I chose not to board the train at the nearest door and it left without me

[Falcon1200]

This is kind of what I do when I take my bike on the train (not trying to poke another hornet's nest with that one!)

I don't know which end of the train the bike space will be at, so I stand with my bike at the arrival end of the platform so that the whole train will have to come past me as it arrives. If I see that the bike space is at the front as it passes me, I start moving along the platform so that by the time the train has come to a stop and the doors have been released, I'm more or less in the right place by the doors that I need. (The trains are never more than four carriages long in these parts so it's not too far!)

That's a sensible way of doing things. The trains I mostly take my bike on (Scotrail's Class 380 sets) have a dedicated space, also at one end of the set (why not in a middle vehicle BTW ?). There is a number on the cab ends which allows me to see where the bike space is (oddly, the non-bike end is numbered 2 and the bike end 3). The only problem sometimes being the luggage/prams/people already in the bike space....

 

[BrianW]

What an interesting range of comments Tommy3000 has generated.

My own 'take' (FWIW) is that people are strange and unpredictable. Even Tommy3000 seems rather unclear regarding why he didn't just get on.
I have certainly tended to 'look' for the 'best' door (esp as a product of slam-door/non-corridor stock).
We are perhaps more conscious of folk with disabilities (seen or unseen) and/or in need of assistance, and of people feeling vulnerable.
All, including women, are entitled to travel freely and to seek to avoid unpleasant fellow-travellers.
Staff get irritated just as do passengers; some empathy might help, and perspective- nobody died (though they could have
I like trains to run on time, except when I'm late then I want it to come in late yet arrive at my destination on time!
I also like seeing relative newcomers to the Forum welcomed rather than slagged off; that's me!

That's a sensible way of doing things. The trains I mostly take my bike on (Scotrail's Class 380 sets) have a dedicated space, also at one end of the set (why not in a middle vehicle BTW ?). There is a number on the cab ends which allows me to see where the bike space is (oddly, the non-bike end is numbered 2 and the bike end 3). The only problem sometimes being the luggage/prams/people already in the bike space....

Welcome Falcon1200 ...
This reminds me when some trains (Southern Region?) had whole train ends painted as to the 'luggage end'.

 

[jumble]

If you have to wait 30 seconds for somebody to move away you may as well spend 10 seconds letting them on.

Would this modify their behaviour so they don't repeat the idiocy next time ?

What I have never been able to fathom is if people want to be in a certain carriage (say at the front, or the back), why they don't position themselves in a place on the platform where that carriage is most likely to stop.

True trains aren't always marshalled the same way around or can be short formed etc. But get most of the way to the right location to start with.

(I admit people who don't use trains often or haven't travelled on the service beforehand may not know this.)

Then as the train pulls in, I pick my door of choice and walk along with it until it stops so that I'm in the right place when the doors release and can board as soon as those alighting have vacated the train.

What baffles me (and I see it often) are those that stand there on the platform, wait till it's stopped and then think, now where should I get on? Worse still those that look like they don't want the train. But then make a mad dash to the closing doors when they hear them beeping.

By the way, to refute an early comment about this being a staff only thread, it's not. I'm a passenger, and one who regularly has to change trains or swap from train to bus. So those seconds these ditherers waste really bug me because as stated by other posters, the delays mount up and the risk of me missing my connecting service increases with it.

Easy Explanation

I often arrive at Rayners Lane as the train is pulling into the platform and find myself at the wrong end of the train

 

[Neptune]

That's a sensible way of doing things. The trains I mostly take my bike on (Scotrail's Class 380 sets) have a dedicated space, also at one end of the set (why not in a middle vehicle BTW ?). There is a number on the cab ends which allows me to see where the bike space is (oddly, the non-bike end is numbered 2 and the bike end 3). The only problem sometimes being the luggage/prams/people already in the bike space....

I think that the numbers on the end relate to the disabled area rather than the bike space. It would be a good example of how to do it.

Northern have colour coded stickers above the door where the bike area (green) and disabled area (light blue) are. It is a great system although some on here in the past said they don’t like it for some bizarre reason (probably because of corporate colour scheme OCD but is it not better for something like that to stand out?).

 

[Mintona]

Would this modify their behaviour so they don't repeat the idiocy next time ?

Yeah probably. They’d have been spooked from nearly missing the last train. Even so, there’ll always be someone else to do the same thing in the future.

I wouldn’t recommend reopening the doors in every situation. Just maybe on the last train of the night when somebody is urgently pushing the button.

