Train journey likes and dislikes

[MHall]

Hi guys,

I am conducting research for the University of Nottingham on how to improve peoples daily journey. The information will only be used throughout the duration of my project.

Please could you post anything that you like or dislike about a train journey.

In addition, anything that you think will make your journey on a train or tube a more enjoyable experience.

Thanks!

 

[brad465]

Obvious ones of my interest include:-

Like:

Running on time
Trains have Tables
No overcrowding

Dislike: :cry:

Running Late
Slow, Long journeys
Infrequent services

 

[northwichcat]

Dislike:
* Old rattling, rough riding diesel units on a lot of Northern Rail services.
* Again on Northern Rail lack of communication when there are delays/cancellations.
* On Northern Rail services again too many out-of-order toilets.
* Severe lack of seats on TransPennine Express services.
* Automated announcements on a loop on newer trains.
* Small squashed in seats where there are 2 on one side of aisle and 3 on the other side.

Like:
* Availability of seat reservations on busy long distance services.
* Cheap Advance tickets on long distance services when you book in advance.
* 2 seats with leg room on either side of aisle with tables.

 

[MHall]

Also, any product that you think would be useful on a train or tube, as opposed to improving the service,

ie, an interactive interface between passengers
Is Hygiene a factor? would you like to be able to hold on without actually touching the train.

Thanks

 

[blacknight]

Obvious ones of my interest include:-

Like:

Running on time
Trains have Tables
No overcrowding

Dislike: :cry:

Running Late
Slow, Long journeys
Infrequent services

To every action theres an equal & opposite reaction.
Example Train having tables means less seats in coach which leads to passengers having to stand, so in a limited space which item is of more use
Seat or Table

 

[Robinson]

Likes:
Good station facilities at starting point.
Good train cleanliness (both interiors and exteriors).
Comfortable seat with good amount of leg room (I'm generally happy to sit in an airline-style seat since I get more leg room there).
Decent window view.
Smooth, quiet ride.
Good staff.
Efficient ticket checks.
Friendly fellow passengers.
For long-distance journeys, good standard of onboard catering.
Also on long-distance journeys, proper working toilets.

Dislikes:
Litter/graffiti.
Rude/whinging fellow passengers.
Non-communication when things go wrong.
Inadequate onboard service/advertised services not offered.
Pretty much anything else that is the opposite of a "like"!

 

[gnolife]

For me its
Like:
1) Being able to face my friends while travelling (the bus alternative is all facing forwards, so not easy to turn around)
2) Frequent (This on is the Romiley Lines/Man AIrport Line)
3) Comfortable (Specifically refering to 150s, 156s and 323s there)
4) Fast (Rose Hill to Manchester in roughly 1/2 hour on the stopper seems pretty good to me)
5) Relative quiet on the ROse Hill train

Dislike:
1) G4S ticket checks at Man Piccadilly
2) Overcrowding on the all-shacks to the Airport services
3) Watching the connecting train sail into the distance after delays

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Likes

Punctual and regular services
Pleasant rail staff members
Modern rolling stock
Good clean stations
Refreshment provision on long journeys
A window seat that is aligned correctly to a window

Dislikes

Any service operated by a Class 142 Pacer
Poor standard of toilet provision
Overcrowding on trains

 

[SS4]

Likes

Punctual and Regular services
Efficient seat reservations
Well lit and open stations (I'm looking at you New St!)
Cross-Platform interchanges
Relative Quiet (usually through provision of quiet zones)
Leg Room
Clean

Dislikes

Overcrowding (easily top of the list)
Rude Passengers
Staff doing nothing about rude passengers when they could be.

 

[telstarbox]

Likes: same as what's been said already
Dislikes: excessive announcements on trains and rude staff (both are abundant on TPE)

 

[shaun]

Like

Spacious and comfortable seats
Plenty of carriages
Nice ambience
Buffet Cars
Smooth ride
Reliable trains
Fully staffed trains


Dislikes

Cramped conditions
Noisy or rattly interiors on Inter-city services
3+2 seating
Unstaffed (bar driver) services
Windowless seats
Rough, jerky ride

 

[Chapeltom]

Likes:
Punctual trains
Friendly staff
A table seat/power socket
Warm and clean stations - Manchester Picc is both.
Legroom
Information when the late is running late, PA/correct working LDBs
Cheap advances
My commute - long but I love it.
Standing occasionally

Dislikes:
3+2 seating
Drunks on trains
Windowless seats
Class 150s
Rude passengers - including those abuse staff for no reason about delays and the like. This would also apply to those who stand round doors and expect you to spontaneously combust.
Toilets
G4S at Manchester Piccadilly

 

[northwichcat]

Dislikes
Any service operated by a Class 142 Pacer

That was obviously the Northern Rail class of train I was referring to in my earlier post. I thought I wouldn't give class numbers as the OP might not know about them. Although he/she can type in "British Rail Class 142" in to Wikipedia for more information.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Dislikes:
Windowless seats

Missed that off my list. Virgin's Pendolinos the main culprit.

