep 2010
Messages
265
I think what would help is if you are using a journey planner its tells you how many seats are left to reserve (maybe beside the time) before you see what tickets you can buy, so you can at least make an informed decision. We know what Bank Holiday weekends are like, Joe bloggs going on his first trip to Edinburgh might not.

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk
 

ScouserGirl

Member
Joined
28 Dec 2015
Messages
219
:) Sorry but if you turn up on bank hol. weekend / half term holiday Friday for the 1900 Pad - Penzance without a reservation you must be nuts !!!

This train is always full & standing every normal Friday :roll:

Spot on!! It's the 1st off peak down this way and it is busy and if it was too busy am sure the TM would refuse more passengers..
 

VP185

Member
Joined
13 Feb 2010
Messages
344
:) Sorry but if you turn up on bank hol. weekend / half term holiday Friday for the 1900 Pad - Penzance without a reservation you must be nuts !!!

This train is always full & standing every normal Friday :roll:

The best are those who moan that the train is full and standing and when asked by the TOC
"Did you reserve a seat?" they respond with
"I was told that no seats were available"
 

Helvellyn

Established Member
Joined
28 Aug 2009
Messages
1,995
Ah for the days when a Friday was White Saver day. ;)

Mind you, BR did also have some ability to run reliefs. Hire in some stock from another sub-sector (or even sector) and I guess with the way pay was back then you'd have a decent group of Drivers and Guards up for some rest day working.
 

infobleep

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Feb 2011
Messages
12,556
I think what would help is if you are using a journey planner its tells you how many seats are left to reserve (maybe beside the time) before you see what tickets you can buy, so you can at least make an informed decision. We know what Bank Holiday weekends are like, Joe bloggs going on his first trip to Edinburgh might not.

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk
That's a good idea so it won't happen.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk
 

NorthernSpirit

Established Member
Joined
21 Jun 2013
Messages
2,184
To be honest, just for once I'd like a TOC on one Bank Holiday to say 'right, you asked for it, 1 ticket = 1 seat, when they're all gone, tough'.

That'd work on the 1723 Leeds to Man Vic via Brighouse along with the 1526 to the 1926 services via the same route on a Saturday.

No idea what services are the worse ones in GWR land.
 

TheBigD

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Joined
19 Nov 2008
Messages
1,991
The former railway line through Bakewell (Monsal Trail) was very busy today... does that count ;) ???
 

PHILIPE

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Joined
14 Nov 2011
Messages
13,472
Location
Caerphilly
That'd work on the 1723 Leeds to Man Vic via Brighouse along with the 1526 to the 1926 services via the same route on a Saturday.

No idea what services are the worse ones in GWR land.

The worst services for overcrowding on GWR are trains from Paddington to West of England on the Friday at the start.
 

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,685
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
Has the first article about "disgusting overcrowded conditions" appeared yet? There's certainly plenty of tweets

Collect 5 points for each of the following passenger clichés:

- I paid x for this ticket, where's my seat?
- Mention of 'dangerously overcrowded'
- Putting on extra carriages
- Putting on more trains
- TOCs have overbooked trains
- Make all trains reserveable
- Treated like cattle
- Declassify first class

Collect a further 3 points for the following TOC clichés:

- Did you have a reservation?
- Staff trained to prevent boarding
- Don't board the train
- Don't have any more stock
- A ticket does not equal a seat
- Crowding is not dangerous
- Tickets are flexible

To be honest, just for once I'd like a TOC on one Bank Holiday to say 'right, you asked for it, 1 ticket = 1 seat, when they're all gone, tough'.

Moan or otherwise, to be honest I'd be quite happy to see Bank Holidays abolished and made a normal working day.

I find them a nuisance - a disruption to normal routines with little associated benefit.
 

Lankyline

Member
Joined
25 Jul 2013
Messages
477
Location
Lancashire
Not as if no one knows when Bank holidays fall ! Bring back wakes weeks specials, or commonly known as "eh up tha's goin t'seaside bah train" for all you Yorkies, that's lanky
 

Ianigsy

Member
Joined
12 May 2015
Messages
1,104
Moan or otherwise, to be honest I'd be quite happy to see Bank Holidays abolished and made a normal working day.

I find them a nuisance - a disruption to normal routines with little associated benefit.

