tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post1248246131735504969..comments2024-03-25T19:07:29.729+00:00Comments on Steve's Bus & Train Page: Sunday SoapboxSteve Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852377706742868978noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-21843392056270486782016-09-02T16:37:50.702+01:002016-09-02T16:37:50.702+01:00I disagree: surely the driver for privatisation wa...I disagree: surely the driver for privatisation was ideology.Andrew Kleissnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-46515230371431840562016-08-29T20:17:41.164+01:002016-08-29T20:17:41.164+01:00Buses: Just to point out too maybe it all has an i...Buses: Just to point out too maybe it all has an impact on rural services too, for if the urban customers desert their services in droves because of unreliability, there are less profits to support unprofitable routes. It's happened in Cambs; sorry to quote that bad example of everything, again!<br /><br />Trains: Blame the Treasury. The politicians didn't want to upset the (Tory-voting) Network South-East commuters so their fare structure was preserved, and the OCs just do as they are told. (Don't we all?) That's the way we do things. You might get a better excuse from GA though. Not necessarily a more accurate one!<br /><br />The driver for privatisation wasn't customer service but costs. They failed on both points. Not unusually.smurfukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04812247601237248526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-87815455838848028972016-08-29T20:06:26.195+01:002016-08-29T20:06:26.195+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.smurfukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04812247601237248526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-43303045647070634422016-08-29T19:45:37.387+01:002016-08-29T19:45:37.387+01:00How can there not be season tickets from Ipswich t...How can there not be season tickets from Ipswich to Cambridge? Isn't that the most ridiculous state of affairs? I need to start meeting people within GA I think, and not just to get myself a cab ride on the Short Set!Steve Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06852377706742868978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-82940693806319346872016-08-29T19:40:56.123+01:002016-08-29T19:40:56.123+01:00I've got to agree with you about Suffolk. I...I've got to agree with you about Suffolk. I've lived there (OK, 30 years ago) but even then public transport - I didn't drive - was in terminal decline in the countryside. I can also sympathise though with those people who have to suffer Greater Anglia, and then their bus home, or out, doesn't turn up or is anything up to 40 minutes or over an hour late on supposedly a 10 minute frequency, several times a week!!! It's the straw that breaks the camels back.<br /><br />In fairness I think there has been more railway investment in the last 20 years than probably in the 40 before that. I know I'm going to get flamed!! I think we are chasing our own shadow, there are just too many people traveling at the same time. It's not their fault. The same argument about the country being overcrowded; it is, but it's some places, at some times, again. We don't manage things well; we manage them badly, or rather, not at all. Not the staff on the ground, who do a sterling job achieving the impossible; but Government and those supposedly in charge.<br /><br />Name me one public service that has a decent web service. Are they all designed as playthings by, and for, 5 year olds? As you know even Google proforma templates are better (or for once, some of the the gov.uk websites).smurfukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04812247601237248526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-60266718776103727052016-08-29T19:32:27.224+01:002016-08-29T19:32:27.224+01:00According to the excellent brfares.com - my first ...According to the excellent brfares.com - my first port of call for any rail fare - season tickets can be obtained from Manningtree but not Ipswich. Utterly bizarre - I thought it was one of the standard tickets that had to be offered - but it would seem not necessarily s outside of the old NSE area. Shieldsmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00197794322283545552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-22922859956107019232016-08-29T18:57:52.314+01:002016-08-29T18:57:52.314+01:00The grass is always greener Smurfy my friend - my ...The grass is always greener Smurfy my friend - my response would be think yourself lucky you have a service to complain about. Wait at the bus shelter across the road from me and you would be reduced to skeletal form before anything resembling a bus turned up!<br /><br />There is a fine line between enthusiasm and plain selfishness, and blocking ventilation on a blazing hot day is just as bad as having the windows open in sub zero temperatures especially on a train in public service with many non enthusiasts and kids on. <br /><br />The fact that nothing has changed regarding overcrowding only demonstrates the appalling lack of investment in our railways of the last 40 years, so the more people that bang the drum about overcrowding the better, only it would be preferable if they got the rhythm right first!<br /><br />Oh, since Cambridge is becoming a major player in the area I thought I'd compare season ticket prices between Saxmundham/Ipswich to london and Cambridge. Guess what? No season ticket prices were available to Cambridge using Greater Anglian's own season ticket price calculator! Couldn't make it up.Steve Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06852377706742868978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-88931743163084891732016-08-29T13:32:06.830+01:002016-08-29T13:32:06.830+01:00Unfortunately due to a sad individual who is very ...Unfortunately due to a sad individual who is very brave in calling me names using graphic language but is too much of a coward to identify himself I have had to temporarily suspend anonymous comments. My apologies for this but the fact I have been forced to rather supports what I said about some of our fellow enthusiasts. Thanks for proving me right.Steve Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06852377706742868978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425346921966365551.post-20005507231063754682016-08-29T00:11:00.194+01:002016-08-29T00:11:00.194+01:00Bad day? Cheer up. First impressions matter, in po...Bad day? Cheer up. First impressions matter, in politics as in life. Power is 90% about influencing those people who don't agree with you, at home and abroad (especially for a little island like us in the world), but who you need to get anything done. They haven't got time for a history lesson, after all they've their own problems to deal with too. They don't need another one.<br /><br />As I get older I think that things don't change more than they do. I gave up on the daily rail commute in the 1970s; because it was so overcrowded and I could never get a seat. Used the bus instead, and they were so unreliable that they didn't last long, either. They are still the bugbears today. Not because nobody cares, because they do (there may even be too much tinkering); but because they are so intractable. Old habits die hard. Policies die easily. Why does (nearly) everyone have to work in London? Things will change, but it's measured in decades, or even lifetimes; not weeks, months or even years.<br /><br />And best of all (yes, I'm still an optimist, despite everything) you can't turn the clock back.<br /><br />I think we've speeded up the world so much that we've lost perspective (and not for the first time). From somewhere (not sure where) - I think it was a scientist (in the modern world i hesitate to say eminent, they aren't any more) - I logged the comment "technology, doesn't mean we get things right; we can just get them wrong, much faster."<br /><br />The other thing I've learned is that "going after" the competitor is the sure sign that management have lost the plot. It's the customers that matter.(And the staff, in a people business, which public transport is; not just logistics). And that's it. If the customers were holding a stake I suspect it'd be to tie Anglian management to it.<br /><br />As for some enthusiasts, well back to my schooldays again. They were always the same. Some of them may at times be a menace, but it's that enthusiasm that keeps the world going. Even though it winds up the rest of us too.<br /><br />Finally , I can't resist the usual subject; but not from me, this time. From someone else reading your post: "If he had a daily commute to work on First Essex, he'd have something to complain about".smurfukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04812247601237248526noreply@blogger.com