How can passengers be attracted to return to rail?

[yorkie]

Following the release of this article..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58502589

Rail industry urges workers not to spurn the train

Unless workers start taking the train again, there could be long-term adverse effects on city centres and High Streets, the rail industry has warned.

... now seems the right time to ask if anyone has any suggestions regarding how the Government and rail industry could attract people back to the railways.

For example, should the rail industry focus on connections or through trains? Frequency or reliability? Do trains need to be made more comfortable? Anything else?

(By the way, fares reform could be part of this, however we already have existing threads for this; see: https://www.railforums.co.uk/search/1593668/?q=Fares+reform&c[title_only]=1&o=relevance )

 

[Djgr]

Provide an integrated, straightforward and customer focused service

 

[yorksrob]

Consistently competitive fares and usable timetabling.

 

[Ianno87]

1. Targeted fares promotions, seat sales etc.

2. Flexi seasons need a better price point

3. Frequency and connections.

4. Better focus on working space, laptop use on trains to make train time productive

5. First/Last mile access to stations

6. Carry on pushing E-tickets - I know they're unpopular on here but "normals" have really taken to them.

 

[baz962]

I think all of the above. Edit to add . One of the reasons that I regularly see against rail , is the lack of door to door in effect. Maybe rail and bus could combine to have some sort of village/estate /town to train station transfer , a dedicated one.

 

[ld0595]

The main thing in my opinion is reducing ticket costs. Rail is generally far more expensive than driving - especially if travelling with more than one person.

 

[Ianno87]

The main thing in my opinion is reducing ticket costs. Rail is generally far more expensive than driving - especially if travelling with more than one person.

You mean like the Two Together Railcard?

On the other hand, rail needs to push it's "added value" and why in some respects it arguably should be as expensive, or more expensive than driving. e.g. you can't have a few drinks in the pub and then drive home...

 

[ABB125]

Two things:
Improved frequency, eg: CrossCountry back to 2tph on the core route
Cheap fares - lots of promotions similar to the recent Northern and LNER offers

 

[Ianno87]

Generally better journey planners that actually help find good Advance fares.

There are journeys that I regularly do where the difference of fare with and without specifying a particular (and at first glance unlikely) "via" point is quite stark.

The number of people that get put off by high fares for a longer distance journey when it can be brought down easily if you know how to "game" journey planners and/or accept a slightly different journey.


Also, split tickets just to be issued as one ticket only.

 

[yorksrob]

You mean like the Two Together Railcard?

On the other hand, rail needs to push it's "added value" and why in some respects it arguably should be as expensive, or more expensive than driving. e.g. you can't have a few drinks in the pub and then drive home...

It needs to provide value for sole travelers as well.

 

[Ianno87]

It needs to provide value for sole travelers as well.

Does it? Or is this just wanting a cheaper journey for yourself? From observation, the railway has plenty of solo travellers already - attracting them is, generally, not the problem.

 

[Peter C]

Better connections between buses and trains, especially in rural areas, would be a big draw for a lot of people I think.
Another thing would be an improved frequency on more rural lines: I'll use my local Cotswold Line as an example. The single-track section between Charlbury and Wolvercote Junction is a real bottleneck, and redoubling it might bring the faster services (even if it's a slight increase per service, maybe with a few more services per day?) the line could do with. You could then advertise these faster services and maybe even add some more local ones for people in the smaller villages to use? Ascott-under-Wychwood station is really close to the village, got a second platform in 2011, but hasn't had as good of a service as it might need - no trains at weekends, and two on weekdays.

-Peter

 

[Philip]

A better ground staff presence within the industry both for safety and to provide that friendly human interaction, reassurance and information; so basically not removing guards from trains, not closing ticket offices, not converting more stations to self dispatch.

Making everything electronic and virtual might be more convenient in some aspects, but it makes the railway a more cold environment for passengers, which won't improve people's moods - particularly in times of disruption.

 

[Ianno87]

Better connections between buses and trains, especially in rural areas, would be a big draw for a lot of people I think.

General bus and train integration is very hit and miss across the country. Good examples and bad examples.

 

[yorksrob]

Does it? Or is this just wanting a cheaper journey for yourself? From observation, the railway has plenty of solo travellers already - attracting them is, generally, not the problem.

