Problems with Virgin (WC) seat reservations on 390s Pendelinos

[LeylandLen]

Today I was on 390042 the 1030 Euston to Glasgow. 390042 is a 9 coach train. There was no unreserved coach in standard class, just coaches A-F .I did not have a reserved seat .To make matters worse the seat reservation info was not downloaded and displayed until after passengers had started boarding, so I was in a reserved seat in F and did the correct thing and found an unreserved seat in F .(I had an offpeak return with a senior railcard ) So my question is why do Virgin download the info so late ? Whats involved in the download.? Is it a problem only on 390s?
I might also add that the word 'reserved' is also difficult to read in the green display and I hope it will be bigger in newer trains.

 

[Hellfire]

It often happens when you board at Euston. I have always assumed it was because of tight turn round times. The TM has a lot to do in a relatively short time.

 

[Elecman]

Coach C is supposed to be the unreserved coach on 9 car Pendos

 

[6Gman]

Today I was on 390042 the 1030 Euston to Glasgow. 390042 is a 9 coach train. There was no unreserved coach in standard class, just coaches A-F .I did not have a reserved seat .To make matters worse the seat reservation info was not downloaded and displayed until after passengers had started boarding, so I was in a reserved seat in F and did the correct thing and found an unreserved seat in F .(I had an offpeak return with a senior railcard ) So my question is why do Virgin download the info so late ? Whats involved in the download.? Is it a problem only on 390s?
I might also add that the word 'reserved' is also difficult to read in the green display and I hope it will be bigger in newer trains.

Not just Virgin. I sat in an Unreserved seat at Manchester - couple of minutes before departure reservations appeared by which time all seats were taken. So I ended up standing.

 

[Mag_seven]

It is a real pain in the butt and it happens at other locations as well (I've has it happen at Glasgow) - if the system has not uploaded best head for one of the unreservable coaches. Question is why have VTWC not sorted it out by now?

 

[causton]

I believe VT do their best as they try and download the reservations before the train arrives at Euston for the next trip. However set swaps etc can mean the reservations do not get downloaded in time. One example was on a Voyager at Bournemouth I had last week, where all the reservations were loaded but due to an unspecified train fault the unit had to be rebooted, therefore the reservations were all lost! Luckily I had found 2 that were reserved for later in the journey already but there was a bit of confusion as people who boarded after the reboot saw the screens blank and then after sorting themselves out the reservations showed and they later got booted out!

 

[mark-h]

I recently had a similar experience on an XC Voyager where every seat was showing as available (from the announcements this seemed to only be an issue in one half of the double Voyager). A reboot of the system seemed to sort this out (quite why they waited until 5 mins before departure to do this when the train been waiting almost an hour I don't know).

On the return journey (also XC) the displays had not updated for much of the journey. This was a Northbound service departing Newcastle with the seat displays informing passengers which seats were available from Bristol.

 

[Bevan Price]

It is a real pain in the butt and it happens at other locations as well (I've has it happen at Glasgow) - if the system has not uploaded best head for one of the unreservable coaches. Question is why have VTWC not sorted it out by now?

Sometimes you find reservations in the "unreservable" coach, especially if a 9 coach 390 is used on a train booked for 11 coaches.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It is a real pain in the butt and it happens at other locations as well (I've has it happen at Glasgow) - if the system has not uploaded best head for one of the unreservable coaches. Question is why have VTWC not sorted it out by now?

Because it's an 18ish year old piece of software, basically - we were mostly still using DOS based Windows back then. Hopefully the system will, at refurb, be replaced with a more modern one, ideally one that can download via the on-train wifi so it can all be set up for the next service before it even arrives at the terminus.

 

[mark-h]

ideally one that can download via the on-train wifi so it can all be set up for the next service before it even arrives at the terminus.

How does the XC Voyager 10 min text message seat reservation system work? From my previous post the answer may be not reliably.

 

[Bletchleyite]

How does the XC Voyager 10 min text message seat reservation system work? From my previous post the answer may be not reliably.

Like on DB some seats/areas are marked as "may be reserved", this being the case what is on the screens is a bit less important.

But no, the Voyager reservation displays are not reliable. One side of me does think it'd be better to follow the PKP line and abolish display of reservations[1], and instead to permanently mark some coaches/areas as reserved and unreserved. If you want to sit in a reserved coach, grab a reservation (ideally with seat selection) online, from a ticket office, from a TVM, on your phone, from the buffet or guard etc - and because there's no need to mark them they can be available all the time. It'd near abolish the Euston scrum.

[1] PKP allegedly has compulsory reservations, but actually (other than the Pendolinos) it doesn't per-se, it just sells all tickets with a reservation and doesn't mark them. There is scope for boarding and buying from the guard, and I think to some extent also for making changes on board.

 

[rebmcr]

One example was on a Voyager at Bournemouth I had last week, where all the reservations were loaded but due to an unspecified train fault the unit had to be rebooted, therefore the reservations were all lost! Luckily I had found 2 that were reserved for later in the journey already but there was a bit of confusion as people who boarded after the reboot saw the screens blank and then after sorting themselves out the reservations showed and they later got booted out!

If the train has been advertised as 'Boarding', and the reservations have not yet been displayed, I don't think they should be enforcable, nor added to the displays if they later become available.

