Poor strike service communications

[mrmartin]

As I noted above, you have another thread complaining about a TOC not warning you enough about heat related restrictions which causes you to be delayed. I dare say if you had been inconvenienced by strike action you’d be complaining about that instead, so a case in point of damned if you do damned if you don’t.

What? Not at all! For the third time, I'm not saying do not put any warnings about being potentially being delayed/cancelled and allow extra time. This is sensible. That is completely different to saying DO NOT TRAVEL!

It's a completely consistent point. Just like if there are going to be national speed restrictions because of heat, probably put a banner saying possible delays on national rail (and they normally do!). I'm not saying they should put Do not travel everywhere so people cannot possibly be delayed, 'cos they ain't travelling.

 

[43066]

What? Not at all! For the third time, I'm not saying do not put any warnings about being potentially being delayed/cancelled and allow extra time. This is sensible. That is completely different to saying DO NOT TRAVEL!

It's a completely consistent point. Just like if there are going to be national speed restrictions because of heat, probably put a banner saying possible delays on national rail (and they normally do!). I'm not saying they should put Do not travel everywhere so people cannot possibly be delayed, 'cos they ain't travelling.

Saying “allow extra time” or “possible delays” is meaningless (delays are *always* possible for any reason!). It would be an absolutely ludicrous and downright dangerous message to put out when it is known that a fraction of the service will be operating over most of the national network, as was the case last week. Telling people “do not travel” so they they can make other arrangements, and running a better service than expected, is a far better outcome than the other way around.

Or would you rather have had thousands of people thinking it was business as usual and being shocked when “possible delays” actually turned out to mean no trains at all on many lines, a fraction of the service operating and the railway basically shutting up shop by late afternoon?

You’re entitled to your opinion of course but I’m very glad those responsible for the messaging last week took a more sensible and realistic view and managed expectations appropriately.

 

[Horizon22]

What's strange about it? Supposing you went to a restaurant and they refused to serve you food? Would you keep coming back to that restaurant or would you find somewhere else to eat in future?

If a TOC is running no trains at all or a very limited service then a "DO NOT TRAVEL" message is fair enough. But if a TOC is running a near normal service on the days inbetween the strikes then a "DO NOT TRAVEL" message is saying to its customers "Yes, we can accommodate you on our trains but we really don't want your custom". That's what Northern did last week as can be seen by this press release.

Northern advises customers DO NOT TRAVEL during the week of RMT industrial action | Northern News

Northern Trains is asking customers not to travel on its services between 21 – 26 June because of industrial action by the RMT

media.northernrailway.co.uk

And if that restaurant had lost most of its chefs and waiters off sick, it would probably have closed for the day.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Jul 2022 ==

What? Not at all! For the third time, I'm not saying do not put any warnings about being potentially being delayed/cancelled and allow extra time. This is sensible. That is completely different to saying DO NOT TRAVEL!

It's a completely consistent point. Just like if there are going to be national speed restrictions because of heat, probably put a banner saying possible delays on national rail (and they normally do!). I'm not saying they should put Do not travel everywhere so people cannot possibly be delayed, 'cos they ain't travelling.

The industry has generally agreed terminology that can be understand by the general public. Something like "possible delays" certainly isn't it. It would be something more like "Service disruption is likely and a significantly reduced service is expected on most routes and some routes will have no service".

 

[mrmartin]

Saying “allow extra time” or “possible delays” is meaningless (delays are *always* possible for any reason!). It would be an absolutely ludicrous and downright dangerous message to put out when it is known that a fraction of the service will be operating over most of the national network, as was the case last week. Telling people “do not travel” so they they can make other arrangements, and running a better service than expected, is a far better outcome than the other way around.

Or would you rather have had thousands of people thinking it was business as usual and being shocked when “possible delays” actually turned out to mean no trains at all on many lines, a fraction of the service operating and the railway basically shutting up shop by late afternoon?

You’re entitled to your opinion of course but I’m very glad those responsible for the messaging last week took a more sensible and realistic view and managed expectations appropriately.

*facepalm*. You are misunderstanding what I am saying, again. For the 4th time...

I am saying on *actual* strike days, Do not travel is fine and makes sense.

I am saying on the days in between where a near normal service was running, that does not make sense.

I don't think anyone has a problem with the messaging on actual strike days. But saying do not travel on the days in between when a mostly normal service is running, why are the railways intentionally shifting passengers off?