Network Rail bets on mindfulness (and err...Greggs) to lure commuters back

[johntea]

The journey to work is set to be a whole lot more relaxing than it used to be for commuters hopping back on the train.
That at least is the plan: Network Rail is offering free hot drinks, access to a mindfulness app and other perks, to lure people back on board.
If that's not your cup of tea, audiobooks and music streaming services will also be available.
Rail bosses hope that will help put passenger numbers back on track.
Last week the government scrapped its work-from-home guidance in England, along with other measures aimed at curbing the pandemic. But so far workers are proving reluctant to return to the daily commute.
On Monday passenger numbers were still only at 53% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the Department for Transport.
Demand for peak-time trains has increased by just 5% since the guidance changed, according to the industry body the Rail Delivery Group.
National Rail is banking its online rewards scheme will stoke new enthusiasm, by subtly replacing recollections of crowded commuter journeys, with images of a more leisurely experience.
Passengers who log on to backontrack.nationalrail.co.uk/commuter can select rewards from complimentary breakfast food and hot drinks from Greggs, free audiobooks, access to a mindfulness app, and coffees from London-based café chain Pure.

Train firms bet on mindfulness to lure commuters back

Free hot drinks and other perks are on offer as train bosses try to get passenger numbers back on track.

www.bbc.co.uk

The site isn't live until 6am but I'm not quite sure this is really going to be much of a help to entice commuters back somehow!

 

[Termy]

I just saw this myself... I wonder what the requirements will be to actually get anything! From what I read, the article itself was sparse of detail.

 

[Falcon1200]

The article (on the BBC News website) says Network Rail at first, then changes to National Rail !

 

[Mag_seven]

The offer will be useless unless firms start ordering their workers back to offices and that is a matter for individual companies not individual employees.

And I hope it doesn't apply at weekends when everybody seems quite happy to pile on trains to go to the football or a weekend away.

 

[Chrisgr31]

The offer is fairly useless as I can’t get it to let me register. I can’t choose stations for my commute!

Turns out to be a site loading issue now succeded

 

[LowLevel]

The offer is fairly useless as I can’t get it to let me register. I can’t choose stations for my commute!

Is it being swamped perhaps? I can't get it to load at all.

 

[seagull]

As the BBC link doesn't quite work as it should, here is the direct one:
https://backontrack.nationalrail.co.uk/commuter/#/landing

 

[davews]

Unless you are a fan of Greggs there is nothing there which interests me at all.

 

[DelayRepay]

The offer will be useless unless firms start ordering their workers back to offices and that is a matter for individual companies not individual employees.

I'd agree. I understand why they need to try, but I cannot see many people being persuaded to commute into work by the offer of a free coffee, when the alternative is to work from home. You could buy your own coffee and still be quids up because you've not bought a train ticket.

 

[duncanp]

They really ought to try and get the basics right first, such as running a reliable train service that goes where people want to go when they want to go there.

And not surreptitiously changing the National Rail Condition of Travel so that the timetable you agree to is the one that exists at 10pm the day before travel, rather than the one which existed at the time you bought the ticket.

And no more nagging about face coverings for pete's sake.

 

[MadCommuter]

I'd agree. I understand why they need to try, but I cannot see many people being persuaded to commute into work by the offer of a free coffee, when the alternative is to work from home. You could buy your own coffee and still be quids up because you've not bought a train ticket.

This. And not to mention an extra 2 hours a day in my joggies with the family. That's much closer to mindfulness then a free coffee.

 

[Iskra]

If the railway is wanting to compete for business and increase patronage perhaps it could start by addressing the obvious- the ridiculous cost of travel. When it’s cheaper for me to drive, something is very wrong…

Token offers and gestures aren’t going to achieve much.

 

[zero]

I've tried to register which isn't working, but I don't see any sort of verification that you actually travel on the route you say you do?

 

[DelayRepay]

If the railway is wanting to compete for business and increase patronage perhaps it could start by addressing the obvious- the ridiculous cost of travel. When it’s cheaper for me to drive, something is very wrong…

Token offers and gestures aren’t going to achieve much.

Agree. If they are trying to target commuters, it would be better to try to improve the flexi-season ticket offering somehow. Or maybe creating some kind of commuter railcard?

Of the current 'rewards', the only ones I would bother to claim are the free coffees, which are limited so the most you'll save is about £3, if you're lucky. All of the other discounts etc. could be sourced elsewhere. People who are travelling anyway might get some small benefit, but it's not going to actually encourage someone to take the train who otherwise wouldn't have.