 

[scotraildriver]

That's a sensible way of doing things. The trains I mostly take my bike on (Scotrail's Class 380 sets) have a dedicated space, also at one end of the set (why not in a middle vehicle BTW ?). There is a number on the cab ends which allows me to see where the bike space is (oddly, the non-bike end is numbered 2 and the bike end 3). The only problem sometimes being the luggage/prams/people already in the bike space....

The numbers on the ends are to tell station staff where the wheelchair space is, the 2 means it's in the second coach, the 3 at the other end indicates its the 3rd coach back. Speeds up getting the ramp ready.

 

[43096]

Northern have colour coded stickers above the door where the bike area (green) and disabled area (light blue) are. It is a great system although some on here in the past said they don’t like it for some bizarre reason (probably because of corporate colour scheme OCD but is it not better for something like that to stand out?).

Hopefully any national GBR livery will use that system:
Yellow for first class, green for bikes, light blue for wheelchair area. Heck, if there was an outbreak of customer service, we could even have red for catering services.

 

[al78]

If I'm sat in a platform ready to go and a person walks past a released door I assume they don't want my train and off I go. We don't have time to sit and wait for people to saunter along and pick their preferred door, mainly because the vast, near total, majority of people get on at the first door they see so someone who doesn't probably doesn't want the train.

I can see the point but have a question about a different but related situation. If I had a standard bicycle with me, would a driver in such a situation be able to appreciate I was walking down the train looking for the carriage with cycle storage and allow me time to find it and board? Whenever I use trains with a bike, I will walk along the platform close to the train after it stops (e.g. on the yellow line) when finding the correct carriage to board, although in the SE, I have never had an issue with very short dwell times.

 

[43066]

I can see the point but have a question about a different but related situation. If I had a standard bicycle with me, would a driver in such a situation be able to appreciate I was walking down the train looking for the carriage with cycle storage and allow me time to find it and board? Whenever I use trains with a bike, I will walk along the platform close to the train after it stops (e.g. on the yellow line) when finding the correct carriage to board, although in the SE, I have never had an issue with very short dwell times.

Probably not. The driver will be focussing on the dispatch monitors and might not even be able to see someone who isn’t standing quite close to the train.

Certainly at my TOC announcements tell passengers whereabouts bicycle space will be located so that they can get into position ahead of the train’s arrival. Seems to work perfectly well.

 

[TheEdge]

I can see the point but have a question about a different but related situation. If I had a standard bicycle with me, would a driver in such a situation be able to appreciate I was walking down the train looking for the carriage with cycle storage and allow me time to find it and board? Whenever I use trains with a bike, I will walk along the platform close to the train after it stops (e.g. on the yellow line) when finding the correct carriage to board, although in the SE, I have never had an issue with very short dwell times.

If you are walking with purpose, a cycle and being that close to the train a driver would notice you and probably appreciate you are looking for a door for your cycle.

 

[scrapy]

It should also be noted that a DOO driver doesn't see the platform as a whole but as several camera shots. They may not have initially seen you and thought you had alighted and were walking along the platform towards an exit. It's often not obvious how far along a platform you are or whether you are waking towards or away from an exit.

 

[Falcon1200]

The numbers on the ends are to tell station staff where the wheelchair space is, the 2 means it's in the second coach, the 3 at the other end indicates its the 3rd coach back. Speeds up getting the ramp ready.

Thanks, finally I know what the numbers mean !

 

[Statto]

What I have never been able to fathom is if people want to be in a certain carriage (say at the front, or the back), why they don't position themselves in a place on the platform where that carriage is most likely to stop.

True trains aren't always marshalled the same way around or can be short formed etc. But get most of the way to the right location to start with.

(I admit people who don't use trains often or haven't travelled on the service beforehand may not know this.)

Then as the train pulls in, I pick my door of choice and walk along with it until it stops so that I'm in the right place when the doors release and can board as soon as those alighting have vacated the train.

What baffles me (and I see it often) are those that stand there on the platform, wait till it's stopped and then think, now where should I get on? Worse still those that look like they don't want the train. But then make a mad dash to the closing doors when they hear them beeping.

By the way, to refute an early comment about this being a staff only thread, it's not. I'm a passenger, and one who regularly has to change trains or swap from train to bus. So those seconds these ditherers waste really bug me because as stated by other posters, the delays mount up and the risk of me missing my connecting service increases with it.

For me it's being in the right carriage so i can exit the station quickly when i get off at the other end, but i try & get there 5 minutes before the train is due, as most Merseyrail stations[which is my local network] i know where the exit to the platforms are, same for some principal stations, Euston is one were i want to be as close to the front of the train as possible because of that painful walk from platforms to either Tube or bus station.