Well, a lot of the time, I do want a cheaper journey. But I'm not under any illusion that I'm so unique and special that I'm the only potential solo rail passenger who is put off by extortionate fares.

How do you define "enough solo travelers already" ? When the railway needs pointers back and there are solo travelers being put off by extortionate fares, I would say that there aren't enough solo travelers already.

 

[Peter C]

General bus and train integration is very hit and miss across the country. Good examples and bad examples.

Definitely - just speaking from experience.

-Peter

 

[Ianno87]

Well, a lot of the time, I do want a cheaper journey. But I'm not under any illusion that I'm so unique and special that I'm the only potential solo rail passenger who is put off by extortionate fares.

How do you define "enough solo travelers already" ? When the railway needs pointers back and there are solo travelers being put off by extortionate fares, I would say that there aren't enough solo travelers already.

The solo traveller already has the fares that are the most cost-competitive with driving (not always - some will be, some won't be).

 

[Class 170101]

I'll leave this here, sensible or a load of old bull?

Five things trains would have to do to win you back

NOBODY'S using trains because they're expensive as f**k and always late. Here's what they'd have to do to be more appealing.

www.thedailymash.co.uk

 

[The Planner]

I think the vast majority is down to ticket structure, it was noted recently that people have booked an anytime but have to state a time online to do it thus thinking that is the train they have to catch. Conversely the perverse split ticketing and "I am done for if I miss my specific train and will have to pay tens of pounds more or be stranded" issue needs sorting.

Whilst GBR may provide the opportunity, a central journey planner would be useful, Google, Trainline, NRES etc can all spit out different things for the same journey. It would be interesting to see if some of the routes Google can spit out are actually valid, especially at times where large scale engineering works are on. Its an awful phrase but "one version of the truth" so to speak.

Information is key and in times of disruption we have done it to death, but I think the likes of RTT etc have jolted the industry into improving things. Displays that show how many coaches, how full they may be, "this train has passed x", intermediate times etc I feel would still be a way off without that shove. There can be a tipping point with overload though.

Whilst I often shake my head at some of the things @Philip suggests, lots of people are reassured by someone actually saying to them "yes, this is your train" "yes, your ticket is fine on the 10;55" Clearly harking back to the 50s and staffing every station is never going to happen though.

 

[Ianno87]

I think the vast majority is down to ticket structure, it was noted recently that people have booked an anytime but have to state a time online to do it thus thinking that is the train they have to catch. Conversely the perverse split ticketing and "I am done for if I miss my specific train and will have to pay tens of pounds more or be stranded" issue needs sorting.

Whilst GBR may provide the opportunity, a central journey planner would be useful, Google, Trainline, NRES etc can all spit out different things for the same journey. It would be interesting to see if some of the routes Google can spit out are actually valid, especially at times where large scale engineering works are on. Its an awful phrase but "one version of the truth" so to speak.

Information is key and in times of disruption we have done it to death, but I think the likes of RTT etc have jolted the industry into improving things. Displays that show how many coaches, how full they may be, "this train has passed x", intermediate times etc I feel would still be a way off without that shove. There can be a tipping point with overload though.

Whilst I often shake my head at some of the things @Philip suggests, lots of people are reassured by someone actually saying to them "yes, this is your train" "yes, your ticket is fine on the 10;55" Clearly harking back to the 50s and staffing every station is never going to happen though.

With Tech, people are increasingly reassured by Tech that tells them what platform their train is on, where their seat is, and that the train is coming. e.g. text messages that Virgin/Avanti send that tell you your trains is ready for boarding.

It almost needs a kind of "Lite" RealTimeTrains.

I notice, for example, that my TrainPal App shows your planned journey, next train, platform and On Time status etc. on the homepage.

 

[NoRoute]

1. More parking spaces at train stations so people travelling can always reliably get a space, combined with low cost parking+train ticket bundles.

2. Improve the Plusbus scheme, so that you can buy an electronic ticket and use it to start your journey on the bus, travelling to the station, rather than the current ridiculous arrangement where you either need to book a week in advance and get paper tickets posted, or first travel to the station to collect the tickets, needed to start your journey.

3. Start bundling inclusive train travel with things like hotel stays or visits to major venues. Stay a hotel, get train travel in the city or transport zone included, or the airport transfer included.

Start selling train travel not only to the individual passengers, but on a wholesale basis to other businesses so it can be combined with other services.

