Cross country - 85% train reserved seating but train 5% full

[paulfoel]

Always happens. CC Cardiff-Nottingham. Seems most of the seats are reserved.

Then the trains about 5-10% full. Where did all these people go? These reservations seem pretty pointless to me.

And it gets my goat when I sit in seat, theres 4 other people in the carriage but no some old person feels the need to kick me out of their reserved seat !

 

[Bletchleyite]

And it gets my goat when I sit in seat, theres 4 other people in the carriage but no some old person feels the need to kick me out of their reserved seat !

Given that CrossCountry has seat selection, they may have reserved that specific seat for a reason.

 

[swt_passenger]

And it gets my goat when I sit in seat, theres 4 other people in the carriage but no some old person feels the need to kick me out of their reserved seat !

Perhaps they come from a generation where they tend to follow the rules, and have read the T&C that say they MUST sit in their reserved seat...

 

[MCR247]

I think I need to start travelling with you, I've never seen a 5% full XC turbostar

 

[Hadders]

Each seat might have a reservation label but it won't necessarily be reserved for the whole length of the journey.

 

[455driver]

Did you travel the whole route and note how many seats were used and between which stations?

Did you read every label to see where the seats were reserved from and too?

Did you just see a label and assume the seat is reserved for the whole route because you are too lazy to look?

 

[Comstock]

I think I need to start travelling with you, I've never seen a 5% full XC turbostar

Me neither, at least not on the Nottingham- Birmingham section

 

[paulfoel]

Leaving newport 900am or 10am is sometimes pretty empty.

Glos - newport are always pretty full after 4pm. The ATW ones are usually not full.

 

[MCR247]

Leaving newport 900am or 10am is sometimes pretty empty.

Glos - newport are always pretty full after 4pm. The ATW ones are usually not full.

Certainly won't be empty later in the journey though!

 

[work-traveller]

If I come upon a particularly appealing seat (extra leg room typically) I tend to take it, regardless of the reservation status displayed. This is on the basis that:

a) most reserved seats never see the person who reserved them; and
b) if the reserver turns up (which they generally don't) I'll swiftly de-bunk to another seat without any fuss.

An oft seen situation that's always struck me as odd:
1) Passenger arrives at an empty seat and inspects the reservation display;
2) Display states the seat to be reserved from an early station until somewhere yet to be reached;
3) Passenger moves on to find another seat, when in fact the reservation is academic as the person to whom it relates is clearly not there.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

An oft seen situation that's always struck me as odd:
1) Passenger arrives at an empty seat and inspects the reservation display;
2) Display states the seat to be reserved from an early station until somewhere yet to be reached;
3) Passenger moves on to find another seat, when in fact the reservation is academic as the person to whom it relates is clearly not there.

Not necessarily academic. It could be that the seat is reserved by one passenger until a certain stop, and from then on is reserved by a different passenger, who will turn up and expect to claim his seat (although in practice, I would imagine that's less common than being reserved by one passenger throughout the journey, so if I see an unclaimed reserved seat, I too tend to make the assumption that that seat will not be claimed).

 

[Haydn1971]

Half the battle I find is when boarding a XC train is that the scrolling displays don't show at a glance where the seat is booked from and to - so you see a seat, start to wait then feel pressurised to move down the carriage by the dozens of other passengers looking for seats - it's not helped either by the lack of information as the train arrives as to which end the first class unit is and where the unreserved carriage is - perhaps it would be good to have some consistency of where first and reserved is and make it clear on the carriages to ease seat choice.

 

[455driver]

Not necessarily academic. It could be that the seat is reserved by one passenger until a certain stop, and from then on is reserved by a different passenger, who will turn up and expect to claim his seat.

The label would show them as separate reservations, ie-

reserved from A to B, reserved from C to D, reserved from D to E etc.

 

[Tetchytyke]

And it gets my goat when I sit in seat, theres 4 other people in the carriage but no some old person feels the need to kick me out of their reserved seat !

And? If there's only 4 people in the carriage it won't be a hardship to shift your lazy backside somewhere else will it?

 

[Bletchleyite]

b) if the reserver turns up (which they generally don't) I'll swiftly de-bunk to another seat without any fuss.

This is absolutely key - if sitting in a reserved seat you need to be ready to move immediately if the reserver turns up. Some people find it quite stressful even asking you to move.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Having said that, if the reserver hasnt turned up after the departing station, the TOC are under no obligation to hold that seat for later in the journey, so some guards/TM's remove them.

 

[thenorthern]

On CrossCountry Voyagers some have the annoying "May be reserved en-route" which seems to confuse quite a few people.

As other have said though those reservations may have been put out for a later point in the journey given that reservations have to be put out at the start. Having a large amount of reservations on a CrossCountry journey though is not uncommon given a the amount of large places that they serve en-route.

 

[JamesRowden]

An oft seen situation that's always struck me as odd:
1) Passenger arrives at an empty seat and inspects the reservation display;
2) Display states the seat to be reserved from an early station until somewhere yet to be reached;
3) Passenger moves on to find another seat, when in fact the reservation is academic as the person to whom it relates is clearly not there.

For all the passenger boarding the trains knows, the reserver might have coincidently popped off to the toilet or the catering.

