Back at the start of March I was late to work due to me oversleeping a little and having to get the East Midlands Express service into Manchester. According to the timetable, this should be entirely possible without me being late. Due to experience I know this is not always the case so I bitch and moan about it on here and get the earlier, stopper, train which actually gets me in on time.
So I complained when they only sent two carriages again. Given that four carriages is crowded, two leaves 90% of people on the platform. Today I received my response. And my response. And my response. Three copies were emailed to me - according to GMail at 1723, 1755 and 1826. But I'm sure that one of those was this morning about half ten. Here it is, with my comments:
Dear Mr Lambert
Thank you for your correspondence which we received on 17 March 2008.
I am sorry for the overcrowding on the East Midlands train you travelled on.
Really? Are you? There is no apology ever given on the train when it's late. When I have been one of the luck 10% of people who managed to wedge themselves on when it's short there has been no apology. There is no apology at the station. The trains which run after yours do offer apologies for the overcrowding you have caused. You don't.
Please be assured that we are very keen on ensuring that our trains run to time and providing a punctual, reliable and comfortable service to our customers is at the top of our agenda. However, within the new franchise we have inherited some trains that have recently proven less reliable than we would like, this has caused difficulties with the performance of some of our fleet. Regrettably, these issues have placed a strain on the availability of some of our trains causing some delays and meaning that a number of trains are running with fewer carriages than normal. I apologise for the inconvenience you have been caused.
Awww... blaming it on not knowing how bad the carriages were. Pull the other one - it has bells on. This has been a problem which has been documented and known about since before you took over. Due diligence says that you should have noticed this problem before you bid for the franchise. This is not an excuse - this is an admittance of bad business practice and shafting passengers.
Please be assured that we will work hard to improve our performance and we are investing heavily in our fleet including an internal refresh and making technical modifications. In order to ensure that general maintenance can be carried out efficiently (which should improve the performance of our fleet) a large investment has also been made into the maintenance depots.
Good. When will we see more carriages?
We are also reviewing how we use our entire fleet. By reviewing average numbers of passengers travelling on trains and the carriages available, we can see if our fleet is being utilised to its full potential. However, we do not have spare carriages that can be added to a train on an ad-hoc basis.
You have massive overcrowding on all your services. This is the one I care about. It will not be solved by you rejigging a couple of carriages here and there. You need proper investment in new carriages and you need this yesterday.
Once again, please accept my apologies for the disappointing level of
service provided by East Midlands Trains and for the problems this caused you. Despite your recent experience, I hope you will use our services in the future.
Do I get a choice? I would love to boycott you, but I can't. My train ticket money goes to OPEC who then use a crazy formula to distribute it between you, First TransPennine Express and Northern. If I could get a ticket which excluded you, I WOULD. You service is crap. The service provided by Central Trains was crap. You knew this when you took the franchise, and if you didn't then you are damn stupid.
Besides all that, you're owned by Stagecoach and Brian Souter who I try to avoid at the best of times because of your aggressive, anti-consumer tactics and Brian Souter's homophobia.
Alex
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