Encouraginng each other to be assertive is something that is very important to me!
Relying on others can be very frustrating. People using their own initiative can often achieve far more. Self belief is important!
We llive in a town where this already happens so much . It will be natural for us as to do this more and more..
We have an excellent service to London run by Virgin and now this is under threat from a rival 'cheaper' bid from a rival company.
What can we do to protect a service we really enjoy with staff that enjoy running it and provide excellent service?
7 comments:
A.R.
said...
In what sense do we have an excellent service to London run by Virgin ? We stand to Lancaster or Preston and only then we transfer to Virgin . If you reserve a seat someone will be sat in it. Trans pennine will soon withdraw most services to Manchester Airport because of electrification issues i.e.the Furness line will be downgraded to a feeder to Lancaster. This is what the town council are campaigning against. I would guess the Furness line has never been so busy and the trains just get shorter.
A.R. thanks for your comment. I've now been using the West Coast train service to go to London for the day for fifty years and now. In my opinion it's the best it has ever been.
Apart for the loss the wonderful overnight service which enabled me to get on at Ulverston at about 9pm and travel down overnight to London on the mail train without changing train and arrive in London at 5 am when you had to get off unless you had paid for a sleeper when it was 7:30 am. Arriving at that hour enabled you to see the cavalry horses out for a gallop creating an atypical sound and echo in London streets. You could then catch a train that left at about 7pm and be back in Ulverston for about midnight without a change.
So what's special now.
1. You can usually get there in 3 and a half hours. 2. Trains for the most part are on time and you arrive in London, nine times out of ten as stated. 3. Most of the train supervisors are very helpful, providing information, selling underground tickets and other services for when you arrive in London - talking to the staff, as I make a point of doing, I've found that they really enjoy working for Virgin and are proud to maintain a high standard of service. 4. You can buy food if you need it.
I've never had problems with booked seats - I just ask people for my seat if they're in it.
I believe we're at the pinacle of the service. It will be sad if we now go downhill so that a day trip to London becomes a real drag.
Keeping in direct touch with our capital has always been extremely important to me: it keeps me up to date with what's happening. I go to shows, exhibitions, specialist shops or just njoy walking through the streets and talking to people.
I also use the service every year to get to Paris using Eurostar - we can be having a relaxed evening meal in our favorite cafe or restaurant the evening of the day we set off without an unduly early start having had a saunter past the British Museum in the process.
And no I'm not made of money - I just spend next to nothing on clothes,technology,don't eat out, drink only a pint if I'm out etc. It's amazing how cheaply you can live if you want to.
You have had better luck than me with the trains. Invariably we have had to stand to Lancaster or Preston along with scores of others. I took this up with a TP manager who visited Ulverston and he said - to be frank ,it's going to get worse . He was right. The Furness line is a second rate service. Virgin trains are good ,I agree but we are stuck with older carriages and too few seats.
It seems that we need to learn how to compaign effectively. Unless there is a bright spark now on our town council, we will need to do this job ourselves.
The rest of the world needs to hear that we in Ulverston are people with fighting character.
My reading of the situation is that we are unable to break away from voting along the party system. As a result we get ineffective, incompetent politicians 'leading' us.
Is it time to reveal just how bad our politicians are? Or is it a waste of effort given the apathy of the Ulverston public?
Virgin Trains Timing wise virgin is great, quick journey as well at 2hrs 45min from Euston to Oxenholme. We're lucky that not many use the train north of Preston so it's easy finding your seat and getting to the food carriage.
Most trains are ok but they do have problems with some trains. There are problems with the first off peak trains from Preston into London, there are just too many people on it, many a time they've had to open up 1st class the standard ticket and still it's packed with people standing, if you had a reserved seat from Preston then you've no chance of having it. The other issue is at the other end of the spectrum of under used trains, I was on a train from London where there was only a handful of people on it, yes you'll get trains busy in one direction but quiet on the return journey but in these instances wait are the tickets not dirt cheap to get bums on seats. Problem with the train companies in general is they only price so they can get the most cash from the commuter or business travel, they don't price to get the more flexible to take up the regularly empty seats.
Transpennine Express The Windermere line is run by TP, the price of a ticket from Kendal to London is the same as from Oxenholme so I always have Kendal at a start ticket point and decide later where to catch the train from. Generally I only use TP if I have time available to miss the connection, probable sums up the lack of trust I have in TP. The train timings only allow 1 minute for a connection, regular the inspectors will shout a passengers to run if they want to catch the waiting London train. I've also arrived back from London at Oxenholme to find the Kendal train cancelled, not a major problem for me as I'm happy to walk the few miles home or call for a lift but one time I was in a situation where the Kendal train I was on brokedown, so Oxenholme said they'd ordered taxis for us and they would be at the other end of the platform - long story but the taxis didn't arrive for over an hour, bad customer service if they'd told me it was going to be a long wait I would of walked home.