 

[work-traveller]

Some people find it quite stressful even asking you to move.

Accepted - because some are perhaps apprehensive about how their plight will be received.

The manner and tone of some people (generally men) in stating they have a reservation for the seat you're in, strikes me as being the same tone they'd use if they found a stranger parked on the private drive of their house. A bit 'well you may have been here for a while, but now you can f*ck off'.

Being concious of such surly people, I do try and be easy going and mildy apologetic about it when I'm claiming my seat off someone - 'I'm afraid I've got a reservation for that seat' with a facial expression that says 'it's all a bit unfortunate, but we'll have it all sorted in a jiffy'.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

For all the passenger boarding the trains knows, the reserver might have coincidently popped off to the toilet or the catering.

That's true - and it does happen. It does however assume that passengers take all their belongings with them when they go to the toilet or the shop. I've often seen people 'put a beach towel on the deck chair' in the form of a jumper, bag etc before heading to the shop/loo.

 

[Haydn1971]

On CrossCountry Voyagers some have the annoying "May be reserved en-route" which seems to confuse quite a few people.

I've always understood these to be the reserve by sms seats ?

 

[onlinespotting]

I've always understood these to be the reserve by sms seats ?

I've booked an advance cross country ticket on the way to the station before now, it appears others did the same thing as not all our reservations were showing, however the guard moved people around based on their reservation tickets even though the seats myself and others in the coach had booked but we're not showing as reserved

 

[thenorthern]

I've always understood these to be the reserve by sms seats ?

Indeed they are.

 

[dk1]

Two reservation issues that annoy me with passengers are firstly those that don't look at the points at which they are reserved on the journey & assume they cannot sit there just because it has a reserved ticket on the seat & those that state that im sitting in there seat when im in coach A. This is often because they do not correctly read the reservation claiming they are reserved in coach A when actually it says 'Coach C seat 57A (for airline style seat). I will not move until they let me inspect it.

Cross Country seem to constantly defend their late reservation system as if never to admit defeat. It seems hopeless to me & causes passengers distress & traincrew headaches. Virgin have auto displays yet they don't seem to have exploited the virtues it, i wonder why?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The label would show them as separate reservations, ie-

reserved from A to B, reserved from C to D, reserved from D to E etc.

Ah. I'm guessing in that case it must be dependent on the ToC. My experience with Virgin suggests they don't put that information up (hard to see how they could given how small the reservation display screens on Pendolinos are). I just assumed Cross-Country, the subject of this thread, would be the same, but I have no direct experience of them. Ta for the correction.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

And it gets my goat when I sit in seat, theres 4 other people in the carriage but no some old person feels the need to kick me out of their reserved seat !

Well, for all they know the train is going to get busy later on and the seats they pick might be taken by someone else so they will have to move again.

If I was on a long train ride I would want to get to my reserved seats so I can get comfy, not having to sit with the possibility of being moved on.

 

[thenorthern]

Two reservation issues that annoy me with passengers are firstly those that don't look at the points at which they are reserved on the journey & assume they cannot sit there just because it has a reserved ticket on the seat & those that state that im sitting in there seat when im in coach A. This is often because they do not correctly read the reservation claiming they are reserved in coach A when actually it says 'Coach C seat 57A (for airline style seat). I will not move until they let me inspect it.

I find with CrossCountry that issue of people thinking seats are reserved most the way is worse than most TOCs as is not uncommon for all the reserveable seats to be reserved at once on a CrossCountry trains journey given that the same service can be someones morning commute in Devon and someones evening service home in Scotland plus many other things in between.

Realistically though I don't think many people travel from Plymouth to Edinburgh or Southampton to Newcastle.

 

[johnnychips]

Another point is the basic lack of geographical knowledge that people have. Don't forget we're experts who post on here. If I get on an EC train at Donny and I see a seat label reserved from Edinburgh to York, then I'll sit in it. But I think a lot of people don't know where places are, or they just see the label and assume, "oh, it's reserved I can't sit there".

 

[TheNewNo2]

I'm for removing all seat reservations, from trains and especially cinemas. There's 100 seats around you, pick one!

 

[thenorthern]

Another point is the basic lack of geographical knowledge that people have. Don't forget we're experts who post on here. If I get on an EC train at Donny and I see a seat label reserved from Edinburgh to York, then I'll sit in it. But I think a lot of people don't know where places are, or they just see the label and assume, "oh, it's reserved I can't sit there".

Good point, I doubt many people in Plymouth even know what Alnmouth, Haymarket, Leuchars and Markinch even are.

I'm for removing all seat reservations, from trains and especially cinemas. There's 100 seats around you, pick one!

I wouldn't say remove them completely although I would like an op-in system where you have to ask for a seat rather than one is given by default.

 

[lazydragon]

I'm for removing all seat reservations, from trains and especially cinemas. There's 100 seats around you, pick one!

I mainly use ATW, and the little cards at least tell you what the reservation is, I'm not keen on those little scrolling screens.

As for cinema tickets, I like the seats down the front with the space for wheelchair users because you get a lot of leg room, even if you do have to look up a little. I know I shouldn't, but in my mind, I do always think of them as the 'kick a cripple' seats, because if anyone with a wheelchair ever does take that spot in front of me, with my stretched out legs, I wouldn't know what to do!