 

[Geezertronic]

If the railway is wanting to compete for business and increase patronage perhaps it could start by addressing the obvious- the ridiculous cost of travel. When it’s cheaper for me to drive, something is very wrong…

Token offers and gestures aren’t going to achieve much.

I have to agree with that. The cost of a ticket from Birmingham to London is ridiculously high, I am personally glad I can book via my company's travel booking site. And since recently, it is not even worth booking an Avanti ticket as the Avanti Birmingham trains are now every hour so it is now more convenient to use LNWR and change at Rugby to another LNWR train and use the Crewe trains

 

[LowLevel]

Free sausage cob and a coffee duly acquired, not bad for 2 minutes spent signing up on the train to work

 

[johntea]

Turns out the free Greggs and Costa Coffees are limited to a whopping 1,000 so that offer will be done and dusted by the end of this morning I reckon!

 

[JonathanH]

The cost of a ticket from Birmingham to London is ridiculously high, I am personally glad I can book via my company's travel booking site.

Twin edge sword - does the railway need to make travelling from Birmingham to London cheaper? How do we measure the supposition that it is 'ridiculously high'? Ultimately, the price is measured by people paying it.

What is the true economic, environmental and social cost of making that journey? Arguably travel by other means needs to be made more expensive at peak times as well but the means to do so - eg road pricing - aren't politically acceptable.

It does seem that a cup of coffee isn't going to make a change to whether people start travelling again. Arguably cost isn't as big a factor as the requirement of businesses for people to start travelling again. Like it or not, some are taking the view that their employees simply don't need to any more.

 

[Termy]

Turns out the free Greggs and Costa Coffees are limited to a whopping 1,000 so that offer will be done and dusted by the end of this morning I reckon!

I'm surprised it isn't already...

 

[Geezertronic]

Twin edge sword - does the railway need to make travelling from Birmingham to London cheaper?

If they want people to use "greener" forms of transport, then yes

How do we measure the supposition that it is 'ridiculously high'? Ultimately, the price is measured by people paying it.

£180 for an Anytime Return using Avanti services is ridiculously high (for comparison, it is £90 for LNWR services to London return, about £90 to Liverpool return, and about £107 to Manchester return). My company has to pay the price if they want me to travel down to London

What is the true economic, environmental and social cost of making that journey? Arguably travel by other means needs to be made more expensive at peak times as well but the means to do so - eg road pricing - aren't politically acceptable.

To travel to London by car, including all of the mileage, congestion, ULEZ, and car parking charges (excluding things like insurance & maintenance as I would have them anyway), you would still look at a price comparable with the LNWR ticket price.

 

[mrd269697]

The railway is becoming more and more inaccessible due to ever riding fares, which are riding far faster than wages are. Whether you agree with the principle of fare reductions or not, it’s key to getting *more* people to use the railway. If we are serious about getting people out of cars and using green modes of transport, it should be accessible. The fact some rail fares on our little island can be hundreds or pounds (for standard class) baffles me. Fact is rail travel is considerably more expensive here than it is on the continent for what many would agree is a sub par service. Does it need more subsidy? Well that’s a question for another day but I don’t think making fares rise yet again after the pandemic is the way to get people back. I use the train if I can rather then drive as a rail employee, it’s considerably cheaper. Most don’t have that luxury.

 

[Merseysider]

To select your ‘from’ station, it’s a dropdown list with about 2500 options. Cue endless scrolling.

Then the same again for the ‘to’ station.

And when I looked, Manchester Piccadilly and numerous other stations aren’t even there / are in the wrong place completely!

Not worth the time.

 

[ComUtoR]

Free sausage cob and a coffee duly acquired, not bad for 2 minutes spent signing up on the train to work

I just sent the link to a work WhatsApp group. You know how Drivers love a station freebie

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2022 ==

Unless you are a fan of Greggs there is nothing there which interests me at all.

Pure. (Free coffee)
3 Month Tastecard
3 Month Tidal (music streaming)
Mindfulness app trial
Theatre ticket discounts
Learning and education course discount.
10% off magazine subscriptions

It's bit a bad set of offers.

To select your ‘from’ station, it’s a dropdown list with about 2500 options. Cue endless scrolling

There is a search bar. I even used the station short codes

 

[mralexn]

I just sent the link to a work WhatsApp group. You know how Drivers love a station freebie

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2022 ==



Pure. (Free coffee)
3 Month Tastecard
3 Month Tidal (music streaming)
Mindfulness app trial
Theatre ticket discounts
Learning and education course discount.
10% off magazine subscriptions

It's bit a bad set of offers.


