why is public transport soooo unreliable!!!?

Question

ok this isn’t really a question but im just so annoyed at the moment!!
ive been stood at the smelly train station for over an hour and a half!!! and not one train turned up!!
so i took down the complaints number and made a few calls when i got home!!
turns out all trains are cancelled and they have been for the past week!!!
i was so furious!! There was no notification for nothing!!
had to put up with a chav smoking weed... i must have passively smoked 3 fags!! even though there are clear signs saying DO NOT SMOKE!! it stank of pee, was cold and started to rain again!!

if its not the trains its the buses. is public transport going to improve, we're charged more than enough to use the services, its only right we get what we're paying for!!

how does the government expect us to use public transport services to prevent global warming when they're not good enough. its so frustrating, people like me that don’t own a car or other forms of vehicle rely on public transport.
Without them is like im prisoner in my own home!! Ok maybe not in my own home but my town, especially on a Saturday.
Saturday = shopping day. No trains/slow buses=no shopping = no fun= boring miserable day!!

to joolz....there should have been a replacement bus service but there wasn’t one that i knew of. And it’s only a small town station, with nothing but a little shelter, there isn't a ticket office, or anything like that, so there's nobody to report to.
i actually rang up the timetable information line, where i was informed that the trains hadn't been running for a week, so i then rang the complaints line.

Citizen…very understanding, u made everything much clearer

Michealm…interesting answer

Johndoe3214…very interesting answer, only if I could drive

Sashtou…very true!! Would like to see the improvements be made in the services though

Answer 1

Hmmm, you had it easy.
On Monday I worked a normal day. Found out we were trapped by floods so worked till midnight.
Slept on the floor witrh a bit of foam rubber for my pillow.
woke many times in the night. Up at 5am, worked till 4pm.
Made it home by various lifts and busses going abnormal routes. Then 3 more days of guessing where the busses would be going, getting out early to take whatever bus came along. Getting home similarly.

Answer 2

Hello Sandstar.
1st I do not think that the train would have been cancelled for the past week, without there being sign's & notices arround the station. Then if the trains had been cancelled for the week like you say, then the TOC (Train Operating Company) would have to provide a bus service as they have to sign up to be providing a service when they won their contract & if they do not provide a service then they are in breach of their contract and so could loose their franchise. The TOC also have to have staff on the station to provide the information to their customers that there is no trains running and that there is a replacement bus service.
If as you say there was a person smoking on the station even though there were signs saying No Smoking, then the simple thing you should have done is gone to the ticket office and reported it to the station staff.

Answer 3

Basically, the bad state of stations etc are down to the travelling public. It's they who pee, it's they who put their feet on seats and make them dirty. The railway companies do not employ people to come and do it.

I'm not sticking up for these companies, by the way, I've held this view for years when the trains may have been old, antiques and in need of thorough cleaning (etc).

The railway companies seem to me to be immune to the very idea of running longer trains in order to accommodate MORE passengers who want to travel cheaply and quickly. But instead, they are seemingly there 'just to MAKE MONEY' for their shareholders, and that the public are all but an inconvenient commodity ~ and one that resents being treated like a cash-cow.

These companies have state that they will raise the cost of tickets in order to provide a better service.

Now if you owned a shop and wanted to provide a better service, would you raise your prices in order to make the customers happy? Would your customers be happy to pay this - and keep coming back?

Answer 4

The problem with train operating companies (TOCs), is that they are run as a business, rather than as a public service.

If the cancellations were due to infrastructure maintenance or improvements, the TOC will get compensation from Network Rail (who own the track), so it won't cost the TOC a thing, even though the service is cancelled.

The passengers (or "customers") are incidental to the whole operation.

Answer 5

You need to get modern and buy a car. Say goodbye to public transportation and start enjoying life. Also please note. You seem like an intelligent person. You therefore should realize that global warming is a hoax started by a Mr Gore to lift his political fortunes.

Answer 6

Used to work for the railroad in NJ and the reason and answer to your questions is.................
management could never make it in the real world or in a private business.
They are has beens and marginal managers. Do not care about the customer and cannot manage a checking acct.
Sad but true, the management is a disappointment.

Answer 7

That explains why people keep throwing them selves on the line down where we are, they've waited soo long they've gone insane! Poor guys.

No really it is a pain but tomorrows another day so I hope your feeling better now.

Answer 8

yea tottally agree with you. but look on the bright side if that chav smoking guy does that now inside he would be fined

Answer 9

Because it is subsidised by governments and tje profit from running it is little.