I also missed off seats that are too hard on longer journeys, especially the Siemens manufactured Desiros operated by London Midland and TransPennine Express.

 

[chris89]

Likes
Friendly Staff
Updated on timings on the journey
Seat Resevations
Punctual and Regular services
Pleasent Stations & Open
Refreshment provision on long journeys
Modern Stock
Comfortable & Quiet Journeys
Efficient ticket checks
Cheap Advance & Cheap 1st class tickets.

Dislikes
Rude passengers
Lack of Updates in case of delays
Broken Seat Resevations (Looking at VT's Voyagers)
Litter/graffiti
Running Late
Slow, Long journeys
Overcrowding
Lack of Luggage space

Related to frequent route i take
Broken/ faulty tilt on 390's & 221's


Most likely will think of more at some point.

Chris

 

[TheJRB]

Like

• Often faster than alternative transport (I don't think you can get from Ashford to Canterbury in 16 minutes or Ashford to St Pancras in 40 minutes apart from by train!)
• Mostly quite quiet, especially electric trains
• Reasonably big windows which provide a better view of the surroundings
• Believe it or not, automated announcements! It's good to know where you are, especially when told by a professional soothing voice.
• Rail traffic is mostly better managed than road traffic. Most journeys between one station and another do not generally involve stopping at a red signal as far as I know.
• The "trolley service of drinks and light refreshments" on longer journeys
• Smooth acceleration and deceleration which doesn't cause you to bolt forward as occasionally can be the case on the road!
• Tables

Dislike

• Litter occasionally left on trains (this is more the fault of the passengers though of course)
• Disruptive passengers which often isn't a problem anyway
• Long queues for the toilet/s (particularly bad on Class 395s)
• Lack of refreshments on journeys where there really should be
• First Class accommodation which is barely any different to any other part of the train (yes Southeastern, I'm looking at you) or where the train is so small First Class takes up valuable room (two car DMUs such as Southern's 171s are bad offenders here)

I really love travelling by train, so I'm probably not the best person to ask though!

 

[142094]

What you'll probably find is that passengers who are not enthisiasts will have just about the same 'likes' and 'dislikes', which are normally:

Likes

- Fast, frequent trains
- Trains that run to time
- Quiet trains
- Clean trains
- Cheap tickets
- Safe trains

Dislikes

- Late/cancelled trains
- High prices
- Lack of seats in the peak hours
- Lack of information
- Lack of staff
- Lack of security

The problem you are going to have with these variables, is putting a value on some of them. Comfort and cleanliness can't be measured - very hard to put a vaule on them. Some are also perceived - e.g. security or staffing levels. One person may think there is enough staff and their own personal security is good, whereas another person may think there is not enough staff and won't travel due to safety concerns.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Restrictive size of on-train rubbish bins

 

[Blindtraveler]

like,
good communication, competitive journey times
chance to relax or work with facilities such as plugs
freedom

dislike, anything to do with XC or TPE.
Need more free wifi, hot meals, seats, appropriate rolling stock for route and journey length. Good luck

 

[Lampshade]

Likes:

Punctuality
Good value fares
Comfortable seats
Thorough ticket checks
Friendly staff
Good catering (i.e. Virgin Trains have a shop/buffet car)
Quick and frequent services

Dislikes:

Old, life-expired stock
Ticket gates
Overcrowding
Lack of information
Poor catering
Slow services (Blackpool South to Colne is nearly two hours, it's much quicker by road)
Cancellations

 

[Lampshade]

Likes:

Punctualilty
Good value fares
Comfortable seats
Thorough ticket checks
Friendly staff
Good catering (i.e. Virgin Trains have a shop/buffet car)
Quick and frequent services

Dislikes:

Old, life-expired stock
Ticket gates
Overcrowding
Lack of information
Poor catering
Slow services (Blackpool South to Colne is nearly two hours, it's much quicker by road)
Cancellations

 

[Temple Meads]

Likes
Clean train interiors.
Lots of space.
A nice view.
Friendly helpful staff.
Punctuality.
A comfortable ride.

