Am I going to be proven right that this winter isn't going to be very good for FCC?
Why do I say this, when overall they run a pretty good service?
Because of the perception from the public. Not people like you and me who know a little more about what goes on.
I'm talking about the GN side here, which is the 'good' side (goodness knows how they're getting on over on the TL route), but the new customer information system is so bad that it makes FCC look totally unable to run a railway - from not announcing trains, to announcing trains that have already left (and apologising for the delay that never was).
THIS will have people hearing all the apologies and making the, quite understandable, assumption that FCC has been unable to run anything to time recently. How ironic that FCC paid money for something to make them look incompetent!
Then, for those of us who respected FCC for listening to the public and having their online forums, it seems they've ditched the meet the directors forum (and removed the archived questions) from the website. It was becoming a joke recently, with unidentified members of staff failing to answer questions and just give standard statements you'd expect from a work experience customer services representative - perhaps this was to be expected. Have all the other FirstGroup companies done this now?
And also, they now seem to be operating a drive to get revenue staff on as many trains as possible. That's not a bad thing, but it is when they have staff who are poorly trained, or given bad information. Yesterday, me and others were hassled on a train for sitting in first class - which was declassified. The poor guy (I say poor guy, but really that's no excuse as he's been trained to do the job) was totally unaware of what declassified meant, and looked totally lost as I pointed out the train he was on had no '1'.
Now, he should understand that to work as an RPI, but what was more worrying was the fact that he checked his paperwork and said he'd been told to come on that service solely to do first class! Now if me and some others hadn't been there, he would have given out totally invalid PFs. Part of me says that if someone didn't know they were in a declassified section they should be treated as fare evaders, but that isn't actually allowed in reality.
FCC seems to, however, think it's worth chancing their luck if they're sending staff to issue illegal penalty fares. The RPI never did the rest of the train, simply staying on to Finsbury Park to get another train after making a phone call on his BlackBerry. I hope he had more luck later on.
Other RPI staff have been overheard comparing numbers of tickets issued, and giving high fives to each other for their success! Now, my understanding is that they don't earn commission - but FCC must be doing some sort of competition with staff as they're incredibly hungry and jumping over each other to try and catch people. Now, if they're issuing every PF legitimately then that's great, but are they? That's what worries me.
Finally, has FCC now sorted out the staffing levels? I'm seeing the odd service which is cancelled due to a shortage of staff - and hope that it's just down to illness and lack of cover, but if we start getting this happening in the run up to Christmas then all the hard work that FCC has done over the years is going to be undone in no time.
But, at least there's no longer any way to moan about it on their website...
Why do I say this, when overall they run a pretty good service?
Because of the perception from the public. Not people like you and me who know a little more about what goes on.
I'm talking about the GN side here, which is the 'good' side (goodness knows how they're getting on over on the TL route), but the new customer information system is so bad that it makes FCC look totally unable to run a railway - from not announcing trains, to announcing trains that have already left (and apologising for the delay that never was).
THIS will have people hearing all the apologies and making the, quite understandable, assumption that FCC has been unable to run anything to time recently. How ironic that FCC paid money for something to make them look incompetent!
Then, for those of us who respected FCC for listening to the public and having their online forums, it seems they've ditched the meet the directors forum (and removed the archived questions) from the website. It was becoming a joke recently, with unidentified members of staff failing to answer questions and just give standard statements you'd expect from a work experience customer services representative - perhaps this was to be expected. Have all the other FirstGroup companies done this now?
And also, they now seem to be operating a drive to get revenue staff on as many trains as possible. That's not a bad thing, but it is when they have staff who are poorly trained, or given bad information. Yesterday, me and others were hassled on a train for sitting in first class - which was declassified. The poor guy (I say poor guy, but really that's no excuse as he's been trained to do the job) was totally unaware of what declassified meant, and looked totally lost as I pointed out the train he was on had no '1'.
Now, he should understand that to work as an RPI, but what was more worrying was the fact that he checked his paperwork and said he'd been told to come on that service solely to do first class! Now if me and some others hadn't been there, he would have given out totally invalid PFs. Part of me says that if someone didn't know they were in a declassified section they should be treated as fare evaders, but that isn't actually allowed in reality.
FCC seems to, however, think it's worth chancing their luck if they're sending staff to issue illegal penalty fares. The RPI never did the rest of the train, simply staying on to Finsbury Park to get another train after making a phone call on his BlackBerry. I hope he had more luck later on.
Other RPI staff have been overheard comparing numbers of tickets issued, and giving high fives to each other for their success! Now, my understanding is that they don't earn commission - but FCC must be doing some sort of competition with staff as they're incredibly hungry and jumping over each other to try and catch people. Now, if they're issuing every PF legitimately then that's great, but are they? That's what worries me.
Finally, has FCC now sorted out the staffing levels? I'm seeing the odd service which is cancelled due to a shortage of staff - and hope that it's just down to illness and lack of cover, but if we start getting this happening in the run up to Christmas then all the hard work that FCC has done over the years is going to be undone in no time.
But, at least there's no longer any way to moan about it on their website...
