XC reservations

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:27:01 GMT, wensleydale@pacersplace.org.uk (Neil
Williams) wrote:

>And the official answer is...we don't know!
>
>I'd be watching for the policy to be either quietly dropped or for an
>announcement to be made of the introduction of full compulsory
>reservation.
>
>== QUOTE ==
>Dear Mr Williams,
>
>We are currently finalising our plans to provide seat reservations,
>working with our IT experts and relevant team members to ensure a good
>quality, reliable system is in place. We will keep passengers updated
>on our plans via our website. There are complex issues involved but we
>are confident of a satisfactory outcome.

The last sentence could be rewritten as "Goodness - this really *is*
bloody complicated. Your company said they could deliver a working
solution and now you're saying it'll cost *how much* and take *how long*
to implement? I think we need to reconsider our position [1]."

Let's hope it is dropped. A nonsensical waste of time and money.

[1] go cap in hand to the DfT and plead to have this franchise
commitment dropped.
--
Paul C

"Neil Williams" <wensleydale@pacersplace.org.uk> wrote in message
news:470e78b6.256599617@news....
> And the official answer is...we don't know!
>
> I'd be watching for the policy to be either quietly dropped or for an
> announcement to be made of the introduction of full compulsory
> reservation.
>

Have we seen your actual question earlier? I may have missed it...

Paul

On Oct 11, 11:07 pm, "Paul Scott" <notvalidpmsc...@>
wrote:
> "Neil Williams" <wensleyd...@pacersplace.org.uk> wrote in message
>
> news:470e78b6.256599617@news....
>
> > And the official answer is...we don't know!
>
> > I'd be watching for the policy to be either quietly dropped or for an
> > announcement to be made of the introduction of full compulsory
> > reservation.
>
> Have we seen your actual question earlier? I may have missed it...
>
> Paul

AFAIUI Virgin own the reservation system and it's up to Arriva to sort
out there own system.

Given that less than 4 weeks to when the franchise starts, even VXC
staff transferring over still haven't a clue what is going on, so the
chance of reserving a seat must be nil.

Guess the motorways will be busy that week !

"Neil Williams" <wensleydale@pacersplace.org.uk> wrote in message
news:470e78b6.256599617@news....
> I'd be watching for the policy to be either quietly dropped or for an
> announcement to be made of the introduction of full compulsory
> reservation.

I can't see how full compulsory reservation would work given that in some
areas of the country, XC *is* the local train service. If I wish to catch a
local train to, say, Totnes, it's likely to be an XC service.

In message <470e78b6.256599617@news.>, at 19:27:01 on Thu,
11 Oct 2007, Neil Williams <wensleydale@pacersplace.org.uk> remarked:
>And the official answer is...we don't know!
>
>I'd be watching for the policy to be either quietly dropped or for an
>announcement to be made of the introduction of full compulsory
>reservation.

With the Birmingham-[Derby-]Nottingham and
Birmingham-[Leicester-Peterborough-]Cambridge services being local
commuter routes, I can't see how they could ever implement a compulsory
reservations scheme.
--
Roland Perry

In message <470f1e3c.298974168@news.>, at 07:12:59 on Fri,
12 Oct 2007, Neil Williams <wensleydale@pacersplace.org.uk> remarked:
>Because I must admit (and so will others) that it would be nice to get
>a reservation for a walk-up ticket, a minute or two before departure,
>to save the usual scrum boarding the train.

That smacks more of a "boarding pass" than a "seat reservation". You
wouldn't have to allocate individual seats (a la EasyJet). But I'll
believe such a scheme when I see it, especially for trips like Long
Eaton to Derby where the number of commuters allowed on might depend on
how many boarded at Beeston ten minutes earlier.
--
Roland Perry

Neil Williams wrote:

> The trouble is that the only really practical way to do this is full
> compulsory reservation, and the really bad effect of that is that it
> effectively does away with walk-up travel on busy services.

Of course this will never happen, because then train companies won't be
able to make profit from people with (extremely expensive) walk-up
tickets who then end up standing in a toilet or sat on the floor because
there aren't enough seats on the train.

Jonathan

On Oct 12, 10:19 am, Roland Perry <rol...@perry.co.uk> wrote:

> That smacks more of a "boarding pass" than a "seat reservation". You
> wouldn't have to allocate individual seats (a la EasyJet).

Except for that the scrum for the good seats on easyJet is as bad as
the railway, though at least you know you'll get one.

Neil

In message <1192185680.170461.289810@i13g2000prf. .com>, at
03:41:20 on Fri, 12 Oct 2007, Neil Williams <pacer142@>
remarked:
>> That smacks more of a "boarding pass" than a "seat reservation". You
>> wouldn't have to allocate individual seats (a la EasyJet).
>
>Except for that the scrum for the good seats on easyJet is as bad as
>the railway,

For a one hour flight, there are not very many "good" seats. They are
all just "seats", IMHO. What makes them "better", just like on a train,
is not having a 20 stone person poured into the seat next door, or
someone whose elbows appear capable of only moving outwards, or child
that kicks, etc. If the seating is unassigned, it's easier to avoid such
situations.
--
Roland Perry

In message <470fa8a4.1750159@news.>, at 17:03:50 on Fri,
12 Oct 2007, Neil Williams <wensleydale@pacersplace.org.uk> remarked:
>>Most of the seats are no worse than most "airline" seats on a train.
>
>Except the middle seats. People don't like them on trains, either,

So the ones on a plane aren't worse, are they?

--
Roland Perry