 

[BrianW]

For me it's being in the right carriage so i can exit the station quickly when i get off at the other end, but i try & get there 5 minutes before the train is due, as most Merseyrail stations[which is my local network] i know where the exit to the platforms are, same for some principal stations, Euston is one were i want to be as close to the front of the train as possible because of that painful walk from platforms to either Tube or bus station.

When I was a regular 'commuter' Harrow&Wealdstone- Euston I used to walk to the 'country' end of the platform, less crowded on the platform and the train and at Euston. Even possible to get a seat quite often for the 15 min journey (I also tended to walk from there rather than tube or bus- trees, birds, less noise, pollution ...). A nuisance though when it was a 4-car instead of the usual 8.
So much more satisfying than the much more frequent 'tube' from Harrow Met (even tho' looking down' smuggly on the Jubilee); I never even considered BR Harrow (Met) to Marylebone- no idea why.

 

[miklcct]

I think in future, you should consider if in these specific circumstances, it’s a good idea to wait until after the train has stopped and released the doors to decide to walk down the platform for your preferred set of doors to board the train. Especially if you need to be on it and especially if it is running late.

As you’re asking for opinions, I would say that is not a good idea and in future to board at the closest set of doors and walk through the train if you want to find a toilet, changing units at the next stop 5 minutes later if needs be.

I use those trains in the evenings and they don’t dwell for very long at stations. 10 seconds is not out of the ordinary. Perhaps drivers are advised to wait for passengers who dither on the platform for no apparent reason, but if the train is running late I wouldn’t advise doing that.

Two questions here:

1. Why do we have to press the button to open train doors here (and elsewhere in Europe)? All doors on trains open and close automatically on trains in Asian countries.

2. Sometimes, it is possible that I need to board a train at a specific carriage, because I need to get off at a station with a short platform. How should we deal with such cases? Walking down the train isn't possible in such scenario because it's not possible to walk across different EMUs on some trains!

 

[mmh]

Two questions here:

1. Why do we have to press the button to open train doors here (and elsewhere in Europe)? All doors on trains open and close automatically on trains in Asian countries.

2. Sometimes, it is possible that I need to board a train at a specific carriage, because I need to get off at a station with a short platform. How should we deal with such cases? Walking down the train isn't possible in such scenario because it's not possible to walk across different EMUs on some trains!

1. Passenger comfort. The same reasons why on many modern trains an open door will self-close after a while.
2. This is dealt with by announcements. I would doubt there are many if any journeys possible between stations with a short platform which force a move between units en-route. Although yes, in general where it's practical all trains planned to run in multiple in service would ideally have passenger connections between them.

 

[Skoodle]

When you're driving DOO with in-cab monitors like I do, after a while you get used to particular behaviours of passengers on the platform. You can tell who's waiting to board, who's milling around for the next train etc. However, some passenger's behaviours go against the norm, and that's when we can make a mistake. One thing to consider is that many drivers don't live anywhere near where they drive and you'd be surprised how many drivers have never actually seen what the outside of the station looks like. Also, most drivers will have absolutely no idea if it's the last train of the night or not so that is not on their mind.

 

[RJ]

Two questions here:

1. Why do we have to press the button to open train doors here (and elsewhere in Europe)? All doors on trains open and close automatically on trains in Asian countries.

2. Sometimes, it is possible that I need to board a train at a specific carriage, because I need to get off at a station with a short platform. How should we deal with such cases? Walking down the train isn't possible in such scenario because it's not possible to walk across different EMUs on some trains!

My comments were tailored to the specific circumstances laid out by the OP.

There are other situations where movement might be triggered by the arrival of a train. Such as where people have a reservation for a specific carriage and don’t know where exactly it will be. And it’s a nightmare to move down those trains with luggage and the likes. Allowances tend to be made where this is considered to standard passenger behaviour.

In this situation we’re talking about a train that was probably less than 5% loaded, serving a station where there are more carriages than passengers getting on and off, with a passenger that knows the train type well enough to know it has a toilet and is probably fully aware they could walk down the train.

Sometimes I have been grateful for an act of clemency on the part of the driver, like if I get to the platform 25 seconds before departure time and they re-release the doors. While that kind of action is a nice thing to do which usually prompts me to write in a letter of praise for customer service, it should not be expected and I certainly wouldn’t be on a forum expecting people to share outrage if they didn’t.

 

[HST274]

Personally if I am getting a train I am used to and know it will be busy, well before time I will walk a little up the platform away from the shelter to get on the less busy end, and when it arrives I will walk along side the train to a preferred door, as it pulls in. If I needed to find a reserved seat or toilet I would personally walk alongside the train as it pulls in or if it is a quick departure I would walk along the train, not risk it leaving without me.

