Whatever happened to meet the manager events ?

[yorksrob]

Before the goings on of 2020, we used to have "meet the manager" events quite frequently at Leeds. These were generally well advertised and included representatives from LNER (or whatever version it was at the time), NR, Northern, TPE etc.

2020 seems a long time ago and whilst business might not exactly be booming, there are a lot of passengers now using the railway, however I've not noticed one of these for ages.

Will they ever happen again - and perhaps DfT ought to be represented as well in future.

 

[zwk500]

Will they ever happen again - and perhaps DfT ought to be represented as well in future.

Good luck getting the DfT along.

A quick Google returned SWR, SE, GWR, and Northern websites for Meet the Manager dates. Of those only SWR actually had a date listed (Salisbury, 23rd July) and seem to be holding them regularly. SE and Northern simply said 'dates will appear when confirmed' type message and GWR promises that 'our meetings for 2022 will be confirmed shortly.', which perhaps suggests they aren't coming back any time soon!

I think some TOCs do host an online or twittter version of the event but I do agree with you that an in-person meeting would be far better.

 

[yorksrob]

Good luck getting the DfT along.

A quick Google returned SWR, SE, GWR, and Northern websites for Meet the Manager dates. Of those only SWR actually had a date listed (Salisbury, 23rd July) and seem to be holding them regularly. SE and Northern simply said 'dates will appear when confirmed' type message and GWR promises that 'our meetings for 2022 will be confirmed shortly.', which perhaps suggests they aren't coming back any time soon!

I think some TOCs do host an online or twittter version of the event but I do agree with you that an in-person meeting would be far better.

Given the make up of our local TOC's I'd say that the DfT were now a vital ingredient, although as you say, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I certainly have a list of questions.

As for Twitter, my views of its current proprietor preclude me from using it.

 

[davews]

The SWR ones are still happening and well publicised - the Salisbury one on 23rd July is already appearing on station PIS. Not sure how well attended they are, they are never in convenient places for me.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

The SWR ones are still happening and well publicised - the Salisbury one on 23rd July is already appearing on station PIS. Not sure how well attended they are, they are never in convenient places for me.

Very well publicised, the Bournemouth event was being publicised as far away as sleepy Chiswick the other day.

 

[zwk500]

Given the make up of our local TOC's I'd say that the DfT were now a vital ingredient, although as you say, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Completely agree that they should be there!

I certainly have a list of questions.

I think most regular rail users would...

As for Twitter, my views of its current proprietor preclude me from using it.

Completely sympathise with this, hence my comment about in-person being by far the better options.

I'd love for GWR and XC to have a meet the manager in Bristol sometime soon, because there's plenty of questions to ask and I'm sure answers to be heard.

 

[DarloRich]

LNWR have run them before and since covid.

Sadly, they tend to be a waste of time. The people involved don't have the level of knowledge or detail to answer the kind of minutiae based questions we may have and clearly wont discuss anything "commercially sensitive" which excuses many sins!

 

[yorksrob]

LNWR have run them before and since covid.

Sadly, they tend to be a waste of time. The people involved don't have the level of knowledge or detail to answer the kind of minutiae based questions we may have and clearly wont discuss anything "commercially sensitive" which excuses many sins!

I think in the past at one of these events, someone has offered to take my question away and get back to me.

 

[DarloRich]

I think in the past at one of these events, someone has offered to take my question away and get back to me.

same here but the responses have never been great or detailed.

 

[yorksrob]

same here - the responses have never been great or detailed.

It was a long time ago. I think I got the response, albeit not the one I wanted. I still think its good to raise these things though.

 

[Blackpool boy]

Will they ever happen again - and perhaps DfT ought to be represented as well in future.

There's never going to be a chance of the DfT being there - they are not a TOC and therefore have no obligation to be there no matter what anyone may come up with

 

[yorkie]

.... LNER ...