4. More seats in stations.
5. Every platform to have a roof to stop passengers getting soaked when it rains.

 

[ChrisC]

Better connections between buses and trains, especially in rural areas, would be a big draw for a lot of people I think.

Completely agree, but better connections between trains would be a good place to start. There are so many instances where trains on routes that only have an hourly frequency don’t connect well. At the end of a long journey passengers do not want a wait of an hour or more before completing the last few miles of their journey. For example, with EMR current reduced timetables it can take me longer to travel the last 10 miles of my journey from Nottingham to my home village than the first 125 miles from London St. Pancras to Nottingham.

 

[Ianno87]

Completely agree, but better connections between trains would be a good place to start. There are so many instances where trains on routes that only have an hourly frequency don’t connect well. At the end of a long journey passengers do not want a wait of an hour or more before completing the last few miles of their journey. For example, with EMR current reduced timetables it can take me longer to travel the last 10 miles of my journey from Nottingham to my home village than the first 125 miles from London St. Pancras to Nottingham.

If we obsessed about direct trains everywhere to everywhere, and more on frequency to and from "hubs" then average connection times would typically be much better.

 

[Alex365Dash]

One of the reasons that I regularly see against rail , is the lack of door to door in effect. Maybe rail and bus could combine to have some sort of village/estate /town to train station transfer , a dedicated one.

A dedicated bus connection is a bit over the top, but being able to purchase PlusBus from any station in a PlusBus zone rather than a specific list of interchange stations (e.g. buying a Portsmouth PlusBus with a Cosham to Bristol ticket) and a way to obtain PlusBus tickets without having to get them from the station first (or hoping you got them long enough in advance for them to arrive in the mail) are two things that would make the current PlusBus offering highly more attractive.

In terms of the latter, PlusBus e-tickets won't work due to key decryption issues, but fulfilment of PlusBus to a smartcard* (this should also be permitted even if the actual ticket is issued to a different medium, e.g. PlusBus on smartcard and an e-ticket Advance) is already possible in some areas, and expanding these across the country would solve this issue.

*I accept there's the issue of actually loading the smartcard - this can definitely be done on the relevant app if someone has a phone with NFC, whether passengers can load the PlusBus ticket on the bus itself would probably depend on the bus company's backend, but there are already examples of PTEs being able to allow passengers to collect smartcard tickets onboard buses (e.g. Solent Go smartcards allow collection of Solent Region & Southampton City tickets on-board most Southampton buses provided they're ordered up to 9pm the day before), so with the majority of bus operators it's probably just an issue of being able to collaborate to make it possible.

 

[ChrisC]

If we obsessed about direct trains everywhere to everywhere, and more on frequency to and from "hubs" then average connection times would typically be much better.

Changing trains does not bother me. I agree with you that it’s average connection times that need to be reduced rather than more through trains. More frequent trains do help but there are many instances where small timetable adjustments would help. I also realise that timetable adjustments can have big knock on consequences at pinch points on the network. However, there are so many places where a connecting train departs unnecessarily just before the arrival of an important connection for no good reason other than complete lack of planning and coordination.

 

[stevetay3]

Bring in the changes I suggested in my earlier thread, have less draconian restrictions in the peaks now that fewer are travelling at those times.

 

[Ken H]

Make TVM's more intuitive. I went to a northern Station to get a return to Leeds with plusbus. It gave me the list of tickets to Leeds, but no plusbus. The plusbus was an addon at the end of the transaction, but I didnt know that. nearly lost my train cos of it. If I say I want to go to lees it should give me a list of all tickets available including the rarer ones.

 

[stevetay3]

Bring in the changes I suggested in my earlier thread, have less draconian restrictions in the peaks now that fewer are travelling at those times.

Do away with season tickets now that far more people are working flexibility and make railcards valid 24/7 on all other tickets.

 

[Western Sunset]

Not being made to feel you're a criminal if you do something inadvertently wrong ticket-wise.

 

[Foxcover]

Capacity and space, key for the leisure market which is the main market now - especially on TfW, EMR and Northern and increasingly TPE (until they get back to normal frequency).

Pretty much everything else must be fairly low down the list if the main perception of the service is of an already full 2 or 3 car train pulling into an equally full platform of disappointed/disbelieving passengers. Chester on any given Saturday this summer …