 

[Factotum]

What I have never been able to fathom is if people want to be in a certain carriage (say at the front, or the back), why they don't position themselves in a place on the platform where that carriage is most likely to stop.

It isn't usually a case of a wanting a certain coach Rather it is often a case, especially in this plaque year, of looking for a coach with plenty of spare seats rather than one packed to the after rafter.
And of avoiding coaches full of rowdy. drinking football supporters.

 

[skyhigh]

It isn't usually a case of a wanting a certain coach Rather it is often a case, especially in this plaque year, of looking for a coach with plenty of spare seats rather than one packed to the after rafter.
And of avoiding coaches full of rowdy. drinking football supporters.

Even so, if it's the last train of the night you're much better off making sure you're on the train, then finding the best place to sit

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

We need to think why a woman could be travelling alone she could be going to or from work, be the driver or guard of a train, going out or coming back from an evening out, running away from violence at home or actually any number of reasons...

Indeed, any reason. Really, it's nobody's business. It's not for women to not travel, it's for men to behave better, whoever is more at risk from that behaviour.

 

[BrianW]

This.

 

[Deepgreen]

Without judging the OP (who did ask a very open question), given that inter-car access is available I would just board as soon as possible. This would apply at any time but is sacrosanct on the last train!

 

[24Grange]

Its more important not to incur delay minutes ( And hence cost) than it is to leave a customer on the platform? Also works just as well in connecting services, which depart, just as the driver watches the customers hurrying across the footbridge from a late running connection to catch it.

Which is more important ( and costly) to incur delay minutes in waiting a couple of minutes for any hesitant customers, or pay for taxi's to take them home after the last train has departed? The railway is run for the benefit of the railway, not the fare paying customers springs to mind.

 

[43066]

Its more important not to incur delay minutes ( And hence cost) than it is to leave a customer on the platform?

If the customer is dithering about on the platform and not boarding promptly then, yes, I’d say it’s quite fair to leave them behind so as not to delay the scores/hundreds of people already on the train. It really isn’t that difficult just to get onto the train! 99.9% manage it just fine.

I have a sneaking suspicion the people complaining about this (non) issue are perpetual moaners, who also complain about trains running late, which is exactly what would happen if every train waited for every possible person who MIGHT be a passenger to deign to board!

 

[AlterEgo]

Its more important not to incur delay minutes ( And hence cost) than it is to leave a customer on the platform? Also works just as well in connecting services, which depart, just as the driver watches the customers hurrying across the footbridge from a late running connection to catch it.

Which is more important ( and costly) to incur delay minutes in waiting a couple of minutes for any hesitant customers, or pay for taxi's to take them home after the last train has departed? The railway is run for the benefit of the railway, not the fare paying customers springs to mind.

If you miss the train because you didn't make any motion to get on it you don't get a taxi paid for, it's as simple as that.

Honestly can't believe this thread is so long; it's not hard. Get on the train; if you don't, and bugger about walking alongside it instead, it'll leave.

 

[BrianW]

If you miss the train because you didn't make any motion to get on it you don't get a taxi paid for, it's as simple as that.

Honestly can't believe this thread is so long; it's not hard. Get on the train; if you don't, and bugger about walking alongside it instead, it'll leave.

Having identified and discussed in this thread a number of reasons (however seemingly unreasonable) that a person may feel aggrieved, I'm still trying to understand why the original poster didn't just get on. Can you help us on this Tommy3000?

 

[RHolmes]

Its more important not to incur delay minutes ( And hence cost) than it is to leave a customer on the platform?

The railway is run for the benefit of the railway, not the fare paying customers springs to mind.

Yes because it’s a business. It’s not a not-for-profit organisation.

Even as the plans for nationalisation come into force in the next few years it will still remain a business with payments made to train management companies, leasing companies and at the end of the day share holders.

It’s like arguing that a shop or supermarket should stay open after closing time because the customer decides not to open the door, and then saying the customer has the right to compensation. Life doesn’t work that way.

 

[RJ]

Having identified and discussed in this thread a number of reasons (however seemingly unreasonable) that a person may feel aggrieved, I'm still trying to understand why the original poster didn't just get on. Can you help us on this Tommy3000?

It was explained - they wanted to board the carriage with the toilet in. You never know with those trains - sometimes the interconnecting carriage doors don't work properly. Just yesterday I was sat on one at Victoria and nobody could work out how open the doors of the next carriage. I sat and watched a dozen people try and fail. None of them attempted to hold down the button or wave at the overhead sensor mind. Prying the doors apart isn't exactly advisable, especially for anyone with long nails.