Can't see that happening; they know they'd get some very awkward questions regarding the way they abolished return fares, the abolishment of Off Peak, the ongoing trial to abolish Super Off Peak, and various other matters such as the disgraceful treatment of pedestrians and cyclists in the south side of York.

NR, Northern, TPE etc.

Perhaps not as unlikely as LNER, but again they would probably want to avoid subjects such as ticket acceptance between the two, as they would know their position is untenable and unjustifiable.

 

[Dr Hoo]

LNWR have run them before and since covid.

Sadly, they tend to be a waste of time. The people involved don't have the level of knowledge or detail to answer the kind of minutiae based questions we may have and clearly wont discuss anything "commercially sensitive" which excuses many sins!

What sort of minutiae do you have in mind?
Having done ‘Customer Surgeries’ as they were sometimes known and Meet The Manager sessions in various parts of the network it was sometimes surprising that passengers would come along especially to ask things such as why the rear destination blind on a train that they had travelled on a few months ago was incorrect. This might then be followed by a question about whether we had thought about re-opening a branch line that was closed in the 1930s. Meanwhile there was a queue out the door of folk who perhaps had more meaningful questions about connectivity or ticket office opening times.
I always went along as well briefed as possible with mountains of timetables, diagrams, fares manuals and the last few months’ Control Logs. All in paper form ‘back in the day’.

 

[yorksrob]

There's never going to be a chance of the DfT being there - they are not a TOC and therefore have no obligation to be there no matter what anyone may come up with

True, but they do directly run most of our (Leeds') TOC's now.

Can't see that happening; they know they'd get some very awkward questions regarding the way they abolished return fares, the abolishment of Off Peak, the ongoing trial to abolish Super Off Peak, and various other matters such as the disgraceful treatment of pedestrians and cyclists in the south side of York.

Perhaps not as unlikely as LNER, but again they would probably want to avoid subjects such as ticket acceptance between the two, as they would know their position is untenable and unjustifiable.

I do suspect that this is one of the things preventing them.

 

[yorkie]

True, but they do directly run most of our (Leeds') TOC's now.

True but the DfT sees it very much as the TOCs role to implement their plans and it is for the TOCs to give us the bad news.

While I agree with you, the chances of it happening are about nil.

I do suspect that this is one of the things preventing them.

Indeed.

In the past, I wouldn't have been too fussed about getting to such events; they are typically not convenient times for me. But right now, I'd make a special effort to make it if I possibly could, and I'd be asking difficult questions, and I am sure many others would do too.

Oh and another thing about Northern is the appalling way they mistreat people in terms of invalid penalty fares, refusal to accept valid tickets, refusal to follow rules relating to off peak tickets, break of journey etc. And now some of these issues are starting to be noticed by the media, generating some well deserved bad publicity for Northern, the chances of them actually facing us are further diminished.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jun 2024 ==

As for Twitter, my views of its current proprietor preclude me from using it.

Twitter is pointless as they ignore difficult questions; they just don't answer them and there is nothing you can do. It would be harder for them to do that in person.

 

[yorksrob]

True but the DfT sees it very much as the TOCs role to implement their plans and it is for the TOCs to give us the bad news.

While I agree with you, the chances of it happening are about nil.

Indeed.

In the past, I wouldn't have been too fussed about getting to such events; they are typically not convenient times for me. But right now, I'd make a special effort to make it if I possibly could, and I'd be asking difficult questions, and I am sure many others would do too.

Oh and another thing about Northern is the appalling way they mistreat people in terms of invalid penalty fares, refusal to accept valid tickets, refusal to follow rules relating to off peak tickets, break of journey etc. And now some of these issues are starting to be noticed by the media, generating some well deserved bad publicity for Northern, the chances of them actually facing us are further diminished.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jun 2024 ==


Twitter is pointless as they ignore difficult questions; they just don't answer them and there is nothing you can do. It would be harder for them to do that in person.

