Engineering Works

We went up to Stevenage on Saturday because it was my Dad's birthday. The train journey would normally take just half an hour or so but, due to engineering works, buses were replacing trains between New Barnet and Stevenage. We weren't in any great hurry so we didn't mind this too much but it reminded me yet again of how little the rail companies seem to think about their customers when it comes to rail replacement services. There were perhaps fourty-five people on the coach that left New Barnet at 11.30, bound for all stations to Stevenage. It took almost 90 minutes to get there, two to three times as long as it would have done without all the intermediate stops. And that's my point. The people who are inconvenienced most by these bus services are the passengers that don't want to get off at the intermediate stops. With a little thought the rail company could have laid on a two-tier system, using two smaller coaches instead of a single big coach with one doing the all stations bit and the other going direct to the final destination to cater for the through passengers.

It may cost a little more to do it that way but in the end, their passengers would think better of them for it.