Northern Rail Use the Blackpool South line to Lytham once a year to get to work so I can have a drink at the Xmas lunch and catch the train home - shocking service, track and trains still in the 60's, trains regularly cancelled, no way of knowing they're cancelled.
7 comments:
In what sense do we have an excellent service to London run by Virgin ? We stand to Lancaster or Preston and only then we transfer to Virgin . If you reserve a seat someone will be sat in it.
Trans pennine will soon withdraw most services to Manchester Airport because of electrification issues i.e.the Furness line will be downgraded to a feeder to Lancaster. This is what the town council are campaigning against. I would guess the Furness line has never been so busy and the trains just get shorter.
A.R. thanks for your comment.
I've now been using the West Coast train service to go to London for the day for fifty years and now. In my opinion it's the best it has ever been.
Apart for the loss the wonderful overnight service which enabled me to get on at Ulverston at about 9pm and travel down overnight to London on the mail train without changing train and arrive in London at 5 am when you had to get off unless you had paid for a sleeper when it was 7:30 am. Arriving at that hour enabled you to see the cavalry horses out for a gallop creating an atypical sound and echo in London streets. You could then catch a train that left at about 7pm and be back in Ulverston for about midnight without a change.
So what's special now.
1. You can usually get there in 3 and a half hours.
2. Trains for the most part are on time and you arrive in London, nine times out of ten as stated.
3. Most of the train supervisors are very helpful, providing information, selling underground tickets and other services for when you arrive in London - talking to the staff, as I make a point of doing, I've found that they really enjoy working for Virgin and are proud to maintain a high standard of service.
4. You can buy food if you need it.
I've never had problems with booked seats - I just ask people for my seat if they're in it.
I believe we're at the pinacle of the service. It will be sad if we now go downhill so that a day trip to London becomes a real drag.
Keeping in direct touch with our capital has always been extremely important to me: it keeps me up to date with what's happening. I go to shows, exhibitions, specialist shops or just njoy walking through the streets and talking to people.
I also use the service every year to get to Paris using Eurostar - we can be having a relaxed evening meal in our favorite cafe or restaurant the evening of the day we set off without an unduly early start having had a saunter past the British Museum in the process.
And no I'm not made of money - I just spend next to nothing on clothes,technology,don't eat out, drink only a pint if I'm out etc. It's amazing how cheaply you can live if you want to.
You have had better luck than me with the trains. Invariably we have had to stand to Lancaster or Preston along with scores of others. I took this up with a TP manager who visited Ulverston and he said - to be frank ,it's going to get worse . He was right. The Furness line is a second rate service. Virgin trains are good ,I agree but we are stuck with older carriages and too few seats.
A.R., is the problem that trains are late or that the connections are badly timed?
It seems that we need to learn how to compaign effectively. Unless there is a bright spark now on our town council, we will need to do this job ourselves.
The rest of the world needs to hear that we in Ulverston are people with fighting character.
My reading of the situation is that we are unable to break away from voting along the party system. As a result we get ineffective, incompetent politicians 'leading' us.
Is it time to reveal just how bad our politicians are? Or is it a waste of effort given the apathy of the Ulverston public?
Virgin Trains
Timing wise virgin is great, quick journey as well at 2hrs 45min from Euston to Oxenholme. We're lucky that not many use the train north of Preston so it's easy finding your seat and getting to the food carriage.
Most trains are ok but they do have problems with some trains. There are problems with the first off peak trains from Preston into London, there are just too many people on it, many a time they've had to open up 1st class the standard ticket and still it's packed with people standing, if you had a reserved seat from Preston then you've no chance of having it. The other issue is at the other end of the spectrum of under used trains, I was on a train from London where there was only a handful of people on it, yes you'll get trains busy in one direction but quiet on the return journey but in these instances wait are the tickets not dirt cheap to get bums on seats. Problem with the train companies in general is they only price so they can get the most cash from the commuter or business travel, they don't price to get the more flexible to take up the regularly empty seats.
Transpennine Express
The Windermere line is run by TP, the price of a ticket from Kendal to London is the same as from Oxenholme so I always have Kendal at a start ticket point and decide later where to catch the train from. Generally I only use TP if I have time available to miss the connection, probable sums up the lack of trust I have in TP. The train timings only allow 1 minute for a connection, regular the inspectors will shout a passengers to run if they want to catch the waiting London train. I've also arrived back from London at Oxenholme to find the Kendal train cancelled, not a major problem for me as I'm happy to walk the few miles home or call for a lift but one time I was in a situation where the Kendal train I was on brokedown, so Oxenholme said they'd ordered taxis for us and they would be at the other end of the platform - long story but the taxis didn't arrive for over an hour, bad customer service if they'd told me it was going to be a long wait I would of walked home.
Northern Rail
Use the Blackpool South line to Lytham once a year to get to work so I can have a drink at the Xmas lunch and catch the train home - shocking service, track and trains still in the 60's, trains regularly cancelled, no way of knowing they're cancelled.
Thanks Dave, for this in depth analysis from someone with a lot of experience.
Have you found an effective way of making your views heard?
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