 

[route101]

I have this quite often at Glasgow Central , now i make a beeline for the unreserved coach .

 

[Statto]

Coach C is supposed to be the unreserved coach on 9 car Pendos

I think it's coach F that's supposed to be the unreserved coach on 9 car Pendos.

Happened a couple of weeks ago when i caught VT couple of weeks ago when it went to LPY because of the Lime Street blockade, boarded the train, both seats showing available on the display as i sat in a 2 bay seat, as the train departed reservations appeared, fortunately the seat i was in had available, with the seat next to mine reserved from LPY however the passenger never sat in that seat.

 

[Deafdoggie]

I think it's coach F that's supposed to be the unreserved coach on 9 car Pendos.

It has changed to C on all Pendos, and U too on 12 car

 

[Deafdoggie]

If the train has been advertised as 'Boarding', and the reservations have not yet been displayed, I don't think they should be enforcable, nor added to the displays if they later become available.

But that could mean someone travelling Birmingham to Edinburgh looses their seat! Or the train is delayed whilst awaiting a download to complete. Best just tell people without reservations to head to unreserved coaches, and tell them the letters of them

 

[Signal Head]

It has changed to C on all Pendos, and U too on 12 car

I've heard C *&* F announced recently on 9 cars (ie in the same announcement)
I've noticed reservations in F on 9 cars for a while now, particularly on busy afternoon and evening services out of Euston. I just presumed that the set had been swapped from an 11.

I travelled in someone else's reserved seat in F yesterday, but given the chaos and disruption following the earlier Bletchley
incident I don't think anyone was bothering about reservations, although there wasn't an announcement to say they no longer applied.

 

[chrish2]

I wish they would inverse the text to show reserved seats. A simple change that would make finding seats much easier at a glance. That would assume the hardware had inverted glyphs in its supported character set.

 

[Elecman]

It has changed to C on all Pendos, and U too on 12 car

C on both 9 and 11 and F on 11 cars ( I assume you meant 11 not 12 in your post)

 

[142blue]

It's in transition. Coach C will still hold some reservations till December so on a 9 there's no unreserved carriage, just one with a higher capacity of unreserved

You will start to see less and less in there as time goes on

 

[LeylandLen]

Interestingly I have looked on Thurs 2/11 1030 Euston to Preston to reserve a seat in standard. Its allocated me a seat in coach F which appears to be a 9-coach set with the words 'This coach is not available for reservations, please try another' on the coach diagram ' with my reserved seat highlighted.( I have asked for a table seat as only table seats have a socket to recharge my mobile, which I find useful on Virgin)

 

[PeterC]

So the moral of the story is that if you can't commit to a definite train in both directions you are better off driving.

 

[142blue]

Interestingly I have looked on Thurs 2/11 1030 Euston to Preston to reserve a seat in standard. Its allocated me a seat in coach F which appears to be a 9-coach set with the words 'This coach is not available for reservations, please try another' on the coach diagram ' with my reserved seat highlighted.( I have asked for a table seat as only table seats have a socket to recharge my mobile, which I find useful on Virgin)

F2 available to reserve no issue, sat looking at it now

 

[142blue]

So the moral of the story is that if you can't commit to a definite train in both directions you are better off driving.

Yeah because £83 will get you from Manchester to London and back in a car, with fuel, stop offs for rest breaks, food and drinks along the way, mileage added to your car and little stress

Yes the system needs tweaking when booking online as it seems to be creating a scenario here people are booking a reservation on a flexible ticket but they may not travel on that train. That needs fixing

 

[VauxhallandI]

If it's. a software system why can't it be upgraded before a refurb?

 

[221129]

If it's. a software system why can't it be upgraded before a refurb?

Because it is too much of a pain to try and fix for a relatively non issue.

 

[DarloRich]

So the moral of the story is that if you can't commit to a definite train in both directions you are better off driving.

eh? I am not sure an minor issue/frustration like this justifies abandoning all hope!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Because it is too much of a pain to try and fix for a relatively non issue.

It's not a non-issue, it makes travel on busy trains both with and without a reservation quite stressful. It's one factor that has had me using LM as far as Crewe when going to the North West, not only price and preference for 350s over Pendolinos.

It's even worse than not placing reservations, because in that case it could easily be resolved with stickers on the train walls stating that if reservations are not marked they do not apply (or conversely stating that they always apply but clearly marking areas which will never be reserved; either would do).

 

[221129]

It's not a non-issue, it makes travel on busy trains both with and without a reservation quite stressful. It's one factor that has had me using LM as far as Crewe when going to the North West, not only price and preference for 350s over Pendolinos.

It is in the grand scheme of things a minor irritation. not sure it justifies the complete renewal of the TMS and all the work that would have to go with it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It is in the grand scheme of things a minor irritation. not sure it justifies the complete renewal of the TMS and all the work that would have to go with it.

No, but it does justify changes to procedures to ensure the system is fully loaded before the doors are unlocked for boarding etc, or if it clearly isn't going to load to turn it off and clearly announce that reservations don't apply on that service. As a bare minimum signs stating that if it isn't lit up it hasn't yet loaded would help. (The displays only light up green when that coach has fully loaded).

It is the conflict and game of musical chairs that is the main problem it causes.

Though in its favour once it's loaded it does at least work. The system on Voyagers is so unreliable it needs to be abandoned in favour of a return to paper labels.