Manchester Piccadilly - Unfriendly and overstaffed?

[trainophile]

I'd settle for an ATW representative based at the station, for advice and information when there is disruption to their services. I did get authorisation from the Northern desk to travel on a later train with an AP ticket when my inbound connection was late, but the guard was not very happy when half a dozen of us produced 1730 tickets on the 1830 service, as no-one had bothered to let him know. I was the only one who had their ticket endorsed, but this seemed to make him even more annoyed .

 

[The Barlow Boy]

Smart enough to provide the public with a railway network for about one fifth of current subsidies

But that was the organisational management - not the staff which as has been mentioned were often lacking in knowledge, dress code or care.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Judging by the queues, nobody could accuse the ticket offices at Piccadilly of being overstaffed.

 

[Howardh]

Just a quick question; whats wrong with being old and whats wrong with being ugly?

I fall under both, and what's wrong with it is wimmin don't ask me for a date any more

 

[Carlisle]

But that was the organisational management - not the staff which as has been mentioned were often lacking in knowledge, dress code or care.

Yes BR was far from perfect and some staff were as you describe but not the majority

 

[185]

It should be noted the current head of revenue protection Sandra Crighton at Northern Rail originally came from Sky TV telesales.

On leaving Sky TV in 2013 she went to another operator for seven months, some problems arose, she left for 'family reasons', and in January this year she reappeared at Northern Rail.

 

[route:oxford]

It should be noted the current head of revenue protection Sandra Crighton at Northern Rail originally came from Sky TV telesales.

On leaving Sky TV in 2013 she went to another operator for seven months, some problems arose, she left for 'family reasons', and in January this year she reappeared at Northern Rail.

Clearly it's welcome that the rail industry is recruiting externally for individuals accustomed to working in a multi-million turnover customer focussed industry.

Marriage is no longer a reason to refuse a woman a job...

 

[M60lad]

Regarding the ticket checks at Piccadilly, there is one way and one way only of getting out of Piccadilly without a ticket check and I'm surprised the powers that be haven't caught onto it yet and that's by using the lift straight down from the mezanine level straight to Fairfield Street, so I wouldn't say Piccadilly is in complete lock-down.

I think this is the problem with why Piccadilly as a mainline station hasn't got ticket barriers fitted as there's no obvious place where they can be put due to the way the platforms are set out.

As for having too many staff I've often been at Piccadilly in the evening during the quiter periods and Northern Still have quite a number of dispatch staff on, more than what's probably needed at these times

 

[ag51ruk]

Regarding the ticket checks at Piccadilly, there is one way and one way only of getting out of Piccadilly without a ticket check and I'm surprised the powers that be haven't caught on to it yet and that's by using the lift straight down from the mezanine level straight to Fairfield Street, so I wouldn't say Piccadilly is in complete lock-down.

I think this is the problem with why Piccadilly as a mainline station hasn't got ticket barriers fitted as there's no obvious place where they cabn be put due to the way the platforms are set out.

As for having too many staff I've often been at Piccadilly in the evening during the quiter periods and Northern Still have quite a number of dispatch staff on, more than what's probably needed at these times

While not there all the time, there are regular checks outside the lift at street level on Fairfield Street, and less often someone by the lift in the link bridge lounge. Tube-style barriers are due to be installed at Piccadilly in the summer.

 

[RichmondCommu]

I fall under both, and what's wrong with it is wimmin don't ask me for a date any more

Reading this has made me feel sad. I'm sure you're not ugly and you should always remember that there is someone for everyone. Perhaps you should start asking them for dates

 

[scotsman]

But that was the organisational management - not the staff which as has been mentioned were often lacking in knowledge, dress code or care.

Au contraire, I have worked with and/or know a ton of them, and my experiences are the opposite of what you describe.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think this is the problem with why Piccadilly as a mainline station hasn't got ticket barriers fitted as there's no obvious place where they can be put due to the way the platforms are set out.

I think there's plenty of room to have them running along the glass wall through to the platforms, on the concourse side. The Network Rail information kiosk and departure boards may need moving, but then IMO they would be better running along the top of that wall in a more conventional way anyway.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Bit of Mancunian laconic humour on show today.
My Liverpool-bound 319 pulled in, unusually, on Platform 14b, while the ATW Llandudno was still in 14a.
We sat...and sat... Other westbound trains arrived alongside in P13.
After 15 minutes of silence, the guard appeared and said there were signalling problems at Oxford Road and he didn't know when we would be moving.
After 30 minutes a Network Rail guy appeared and said they had fixed the problem and we would be moving soon.
Then he added emphatically before leaving: "I don't know who broke the signalling, but it wasn't me". Broad smiles all round.
The two Africans with mountains of luggage, freshly in from Nigeria, looked bewildered.

