I wish I had taken a photo of the 'great crush' on the train we experienced yesterday. We had gone into Hebden Bridge to see off Matilda and have tea where Lillie worked. But back at the station we sat for near on three quarters of an hour for a delayed train back to Tod. It arrived. Spewed out a few people, and as we went to the door to get on but the rail guard barred everyone and said to try further down because the carriage was full. We managed to get on and sardines express it perfectly. A little girl clutched her father's leg beneath me and people laughed and joked but it was just bad management on the part of Northern Railways. They are so mean with how many carriages they put on.
Haven't finished yet, if there is a CEO reading this (as if) what is the point of closing down ticket offices, if the ticket machines don't work? Saltaire machine was not working, and when the ticket minder came round he gave me a ticket with 'not valid for Leeds' though in actual fact the train was heading for Leeds ;).
The next ticket minder, just waived this anomaly away. So what are we seeing? A government refusing to pay for manpower on the railways and a digital compromise in faulty ticket machines. The one at Tod did not work either. I shall have to invest in an app I suppose!
Sounds hot and squashed on that train.
ReplyDeleteI thought the train companies were all privately owned - but might be wrong - lost "track" of the whys and wherefores of the recent strikes
True Sue..... Privately owned but neither the railway operators or the government have talked this out. If there is so many people on the trains, they must be making a profit...
DeleteDon't you think that this is where we are all being pushed towards - technology?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Joan, but what happens when this particular system breaks down. We manage money online, travel and the countless things we need, like the Morrison order coming tonight;) The thing is not to lose your phone because it opens the magical world of the internet (also opens my computer every morning with a passcode)!
DeleteIt's not just trains, is it! I know this makes me sound like a raving communist (and really I'm not) but I do agree about underfunding of public services. As I've said before, we have repeatedly chosen cheap in return for stoking up our property and land values, and ripping off the next generation. Our own house has gone up at least 5 times since we bought it. It's time all this was taxed in some way to restore things.
ReplyDeleteAnd again not to sound like a communist, but who gets rewarded by these values going up? How can you run a country when everyone lives of the earnings of renting out their properties and sitting on land, and shares because it is sure to go up in price. The system is broken!!
DeleteThere begin to be many advantages in not being able to go out because I no longer have a car, not being able to walk and expecting my next journey to be my last one carried out feet first.
ReplyDeleteCount your blessings Pat ;) You still go out in the car.
DeleteWelcome to Johnsonland where all your dreams come true and everything runs like clockwork in this levelled-up high skills high wages tech-based economy. Johnson ! Johnson! Ra! Ra! Ra!
ReplyDeleteHaha.... It is not all his fault, it is just the greed that pervades the system. The ticket men are so friendly as well. But it is a nonsense to think that our digital age will shuffle people on and off trains. Luckily it is not Japan, where they shove people from behind to pack the trains...
ReplyDeleteHave you watched any of the wonderful Mick Lynch interviews he describes what is going and why there is no money in the railways. I can also recommend Novara Media whose reporting on this, and many other things is always illuminating.
ReplyDeleteYes I watched Mike Lynch, loved his dry answers to the idiotic news announcers Sustainable Mum, He has strode out of the past and hopefully will represent a much better picture of how our country is like.
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