There is a search bar. I even used the station short codes

Ironically at the moment, anyone can get 3 months free with Tastecard for just signing up at their website as a normal member of the public.

Also Tidal is 3 months for £1 at the moment.

tastecard | 2 for 1 Restaurant Card | Join tastecard today | tastecard

Looking for the latest restaurant deals? tastecard is the ultimate restaurant card. Save more on your favourite restaurants, activities & more with tastecard.

www.tastecard.co.uk

 

[3rd rail land]

The railway is becoming more and more inaccessible due to ever riding fares, which are riding far faster than wages are. Whether you agree with the principle of fare reductions or not, it’s key to getting *more* people to use the railway. If we are serious about getting people out of cars and using green modes of transport, it should be accessible. The fact some rail fares on our little island can be hundreds or pounds (for standard class) baffles me. Fact is rail travel is considerably more expensive here than it is on the continent for what many would agree is a sub par service. Does it need more subsidy? Well that’s a question for another day but I don’t think making fares rise yet again after the pandemic is the way to get people back. I use the train if I can rather then drive as a rail employee, it’s considerably cheaper. Most don’t have that luxury.

I think you've hit the nail on the had here in that fair are rising far quicker than wages. A free bacon roll, tea, audiobooks or whatever isn't going to entice people to take trains more often or leave their car at home.
I honestly don't know how the government gets more people on trains but I can't see these small freebies making any noticeable difference to passenger numbers. Certainly for me these freebies wouldn't entice me to make any extra train journeys.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think you've hit the nail on the had here in that fair are rising far quicker than wages. A free bacon roll, tea, audiobooks or whatever isn't going to entice people to take trains more often or leave their car at home.
I honestly don't know how the government gets more people on trains but I can't see these small freebies making any noticeable difference to passenger numbers. Certainly for me these freebies wouldn't entice me to make any extra train journeys.

Cheaper, simpler fares.
Fewer restrictions.
More comfortable trains better designed for leisure use.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Completely useless for me. Claiming my free hot drink at Pure would involve a massive detour on my commute, adding 20+ minutes to the journey.

 

[3rd rail land]

Cheaper, simpler fares.
Fewer restrictions.
More comfortable trains better designed for leisure use.

In an ideal world absolutely. I doubt we will get any redesigned trains unless they become end of life and replacement stock is required. Do you think the DfT will authorise TOCs to replace ironing boards with more comfortable seating which probably takes up more space?
Cheaper fares are a possibility if it draws enough people back to trains to cover the cost of reducing fares. Perhaps not putting fares up by no more than RPI for a few years would be a good start. In fact limit rises to say 1% a year for maybe the next 5 years would probably make a noticeable difference to passenger numbers.
Simpler fares would be a good one to implement. For example does the average rail user know the difference in restrictions between off peak and supper off peak? Even I have to check when super off peak is valid on the odd occasion I buy such a ticket.

 

[Bletchleyite]

In an ideal world absolutely. I doubt we will get any redesigned trains unless they become end of life and replacement stock is required. Do you think the DfT will authorise TOCs to replace ironing boards with more comfortable seating which probably takes up more space?

Seating doesn't need to take up more space to be more comfortable, to be fair. Airlines and their suppliers have spent a fortune researching this.

As an example, Avanti are replacing the Pendolino Standard seats. But you needn't replace them if they're not broken, just change the layout.

 

[LittleAH]

If we're talking about commuters here (leisure has clearly rebounded), it's going to take more than just 'cheaper' fares. It'll need policy that works around the economy too, as even city centres are now struggling due to lack of people coming in.

Ticketing: Flexi Season Tickets are in principal a great idea, but they have been poorly executed. In some instances it's cheaper to buy returns twice a week than a Flexi season-ticket. This needs a proper review, including with simpler ticketing options.

Fuel duty/Car costs: The cost of driving hasn't risen unlike public transport. Fuel duty hasn't risen and as people go electric the costs will reduce further. Clean air zones will help, as will a switch to road pricing - but that's years off. No government will raise fuel duty either given inflation currently.

WFH: This needs to be taxed in some way. Even city centres are now being affected by lack of footfall. If this means ending WFH tax relief and encouraging companies to get people back in the office at lease part-time then it needs to be done. Otherwise, public transport as a whole will continue to suffer.