Dislikes
Ticket price rises.
Unfriendly staff.
Drunk and/or anti-social passengers.
Noisy passengers.
Vandalised untidy interiors.
Intrusive passenger announcements on a long journey.

 

[stut]

Likes:

Comfort. I enjoy being driven, and love to read and do the crossword (but would feel ill trying to do these on motor transport). So, trains are perfect.

Speed. Try getting to work in London (45 miles away) in 45 minutes door-to-door by any other means.

Efficiency. OK, you may be able to drive yourself home from that client site on a business park half an hour more quickly than I can get the train, but by the time I'm home, I've written up the meeting, sent out all the emails I need, and prepared for tomorrow. You've still got that to come...

Enjoyment. Window-gazing and people-watching are underrated pastimes. You just don't get the same amount of it on any other form of transport.

Dislikes:

Low-level inconsiderate behaviour. Always amplified when in close proximity with many others, but this doesn't seem to make a difference to many.

Discomfort. A half-empty train with a table to yourself is always going to be comfortable, but we rarely get this privilege. Seats get crammed closer together with every refit, services get overcrowded, and that's when the joys of train travel wear off.

The cost of flexibility. Flexible tickets are too expensive. Sorry, I can't plan everything, and I can't afford full fare.

Poor service recovery. Every company experiences things going wrong - the true test is in how they cope when they do. And sadly, while some individuals go out of their way to help, they're powerless to do much of consequence unless the organisation as a whole can get the right thing done.

 

[LexyBoy]

Like:
Views
Relaxability
Friendly staff

Dislike:
Claustrophobic trains - very high seats or tiny windows
Bright, cold lighting
Overcrowding (not a problem on my commute )
Bad smells

ie, an interactive interface between passengers

What on earth does this mean? Do you mean "chat"? If so, then yes if I'm on holiday, not so much on my commute.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Likes:
someone else is driving, so even if the car journey is shorter, you can make better use of the time on the train

Dislikes:
Adding to the chorus of dislikes about window seats with no view: these are made worse by unnecessarily high seat backs which restrict the view within the train. There are a few particular seats on some trains (East Midlands Meridian, I'm looking at you) where you might as well wrap yourself in brown paper and send yourself by courier for all that you can see.
Way-too-complicated ticketing system.

 

[Lampshade]

Likes:
someone else is driving, so even if the car journey is shorter, you can make better use of the time on the train

Forgot that one

 

[RichW1]

I'll give you a hate......the f**king whirring sound now made on mark 3's because of the new AC wired air con? Or so I'm told on this forum. Why? Just why? It sounds annoying. The mark 3's used to be quieter so why go out of your way to make a coach more noisy both inside and out?!!!!! Not to mention HST fleets sounding like electrics is just wrong and sounds weird!

p.s @142094....I wouldn't say in the 'like' category is trains being 'fast'....they're not! 125mph as I've said before is a very leisurely pace. Edinburgh in 4hr20 or so and Glasgow in the same time (with very few stops anyway) is not acceptable in the 21st century!!! 100mph average speed maybe ok for classic lines but not to link major city pairs togather, no way. We've been overtaken the world over on Intercity travel within the developed nations...not impressive we'll still have to wait 15years for one 100mile piece of normal high speed track!!!

 

[district]

First Class accommodation which is barely any different to any other part of the train (yes Southeastern, I'm looking at you) or where the train is so small First Class takes up valuable room (two car DMUs such as Southern's 171s are bad offenders here)

The 171's from Ashford to Brighton are permenantly declassified

 

[Moog_1984]

170s are tolerable, voyagers / other 22* stuff okay. Generally EMUs are okay for at least short journeys.

Otherwise I hate non loco hauled and yearn for the days of faster services back 50s, 47/7s and 37s!!!

 

[Southern]

Likes

Table Seats
Staff members who are actually friendly/cheerful
Night travel


Dislikes

GUARD: "We are now approaching Ashford International. Change Here for the Marshlink service to Rye and Hastings." Just as we cruise past the departing 171...
As we were 7 minutes late, it was obvious the connection wouldn't be held. Just sticking the knife in for the people with an hour to wait for the next one...

State of 465/466 units. Seem to be getting worse, judging by the toliets on unit on rear of 1657 Charing X - Ashford this evening, wasn't even the booked 465/9.

Southeastern...which I think I hide pretty well!!!

 

[Strat-tastic]

Dislike: Windows without a proper ledge where I can rest my elbow.