You can argue about the rights and wrongs, but nowadays the idea of bank holidays seems to apply only to white collar workers and local authority employees (and to some extent their dependent businesses like sandwich shops). Part of the problem is that unlike some other countries, our public holidays aren't really tied to anything so there's no real idea of commemoration or collective activity- they just happen at convenient times to kickstart the tourist trade in the spring and when it makes sense to encourage people to get some fresh air away from desks and production lines.

Given that a significant number of people take the Friday before a bank holiday weekend off, I do wonder whether it would be more sensible in situations like the Great Western one which comes up several times a year, to run a Saturday service on the commuter lines to free up a couple of Turbos, which in turn could take up one or two 180 or HST diagrams with the ultimate intention of freeing up one or two HSTs for a Paddington-Penzance relief (first passenger stop Plymouth) and possibly an extra Plymouth-Penzance (or Newquay) diagram.
 

PHILIPE

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Joined
14 Nov 2011
Messages
13,472
Location
Caerphilly
You can argue about the rights and wrongs, but nowadays the idea of bank holidays seems to apply only to white collar workers and local authority employees (and to some extent their dependent businesses like sandwich shops). Part of the problem is that unlike some other countries, our public holidays aren't really tied to anything so there's no real idea of commemoration or collective activity- they just happen at convenient times to kickstart the tourist trade in the spring and when it makes sense to encourage people to get some fresh air away from desks and production lines.

Given that a significant number of people take the Friday before a bank holiday weekend off, I do wonder whether it would be more sensible in situations like the Great Western one which comes up several times a year, to run a Saturday service on the commuter lines to free up a couple of Turbos, which in turn could take up one or two 180 or HST diagrams with the ultimate intention of freeing up one or two HSTs for a Paddington-Penzance relief (first passenger stop Plymouth) and possibly an extra Plymouth-Penzance (or Newquay) diagram.

GWR do stretch their HSTs and run additionals to the West of England on the Friday as it is.
 

fgwrich

Established Member
Joined
15 Apr 2009
Messages
9,250
Location
Between Edinburgh and Exeter
Has GW and SWT bulked up their services to the West Country this weekend? With Exeter Chiefs at Twickenham (Today), Cornwall Rugby at Twickers tomorrow and Plymouth Argyle at Wembley on Monday, and Radio 1s Big Weekend happening the other way at Exeter - and the fine weather bringing beach goers out, it's a busy weekend between London Padd / Waterloo and the West Country! Let alone it being a Bank Holiday weekend!
 

theageofthetra

On Moderation
Joined
27 May 2012
Messages
3,504
Re the logical idea of having access to a system to show how many seats are available. This happens on Chinese trains and the same information is also shown at major stations next to the train number on the departure boards.
 

Bevan Price

Established Member
Joined
22 Apr 2010
Messages
7,320
Spot on!! It's the 1st off peak down this way and it is busy and if it was too busy am sure the TM would refuse more passengers..

Of course if they did not have damn silly peak hour restrictions, there might not be so many people all trying to use one train.
 

jimm

Established Member
Joined
6 Apr 2012
Messages
5,230
Where is this moan-athon taking place? Most of it seems to be here, rather than in the media.

Along with 'helpful suggestions' like this gem...

Given that a significant number of people take the Friday before a bank holiday weekend off, I do wonder whether it would be more sensible in situations like the Great Western one which comes up several times a year, to run a Saturday service on the commuter lines to free up a couple of Turbos, which in turn could take up one or two 180 or HST diagrams with the ultimate intention of freeing up one or two HSTs for a Paddington-Penzance relief (first passenger stop Plymouth) and possibly an extra Plymouth-Penzance (or Newquay) diagram.

I don't know where this significant number of people taking Fridays off before bank holidays are but it certainly isn't anywhere in the Thames Valley. A Saturday service? As John McEnroe used to say, you cannot be serious - or maybe you are?

GWR did run extra HSTs to the West Country on Friday (1434 to Plymouth, 1933 to Penzance, plus the regular Friday extensions of two HSTs from Exeter to Plymouth), same as they do ahead of every bank holiday, with basically everything that can run being pressed into service. And not everyone wants to go to the West Country - oddly enough, GWR trains to Bristol, South Wales, the Cotswolds/Worcester/Hereford are also very busy on the Friday before a bank holiday...

Re the logical idea of having access to a system to show how many seats are available. This happens on Chinese trains and the same information is also shown at major stations next to the train number on the departure boards.

And of course China copes so much better with demand around public holidays... Does a lunar new year go by without reports of ginormous queues of people at stations overloading their railways? Heavy snow this February added to the fun, with estimates that 100,000 people were stuck at Guangzhou station at one point.
 
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