Jonathan MacDonald

I've got sympathy for people working on the front line of public transport - although obviously there are always good and bad.

It's the organisation and management which generally results in annoyance. Whether it's parking costs and procedures, trying to get a reservation organised (because obviously it has to be done on paper, rather than online or mobile), the wonderful current experience of walking out of Kings Cross into a solid wall of people for the underground, and then watching as two huge streams of people are forced to cross over each other to get to the Northern and Picadilly lines...

My only hypothesis is that there must be some perks to getting to the management level of the railways which mean you never have to deal with being a customer again, and all your common sense goes out the window...

I've started cycling to the station for same reasons, although we have similar problems with space at the bike lock-ups! You can't win....

Yeah... I've noticed that Rail Workers have not got out of the public sector mindset. Criticise them and they will come out with that sort of nonsense. They're overpaid, unionised slugs and the sooner the trains are driven by computers, the better.

It's exactly the same at my station: never more than one window open, never a parking space, always 2, usually more on "revenue protection" meaning it's often impossible to buy a ticket.

I agree with you that quite a few of them, and also in the place I work at have that sort of mindset. Still, what I said to Mr. Macdonald here was regarding his moaning about a "monopoly" in his article and "privatization" in the comments.

I was saying that rail transport in the UK is not a monopoly, which is just basic knowledge. Then I proceeded with a few examples. For instance the "travel by bike, bus, car..." line is no argument against the "monopoly". But the fact that different routes have different rail providers is, in very much as the fact that Graham Norton is under contract to BBC does not constitute a monopoly of television. And the mere fact that if you chose to live in a different area would have you under a different transport provider is proof that it is not a monopoly, since you are not under the yoke of a rail company whether you want it or not. I also made it clear, if I recall correctly, that it was an extreme scenario.

But Mr Macdonald has decided not only to misquote me, but manipulate the comment. And verge on the slander by suggesting that a) I am a railway worker b) I disguised the fact that I work in public transport.

In short, look for the comment, it is on the Waterloo Station mayhem post. And it is very clear what I said and who I work for. Or rather who I work for now, but that would be a very, very long story.

Now, Mr Macdonald, I said nothing to you other than point out the lack of style in your railing against your rail transport provided. Not on the substance. But I have my opinions on several points, of course. The food for thought for today is along the lines of: Home Station, Rail service, London terminus, London Underground. Blimey! Is there something that works? Yeah, I know, rethorical question. But despite that, it begs the question: Is there some public transport you are satisfied with? Because not matter how poor (or not) it is, it is beginning to look like a customer satisfaction problem, with the onus on the subject, more than a customer service one, with the onus on the object.

Nighty night!

I have a dislike of incompetence.

I love great service.

This is agnostic of industry.

Fairnuff!

But don't get me wrong, I actually thought your choice of word was very suitable. I do not think you do it rationally, or consciously even. I just think it shows the impact that the industry has on you, specially when you have to use its services during the peak time or whenever something goes wrong. Even if I felt misquoted and (relatively, very relatively) victimised it didn't seem "thougth through" to me, rather visceral, from the gut, from the crap you have to deal with and all that.

Anyway, sometimes (most of them) the problems we suffer as individuals in public transport are the public, not the transport, that's what I meant. Obviously that is not the case in the designing of a station or its public spaces, or the abusive behaviour of a member of staff. Nevertheless, I invite you to consider a few points regarding incompetence in three of your posts.

Waterloo station and not being allowed access in the rain. If a station gets so overcrowded that it is unsafe it should be closed until it clears enough. Incompetency would be to do nothing. No matter how annoying it is. The people that are incompetent and putting everybody at risk are those ducking under or jumping barriers to get through, pushing and shouting. And yes, ultimately does that do not allow for a surge in passenger numbers, but more on that later.

In the case of the abusive member of staff. Of course he was incompetent because of his behaviour and lack of cool. But his job in that emergency situation was to get the train empty, keep the customers safe and allow for a new train to enter the station. He was doing that job and was impeded by somebody interrupting all three and challenging him. And all that is going by your description of events. Naturally, one could say that he was incompetent because he did not manage to achieve it, but I stated the reason why before. And he was incompetent because he behaved disgracefully. But I hope my point about doing what he and his colleage were supposed to do efficiently and what stopped him from doing it was clear. As clear as... what was the fault of his colleague? She was doing her job, took the time to try and calm down the passenger despite it not being her job at that particular time (that last one was important), and still was claimed to be incompetent/arrogant/whatever.

Your home station is much more difficult to judge, specially due to my personal experience of, yeh, seeing people that don't know what they inflict "on the ground" when they take decisions from the safety of their marble towers. But nevertheless, it could be that by making that ramp no entry they are increasing safety in the driving. Or that by introducing those premium spaces and all that they are achieving optimal pricing in what is after all a business service. If they did neither of them is when they would be incompetent. Still, I have the hunch you are right, but I thought it would be good to consider all the issues of competency. And it doesn't take away the fact that more ticket machines should be available, in this case "cost" should not be taken as an excuse since it is a service. If service demands more machines and you cannot justify the cost maybe the solution is to offset that cost by pushing up the price. But then the problem would be that price has gone up, wouldn't it?

So all in all, it is all good to have mantras and dogmas. But then you need to apply them. Incompetence bad, great service good. Yes, that makes sense. But you need to balance what is going to give.

Yes, management get things wrong a lot of times and people on the ground as well, and it should not matter that they are in an office twenty miles away or have been given a tough time by the public. If they are incompetent they are incompetent. But not more or in a disimilar way to those that do not allow for a longer commute when they travel durin times of increased passenger numbers. Certain routes will take 25% longer or more to complete when there is a lot of people wanting to do the same trip. You can plan for it. Not ideal, but neither is it to have the service down during the weekends to improve that service, and I guess that would also be incompetence.

One of my pet hates is when people in Hayes show up in the media to complain about the planes in Heathrow and how it has made their lives miserable in the, say, twelve years they have been living there, and how the price of their home is affected. Why go there in the first place? Why not allow for and install double glazing if it is needed? And how are the people that rent in Brixton or Tottenham suppossed to care about your home price game in the 'burbs.

Big mantras need the big picture.

And I think that's about what I have to say about everything.

Thanks for your detailed comments. You make some very good points and I really appreciate you taking the time to outline your thinking.