Could mandatory allocated seating be deployed during coronavirus outbreak?

[squizzler]

It would be good if the fare system only allowed a number of passengers on each train that could all be seated to reduce the likelihood of airborne transmission.

The RDG was developing just such a system for longer distance trains.

Would it be possible to roll out such a policy with immediate effect?

It would be the ideal opportunity to trail the new system, silver linings and all that!

 

[yorkie]

For InterCity trains you mean?

This would be difficult to achieve and would be an unpopular move.

See: www.railforums.co.uk/threads/standing-on-long-rail-journeys-to-be-banned-under-virgin-trains-plan-for-airline-style-fare.181623/

 

[squizzler]

Yes, it would be hard to enforce for local services.

The benefit for reserved only seating on long distance services is it might be possible to identify who was near somebody who subsequently falls ill and email them to take some pre-emptive sick leave.

 

[deltic]

Dont Renfe have a similar system - I remember talking to them when they were thinking of entering the UK market. You didnt have to reserve a seat in advance but on arrival at the station you "checked in" and were allocated a seat on the next available train with spaces available.

 

[AM9]

Yes, it would be hard to enforce for local services.

The benefit for reserved only seating on long distance services is it might be possible to identify who was near somebody who subsequently falls ill and email them to take some pre-emptive sick leave.

That will soon be totally irrelevant with the high probability of multiple exposure whenever within 2m of anybody else. So no queueing, getting coffee at the station, walking through the concourse etc.. The government is now preparing for up to 50% of the population being infectious over a 3 week period, so this would be the epidemic equivalent of arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

 

[VT 390]

By the time this could be introduced would it likely not be to late to have a noticeable effect?

If this were to happen I would hope that it would be enforced ONLY during the time when this particular issue is around as to me it seems like a good way for TOC's to introduce it and then not get rid of it again afterwards.

 

[VT 390]

Another thing I have just though of is that as people would still need to get up to use the toilets, especially on longer journeys so would it really be that effective?

 

[R G NOW.]

Are they thinking of bringing in some sort of rationing system which would allow only the window seats to be occupied and no people standing. How would this work on northern trains and cross country which are often full and standing.

 

[yorkie]

Are they thinking of bringing in some sort of rationing system which would allow only the window seats to be occupied and no people standing.

I can't imagine so.

How would this work on northern trains and cross country which are often full and standing.

It wouldn't.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There are some reasons in favour of compulsory reservations (and many against) but this is silly.

If things get serious enough public transport can be closed down - car travel is much less likely to be an issue.

 

[R G NOW.]

There are some reasons in favour of compulsory reservations (and many against) but this is silly.

If things get serious enough public transport can be closed down - car travel is much less likely to be an issue.

How would this work? What about all the staff that run it and the wages bills that probably the government would have to pay as the TOCS would be getting no income.

When you say public transport I suppose it means all Busses planes and taxi services would also stop.

 

[hexagon789]

I doubt this would affect the bigger picture one iota, asides from being unworkable/unenforceable in many circumstances

 

[Bletchleyite]

How would this work? What about all the staff that run it and the wages bills that probably the government would have to pay as the TOCS would be getting no income.

When you say public transport I suppose it means all Busses planes and taxi services would also stop.

Yes. It's what happened in China, and I'm sure it's on the Government's plan if necessary.

 

[Flying Snail]

This seems suspiciously like a spurious justification, using dodgy medical reasons, to enact compulsory reservations because the person proposing it just wants compulsory reservations.

 

[squizzler]

In terms of avoiding contact cross infection it seems intuitively sensible to have all the passengers seated with their hands in their laps rather than standing and holding onto various handholds for support. Large numbers of people in proximity will always be problematic. These are hardly medical reasons, dodgy or otherwise, rather it is self evident.

 

[randyrippley]

A bigger contamination risk comes from ticket machines and the keypads on bank card readers
Also on door buttons
Hand cleansing after each contact is required - imagine the queues that would produce

 

[squizzler]

A bigger contamination risk comes from ticket machines and the keypads on bank card readers
Also on door buttons
Hand cleansing after each contact is required - imagine the queues that would produce

Most people in the know tend to buy tickets on their mobiles already, perhaps this trend will accelerate further?

 

[R G NOW.]

Try to use contactless if possible as I think this will help prevent people touching the keypads at a ticket office and also on machines. Also station staff need to wipe these often.

 

[R G NOW.]

A bigger contamination risk comes from ticket machines and the keypads on bank card readers
Also on door buttons
Hand cleansing after each contact is required - imagine the queues that would produce

This is now becoming impossible due to not being able buy hand sanitisers. My Sainsburys has ran out.

 

[R G NOW.]

I would advise members to sit in a seat not near to other persons if possible, sounds a sensible idea. Hence my reason for using only the window seats.

 

[AM9]

It's surprising the number of posters here think that they will be able to dodge catching the COVID 19 virus throughout the pandemic timescale by avoiding touching almost anything and curling up in seats away from everybody else in a crowded train.
For safety purposes, grab rails etc., are there for people to steady themselves in moving vehicles. In the absence of carrying a supply of hand sanitiser, (and the panic buyers have largely stripped the retail supplies for everybody), the safest way is to do what is necessary to travel safely and wash hands at the destination both outward and return, (e.g. work and home respectively). Trying not to touch eyes nose and mouth until hands are clean helps, but short of that, the only other ways to remove the risk of inhaling virus-laden water droplets from others are to hold your breath, (that might of course bring far more difficulties than actually catching the infection), or travel by other means.

 

[bramling]

I would advise members to sit in a seat not near to other persons if possible, sounds a sensible idea. Hence my reason for using only the window seats.

Lovely idea, but what happens when one chooses a nice secluded seat in a lightly loaded train, and then someone comes and sits nearby (for example in an airline seat directly behind) and perhaps starts sneezing?

I wonder if we may start to see people getting arsey about people sitting near them, and perhaps adopting their own measures to try to dissuade this - for example spreading their luggage out around them?

 

[AM9]

Lovely idea, but what happens when one chooses a nice secluded seat in a lightly loaded train, and then someone comes and sits nearby (for example in an airline seat directly behind) and perhaps starts sneezing?

I wonder if we may start to see people getting arsey about people sitting near them, and perhaps adopting their own measures to try to dissuade this - for example spreading their luggage out around them?

I agree, such suggestions are for the most pointless.
This thread, unusually for RUK, is showing signs of the ever increasing trend of conspiracy, fake news and knee-jerk remedies that new health threats regrettably inspire. The official recommendations, particularly the hand-washing ones and self-isolation when you are the potential carrier yourself, are for most, the only practical things that can be done by individuals. People should note that the government strategy is the control the rate of spread more than the vain hope that it will just go away as fast as it arrived. If that is successful, there is the prospect that services will in the main cope with the peak levels of cases. It will require a lardegree of public co-operation and with the contemporary 'norms' of self-entitlement, there will inevitably be those who think that their wishes to not get infected override that of all others. The suggestion in this thread demonstrated exactly that desire, i.e. why not change the rules on seat allocation so that some passengers (presumably incliding the OP), can travel at a presumed reduced risk. All the others must adjust their lifestyle to permit that. Maybe there is an implied suggestion that the railway should allow first come first served, offering the rest places in open goods wagons, a la the original trains in the 1830s!