Who is your LEAST favourite TOC? - vote here!

[Pumbaa]

Down here in basingstoke all we usally get on the Manchester Picadilly to Bournemouth and vice versa services are single 220's, thats right, single...As usal there full and standing except for a few mid day services and very late evening services, Theyve actually cut the number of services down this way ever since they first started, there staff are hardly the most helpfull, Aswell as National Express, they have seriuosly ruined the catering facilities on board down to a mere trolly service of drinks and light refreshments...key word light...and to top that off...

Actually, Bomo - Manc runs are meant to be single 221s. Capacity needed elsewhere really, and the 221s rostered in are a hangover from the Virgin days when they were EPS enabled, thus running to a faster time Brum - Manc. And your overcrowding, with the exception of Brum - Banbury is the best on the XC network, so quit complaining! The double Voyager sets are where they belong; on the Newcastle - Bristol corridor!

As for the HST's, ok, so they have HST's, not there desicion but the goverments...so whoever got the XC franchise would have had to introduce HST's back on it...But one thing i thaught the HST's were also for...To free up other units to increase capacity on other XC serivces...So Where are they Then ?

Doubling up services on the Newcastle - Bristol corridor! And actually, 5 SuperVoyager sets had to return to Virgin so it's really only an increase in capacity on the 5 diagrams.

And Another thing, why is it XC have this wonderfull habit to run quite a considerable amount of empty stock mooves ? take a look at several of the services that start in the morning from Reading - where do they come from? ECS from Eastleigh DBS depot...whilst several of the evening terminating services have also ran ECS to Central Rivers...Then there was last sat - freind of mine was waiting for the XC service to PZ - a Voyager - It was lat running... What did they do...Cancel it from Exeter St Davids...and where did it go? ECS to Laira... Why is it that with AXC, if something seems to disrupt there service pattern, they cancel the service...Again i feel, as with many other TOC's nowadays, its rapidly coming down to a case of Take the money, Sod the passenger...

Crew hours most likely. ECS only requires a driver, thus running the train ECS to it's needed destination relieves the crew who are probably going to be over hours in delay. Plus, they don't pick up delay minutes from running ECS.

Another i voted for... C2C... quite literally one of the most bizare TOC's ive ever come across... Whilst the timetables arnt that bad, the interiors of the 357's are worn and some pretty scruffy, the toilet door on the unit i had today failed just outside of Limehouse, on a service to Southend, oh and by the way, for those who dont know it there is only 1 toilet on the 357's.... but by far the worst thing ive come across on C2C are the staff... Today i was moaned at twice just for taking pictures... With the main one at Upminster with LUL engineering locos and tampers etc in the LUL side of the station, but Mr C2C didnt like that and tried to order a group of us off the station... for taking pictures... of things with no relation to C2C...

The 357s are having a light refurbishment at the moment. And staff all over the network have a problem with taking pictures, not just c2c. They've won punctuality and customer satisfaction awards before now.

 

[Dai.]

Yo my friend have never been on a packed 2 car turdostar or packed voyager, I will back them up in terms of people saying "No AP" because its the holiday season and people are heading off to Cornwall,York,Scotland ect AP fares do exist but you have to be fast to get them, last year I got BHM-York for £9 AP rtn saved about £30 great stuff XC

I've been on a packed turbostar or 'turdostar' as you called them, not one of the best experiences in my life, mind you, I was only on the second packed turbostar because 170116 broke down.

 

[Norwich]

why would anyone want to put grand central down?

I'd have thought the same before I travelled with them for the first time on Saturday.

The on-board staff - particularly the train manager - was rude, unhelpful and aloof in responding to a simple enquiry as to why they'd closed an entire coach for no apparent reason.

Additionally, 1730 departure from S'land had somehow managed to run out of hot food by the time it reached Hartlepool.

Nice trains, very comfortable, but some poor customer service tarnished the journey for me.

Perhaps they were having an off day.

 

[tbtc]

Threads like this make me wonder whether "enthusiasts" actually like railways at all!

Every TOC is apparently bad, things are never as they used to be, and things like paint jobs and staff uniform are more important than increased services/ new journeys...

