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Getting people back on trains as lockdown eases.

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Mugby

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I saw quite a few news items about this yesterday, both on national TV news and in several daily papers.

18,000 train services per day from next Monday, extra trains, extra space, increased ventilation, extra cleaning, more information etc.

Is there really any substance to this or is it the art of selling a big lie? where will the extra trains come from, or is that just reinstating services which have been suspended?
Apparently a recent survey has shown that 90% of travellers 'now feel safe on public transport'- really? I imagine it depends how the question was put to them. Now it's been proved that large sections of the population will freely believe almost anything, is this just a massive PR exercise with little or nothing actually happening? Frankly, I don't buy any of it but so long as people are put at ease, that's all that matters isn't it.
How do you increase ventilation on an air conditioned train? - knock a few windows out?
 
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yorksrob

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The trains are certainly very clean, and I've seen a lot of staff going through cleaning and collecting rubbish en route.

As to the extra trains on Monday, this is vey much a postcode lottery as some areas will still be struggling with lockdown timetables.

I think with air conditioning, you can adjust it to bring in more air from outside, so that may be one way of approaching the issue.
 

Silver Cobra

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While this isn’t specifically about trains, Stagecoach in my local area are reinstating the original service of two buses per hour as of Monday. Even during the summer and early autumn of last year, we still had the reduced service of one bus per hour, alternating between the two services each hour. Their reasoning for the service restoration is to help cope with the expected increase in demand from the reopening of non-essential retail from Monday (regardless of the reason, I’m very happy to have back the original service after over a year of the reduced service).

As such, I wouldn’t be surprised if some train services are being restored on Monday for the same reason.
 

greyman42

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I think with air conditioning, you can adjust it to bring in more air from outside, so that may be one way of approaching the issue.
I hope that does not mean we will all be sat there freezing?
 

LowLevel

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EMR start PR campaigns to encourage people back from Monday regarding travelling in safety etc.
 

Peter Mugridge

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I saw quite a few news items about this yesterday, both on national TV news and in several daily papers.

18,000 train services per day from next Monday, extra trains, extra space, increased ventilation, extra cleaning, more information etc.

Is there really any substance to this or is it the art of selling a big lie? where will the extra trains come from, or is that just reinstating services which have been suspended?
It's re-instating services that were suspended because of the coronavirus stuff.

It still won't be a full timetable nationally; I have seen the figure mentioned on Twitter of it being 80% of the base timetable.
 

Spartacus

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I don't expect to see too many people returning to the railways in the short term unless they have little choice while passengers are required to wear masks and on some services pre-book, unless the roads start to get seriously congested. I renewed my season ticket but it isn't taking much for me to decide to take the car into work instead of the train. It doesn't help that waiting rooms are closed so that between a reduced service I'll still be expected to wait on a rather cold platform in a mask, for half the time it would take me to get home by car, then get the train in a mask, total travel time 90 minutes, when I could be in a nice warm car with no mask required at all, and home in 45 minutes.
 

yorksrob

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Quite a few waiting rooms and facilities now open on my travels. However they do need to be reinstated more generally.
 

yorksrob

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I'm not generally one for sitting in waiting rooms, however being of a ccertain age, the presence of functioning loos has taken on a greater importance for me in recent years.
 

Jamiescott1

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Get rid of the requirement to wear masks.
Remove ridcilous one way systems in stations. Does the fact that they have to have staff enforcing the one way systems and that people don't follow them voluntary show what people think of them
 

306024

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The trains are certainly very clean, and I've seen a lot of staff going through cleaning and collecting rubbish en route.
As part of any campaign can we simply add ‘take your rubbish with you’. Is it really that difficult? :rolleyes:

Yes there are many things that appeared in the early days of Covid that were done so that the railway could be seen to be doing ‘something’. One way systems in the fresh air when enclosed supermarkets don’t have them for example.

As for masks, sorry face coverings, who is the politician who will be brave enough to say they are no longer necessary. As has been proved it is easy to introduce rules, but try removing them.
 

yorksrob

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As part of any campaign can we simply add ‘take your rubbish with you’. Is it really that difficult? :rolleyes:

Yes there are many things that appeared in the early days of Covid that were done so that the railway could be seen to be doing ‘something’. One way systems in the fresh air when enclosed supermarkets don’t have them for example.

As for masks, sorry face coverings, who is the politician who will be brave enough to say they are no longer necessary. As has been proved it is easy to introduce rules, but try removing them.

Most trains and stations seem to have bins now, so its worthwhile using them !
 

TravelDream

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I'm not generally one for sitting in waiting rooms, however being of a ccertain age, the presence of functioning loos has taken on a greater importance for me in recent years.