 

[Senex]

Tube-style barriers are due to be installed at Piccadilly in the summer.

How to make life difficult for the long-distance passenger with luggage. But then the franchisee's are every bit as guilty as the nationalised railway ever was of thinking first of their own convenience and only much later of the convenience of the passenger. Witness in another thread the attitude of XC towards passengers who dare to use their trains without making a reservation first.

 

[trainophile]

I think there's plenty of room to have them running along the glass wall through to the platforms, on the concourse side. The Network Rail information kiosk and departure boards may need moving, but then IMO they would be better running along the top of that wall in a more conventional way anyway.

I hate that departure board system. You just get focussed on your desired destination and the flipping thing fades and moves around the block! It's also a bit high up to read unless you stand right under it, so no good if waiting in the seating area.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I hate that departure board system. You just get focussed on your desired destination and the flipping thing fades and moves around the block! It's also a bit high up to read unless you stand right under it, so no good if waiting in the seating area.

Yes, such boards are useful as secondary displays but it's a pain as the sole one. Though it would be tolerable if instead of the two sides showing the same thing, one would show A-<whatever> and the other <whatever>-Z.

But I think the best thing would be a conventional LED Solari type layout along the top of the partitions to the platforms.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

How to make life difficult for the long-distance passenger with luggage. But then the franchisee's are every bit as guilty as the nationalised railway ever was of thinking first of their own convenience and only much later of the convenience of the passenger.

As a passenger who pays his fare I don't mind barriers, because they keep fare dodging down, which keeps fare increases down. Somebody has to pay. You get used to them, and they have the useful side effect of catching you out if you've forgotten your ticket so you can't end up travelling by accident and being hit with a PF/prosecution/high VT Anytime fare.

Witness in another thread the attitude of XC towards passengers who dare to use their trains without making a reservation first.

Off topic for this thread, but at least they don't operate compulsory reservations, unlike France and Poland to name but two in Europe, and many other countries. Though allocated seating (which is sort-of what it is) has a lot going for it - more relaxed boarding, for one.

 

[josh-j]

I find the departure board is pretty good but it is a little bit annoying it isn't all on one page. It would be better if it was one big large screen instead.

But the way it works (showing all destinations not just final destinations) is very useful and user-friendly. Much more so than the more traditional system in my opinion, even if its on two "pages". Surely its easier to just be able to look for the place you want to go to, rather than having to know the actual end destination of the train?

 

[Jonfun]

I think the main issue with it is the fact it swaps pages as you're looking at it. So the obvious solution is to have it so you have each page static, and if there's three pages of trains to display, don't display trains as far in the future (They show up about half an hour before at the mo).

It's much easier to read than the LED type indicators, which can get very hard to read very quickly when badly laid out or you put too much information on them.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Who says that railway stations are meant to be "friendly". They are just there to perform a function.

 

[Ianigsy]

Piccadilly is particularly badly designed for anybody arriving on a main line train and needing local connections, especially on the airport and Stockport routes, because you never know until you're actually on the platform whether the next train is going to go from the main platforms or 13/14. You already have people alighting and heading for the main concourse to find where their connection goes from and then returning to the right platform- unless you have more information on the platform side or staff there specifically to deal with connections, then you're going to have people going through the barrier and then back again five minutes later (if the barrier allows them to!).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Some other countries manage to display connections on the on-board PIS and announce them. A few VT guards seem to be doing this using RTT/the NRE app. Perhaps it should become official practice.

 

[trainophile]

Piccadilly is particularly badly designed for anybody arriving on a main line train and needing local connections, especially on the airport and Stockport routes, because you never know until you're actually on the platform whether the next train is going to go from the main platforms or 13/14. You already have people alighting and heading for the main concourse to find where their connection goes from and then returning to the right platform- unless you have more information on the platform side or staff there specifically to deal with connections, then you're going to have people going through the barrier and then back again five minutes later (if the barrier allows them to!).

Good point. As I understand it, you are allowed (on AP tickets) to leave the platform areas to use station facilities, and I often collect future tickets from the machines, or pop into Sainsburys. The RPIs on the gateline are fine with this, but if barriers are going to replace humans, with perhaps one human covering the entire line, I can foresee confusion as people find they are unable to either get out or get back in.

Or are the proposed barriers going to be at the street end of the concourse?