I think most of them are doing a pretty decent job, in the grand scheme of things, but what do I know...

 

[Dai.]

Threads like this make me wonder whether "enthusiasts" actually like railways at all!

Every TOC is apparently bad, things are never as they used to be, and things like paint jobs and staff uniform are more important than increased services/ new journeys...

I think most of them are doing a pretty decent job, in the grand scheme of things, but what do I know...

Some of them are doing a good job, just little things we dislike about the rail

 

[37401]

170116 broke down.

Im not suprised see my avatar and: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQa1OYmXTck&feature=channel_page

 

[Dai.]

Im not suprised see my avatar and: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQa1OYmXTck&feature=channel_page

Well, the weirdest part is it was nothing to do with the engine, it was because the toilet door didn't open :/

 

[fgwrich]

Yo my friend have never been on a packed 2 car turdostar or packed voyager, I will back them up in terms of people saying "No AP" because its the holiday season and people are heading off to Cornwall,York,Scotland ect AP fares do exist but you have to be fast to get them, last year I got BHM-York for £9 AP rtn saved about £30 great stuff XC

I have...Packed Central Trains 170 a few years ago - not a pleasant experiance but the worst ive ever had was a 11:47 XC service last summer...Again, a sinlge 220, Guess how far i had to stand in the vestuble?

How about...

Basingstoke to Birmingham New Street

Something i never intended at all...due to a revised service (just over 10 minutes minutes late!)Yet all intended was taking it to Oxford

I complained and as per usal, all i got was the usal crap that you get...mostly blaiming me for not reading the departure boards at basingstoke - which just had the usal XC Bournemouth to Manchester picadilly service indicated...

to be honest ive given up complaing to AXC becasue im fed up with the usal bollocks responce...and in return, ive also stopped using AXC services to get around...if i want to get to a London Irish match at the madjeski, ill take the slower, but frankly better FGW service to reading, if i get to another wasps match, ill take Both FGW and Chiltern - in and out of london - to High Wycombe...Birmginham - Chiltern not just becasue its cheaper, but more reliable, Anywhere else, any other operater...

 

[GNERman]

I'd have thought the same before I travelled with them for the first time on Saturday.

The on-board staff - particularly the train manager - was rude, unhelpful and aloof in responding to a simple enquiry as to why they'd closed an entire coach for no apparent reason.

Additionally, 1730 departure from S'land had somehow managed to run out of hot food by the time it reached Hartlepool.

Nice trains, very comfortable, but some poor customer service tarnished the journey for me.

Perhaps they were having an off day.

well that is very odd, I know most of the GC train crew and they are all very nice and helpful, perhaps you are right, maybe an off day for them, the closing of the coach was probably due to air con failure, they have been struggling with this a lot recently...

 

[TheWalrus]

EMT and FCC are on a tie. Is anyone left to vote?

 

[Lampshade]

My least favourite without a shadow of a doubt is CrossCountry. My booked train out of Manchester was cancelled a few weeks ago, causing me to rethink my travel plans. However there were no announcements or anything, I sent a complaint to them at the start of August about it and it seems they've completely ignored it; I thought it was in the charter to respond within 20 days?

EMT is a close second, purely because of their sheer arrogance towards the passenger (and the general public for that matter).

EDIT: Northern aren't that good either, I know they use what they're given but their trains are awful. Also their stance on using hired goons as revenue protection and the fact they have some of the least friendly staff on the rail network.

 

[317666]

Heathrow Express. Overpriced rubbish. No wonder everyone uses Heathrow Connect!

 

[spoony]

Can I add a so far unmentioned TOC in Nexus who operate the Tyne & Wear Metro. Nexus themselves are not too bad but the Metro is one of the worst systems Ive been on.

 

[class313]

London Overground Because as soon they took over the Silverlink franchise, they were slaping the name on everything, and also the impression that they do not have an even remote interest in trains.
NXEC They hate train enthusiasts, and are absolutly rubbish.

 

[Reddog785]

HEATHROW EXPRESS- Overpriced Tickets.
FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT- Too many delays and cancelled trains. Not at all very frequent, and often miss out the "Doors Closing" buzzer.

 

[CCF23]

Woops accidental vote i like c2c