In terms of punitive ticketing issues, I've not experienced them myself, so far, but if the instances raised on the forum are anything to go by, it seems to be a big issue.

It's just as well I don't bother with Twitter as well, in that case

 

[Taunton]

When I was at Richmond station a month or so ago there were boards and regular PIS messages announcing one the following week at Woking.

The chances of anyone on Richmond station at that time being at Woking one evening the following week did seem extremely limited.

Someone above writes of other current SWR ones. In fact, over the years, they are the only ones I've ever noticed actually in progress.

 

[Deepgreen]

There's never going to be a chance of the DfT being there - they are not a TOC and therefore have no obligation to be there no matter what anyone may come up with

Most passengers have no clue about the make up of the modern rail sector's responsibilities anyway so it would be largely pointless. The TOCs should take on issues and direct them as appropriate. Whether they do or not is another thing. I think I have only ever had a helpful and genuine response to comments or complaints from any TOC once or twice, and that's by e-mails, etc., so the chances 'live' must be extremely low.

 

[yorksrob]

Most passengers have no clue about the make up of the modern rail sector's responsibilities anyway so it would be largely pointless. The TOCs should take on issues and direct them as appropriate. Whether they do or not is another thing. I think I have only ever had a helpful and genuine response to comments or complaints from any TOC once or twice, and that's by e-mails, etc., so the chances 'live' must be extremely low.

At the events at Leeds, they tended to have managers from NR as well as the TOC's, so passengers could be directed to the most relevant manager for their query.

 

[800301]

Greater Anglia seem to do them quite frequently and not just at LST either

 

[Goldfish62]

The SWR ones are still happening and well publicised - the Salisbury one on 23rd July is already appearing on station PIS. Not sure how well attended they are, they are never in convenient places for me.

SWR do hybrid meetings - you can request a virtual meeting if you can't attend the live event. I had one last year. Unfortunately, despite promising to do so, they never responded to my queries and suggestions.

 

[DanNCL]

I seem to recall that Tyne & Wear Metro used to do these. Not anymore and I can’t see them doing it again as Nexus know they’d get too many awkward questions that they don’t want to answer.

 

[Horizon22]

Twitter is pointless as they ignore difficult questions; they just don't answer them and there is nothing you can do. It would be harder for them to do that in person.

Not really - the answer would be "oh I'm not sure about that I'll look into that for you".

My experience - and I was on one once from as the "local" company representative! - is that they are just a big moaning shop but often for nothing in particular just generic complaints about "the railway" and stuff the company could do little about. A few useful nuggets but nothing too useful. Lots of people thinking that very complex issues or problems could or indeed be solved very simply and didn't like the answers provided as just "excuses". In today DfT cost-cutting driven world, I imagine the questions and subsequent answers would be even less illuminating. And the vast majority of people don't want to really chat and are busy getting to their destination, especially during the peak!

Organised local rail organisations and user groups where local councillors and even MPs are involved seem to be more fruitful and beneficial.

 

[Haywain]

I was once part of a meet the manager event at a major London terminal. It was a very tedious couple of hours standing around on the concourse and answering a few questions of a very trivial and everyday nature (what platform for…, that sort of thing). It amounts to being seen to be available, rather than achieving anything worthwhile.

 

[Horizon22]

At the events at Leeds, they tended to have managers from NR as well as the TOC's, so passengers could be directed to the most relevant manager for their query.

Yes the was traditionally a range of people - someone from the local station team, someone senior from fleet, drivers & customer experience would turn up and could normally talk reasonably about most topics but could defer to their colleagues where approriate.

 

[yorkie]

Not really - the answer would be "oh I'm not sure about that I'll look into that for you".

Should be, but if you ask awkward questions relating to policies, they tend not to answer.