I have IBS and I think some people don't seem to realise how limiting the lack of facilities can be.

Many people simply can't 'wait' or 'hold it in'. The applies to many elderly people and lots of younger ones as well.

I'm quite happy our local council opened public toilets (well... the ones they have left) quite early on last summer and haven't shut them since.
 

yorksrob

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I have IBS and I think some people don't seem to realise how limiting the lack of facilities can be.

Many people simply can't 'wait' or 'hold it in'. The applies to many elderly people and lots of younger ones as well.

I'm quite happy our local council opened public toilets (well... the ones they have left) quite early on last summer and haven't shut them since.

Yes, shutting public loos was definitely a bad idea !
 

Spartacus

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I don’t think I have ever sat (or stood) in a station waiting room.

There're certainly a plus when you've 25 minutes to wait for the next train, it's hovering around 2 degrees and there's a biting wind.
 

yorksrob

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Yes, the porch/waiting room at Ribblehead when it's blowing a winter gale is definitely a godsend !
 

squizzler

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The suggestion is that the economy (well, GDP actually) will grow at five percent this year and next. If true, a growing economy means growing rail traffic, albeit growth in train travel decoupled from the moribund GDP figures (and certainly from the real economy) in the 2010s.
 

DelayRepay

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Unfortunately, I think the railways have a lot of work to do to convince people to travel with them.

Pre-pandemic, I preferred to use the train if I needed to visit another part of the country, either for work or leisure. I found it much less stressful than driving, especially if I could plan to travel off peak when the trains weren't busy.

The few times I have used the train during the pandemic, I have felt like I was an inconvenience to the railway, with announcements and notices about 'key workers' and 'essential travel' - even when these were not part of the legal restrictions in place at the time I was travelling. There are many similar stories on this forum. Then we have the one way systems, the 'can't sit there', 'don't stand there' rules, the lack of catering and so on. I did not find my last few journeys pleasant at all, and that's not just because I had to wear a mask.

In the future I will be doing far less travel for work, because I think Zoom etc are here to stay. My colleagues who work in London will be doing far less commuting as home working will become the norm in our company. So the railway will be more dependent on leisure travel. Unless they find a way to make leisure travellers feel more welcome, I cannot see people returning in huge volumes. Some will use cars instead, some won't travel at all.

I have several trips already planned for the next few months - all of which will be by car.
 

Paul Jones 88

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Financial incentives would be a good idea to bring customers back to the railway, at the moment I see a lot of fresh air being transported by train, why not have a 25% fare reduction for a month or two, it would encourage more customers who might very well stay.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Financial incentives would be a good idea to bring customers back to the railway, at the moment I see a lot of fresh air being transported by train, why not have a 25% fare reduction for a month or two, it would encourage more customers who might very well stay.
Didn't Virgin Trains have a 50% reduction for a period on all the fares they controlled, this after Hatfield in 2001?
 

dk1

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Financial incentives would be a good idea to bring customers back to the railway, at the moment I see a lot of fresh air being transported by train, why not have a 25% fare reduction for a month or two, it would encourage more customers who might very well stay.
There a all sorts of promotions planned but when the government advises the public to minimise travel & social distancing is in place things like that are not wise just yet. Better to have quiet trains until the situation improves.
 

duncanp

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They will have to get rid of social distancing, and also stop trying to pretend that trains are "sold out".

I am looking to do a leisure journey from Birmingham to Bristol on Saturday 15th May.

Cross Country trains are saying that every train on the hourly direct service is "Sold Out", and yet it is possible to book a seat on the indirect service which requires a change at Gloucester.

I know the reason the trains are showing as "Sold Out" is probably because the timetable hasn't been confirmed yet, perhaps due to engineering work or "..COVID-19 reasons (everyone's favourite excuse)".

But if someone who wasn't familiar with the railways didn't know this, the might assume that all trains were sold out, and either inconvenience themselves with an indirect journey, or use another means of transport.
 

greyman42

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There a all sorts of promotions planned but when the government advises the public to minimise travel & social distancing is in place things like that are not wise just yet. Better to have quiet trains until the situation improves.
What improvement are you looking for?
 

greyman42

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I think as things get busier and people ignore the restrictions more and more, it will hasten the lifting of them as government don't want to be seen as being ignored.
 

Jamiescott1

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I commute on the train daily and have done throughout the pandemic.
Prior to covid id also take the tube for the final part of my journey.
I now refuse to use tfl services after they spent the best part of 6 months basically saying they didn't want any customers on the tube.
I now cycle the 15km daily instead of the tube, and when my bike was broke I walked instead.

If a private business tried to discourage customers the way tfl did then it would go bankrupt within weeks
 
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