My experience - and I was on one once from as the "local" company representative! - is that they are just a big moaning shop but often for nothing in particular just generic complaints about "the railway" and stuff the company could do little about. A few useful nuggets but nothing too useful. Lots of people thinking that very complex issues or problems could or indeed be solved very simply and didn't like the answers provided as just "excuses". In today DfT cost-cutting driven world, I imagine the questions and subsequent answers would be even less illuminating. And the vast majority of people don't want to really chat and are busy getting to their destination, especially during the peak!

I'm sure some people do use them just to moan; but I am sure many of us would be asking more pertinent questions, such as what safeguards are in place to ensure that customers are treated correctly and that sort of thing. But TOCs such as Northern don't like this kind of questions, as the answer is basically that they do what they want with impunity.

The irony is that if they listened to people on this forum, they could have avoided a lot of negative press lately, but then they just don't care about that!

Organised local rail organisations and user groups where local councillors and even MPs are involved seem to be more fruitful and beneficial.

If anyone knows of a local organisation/group that is able to do anything to hold the likes of Northern, TPE, LNER to account I'd be interested to hear...

 

[Horizon22]

Should be, but if you ask awkward questions relating to policies, they tend not to answer.

Yes but as you say, in person you can't not answer; my statement was the sort of answer you'd get even in person.

I'm sure some people do use them just to moan; but I am sure many of us would be asking more pertinent questions, such as what safeguards are in place to ensure that customers are treated correctly and that sort of thing. But TOCs such as Northern don't like this kind of questions, as the answer is basically that they do what they want with impunity.

The irony is that if they listened to people on this forum, they could have avoided a lot of negative press lately, but then they just don't care about that!

If anyone knows of a local organisation/group that is able to do anything to hold the likes of Northern, TPE, LNER to account I'd be interested to hear...

The vast majority of people are of course not railway enthusiasts and therefore pertinent questions are few and far between.

I have no idea about local rail user groups in those areas as I do not live there, but in London & SE I know of a few quite active ones that have been able to successfully campaign on several issues (normally with councillor suppoort) with action achieved as well as having a good standing with the local TOC to provide a friendly but firm challenge when needed.

 

[yorksrob]

Yes but as you say, in person you can't not answer; my statement was the sort of answer you'd get even in person.



The vast majority of people are of course not railway enthusiasts and therefore pertinent questions are few and far between.

I have no idea about local rail user groups in those areas as I do not live there, but in London & SE I know of a few quite active ones that have been able to successfully campaign on several issues (normally with councillor suppoort) with action achieved as well as having a good standing with the local TOC to provide a friendly but firm challenge when needed.

If the one in Leeds happens again, I will provide some entirely pertinent questions. Whether any action is achieved will of course depend on the industry !

 

[yorkie]

Yes but as you say, in person you can't not answer; my statement was the sort of answer you'd get even in person.

Sorry I misunderstood; I get you now! And yes totally, if the did get back to us that would be fine! On Twitter they won't even do that.

The vast majority of people are of course not railway enthusiasts and therefore pertinent questions are few and far between.

The questions I'd ask are not in any way related to rail enthusiast questions and would be related to retailing, revenue protection, passenger rights, that sort of thing.

I know that some enthusiasts can misuse these questions (e.g. the infamous Peter Skuce back in FCC days) but that's a completely different matter, I don't think anyone here is proposing to ask such questions.

 

[Horizon22]

Sorry I misunderstood; I get you now! And yes totally, if the did get back to us that would be fine! On Twitter they won't even do that.

The questions I'd ask are not in any way related to rail enthusiast questions and would be related to retailing, revenue protection, passenger rights, that sort of thing.

I know that some enthusiasts can misuse these questions (e.g. the infamous Peter Skuce back in FCC days) but that's a completely different matter, I don't think anyone here is proposing to ask such questions.

I think the majority of people actually don't care much about retailing & revenue protection - just the cost of tickets although I'm sure fare reform some might be interested in!

Most comments are about service reliability and punctuality at such events.