Rail travel needs predictability
Playing fast and loose with timetables will only serve to drive passengers away from using trains.
By ‘Industry Update’
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RAILWAY timetables have long been seen as a predicable part of train travel, with widely advertised services available on station departure sheets and pocket timetables. In recent months, however, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen widespread alterations made to the timetable on an ad-hoc basis.
This followed a Government edict to cut operating costs to reflect lost revenue after travellers were told to avoid public transport and more people began working from home.
There appears to be a belief that there is no need to provide any publicity of the type that was once commonplace before previous timetable changes, with the thinking that digital information allows intending passengers to enquire about service times using the National Rail app, which is updated on a regular basis.
‘Turn up and go’ needed
But this emerging attitude calls into question a fundamental strength of the rail offer: that it is available on a ‘turn up and go’ basis, and that the timetables published in May and December will in fact be operating. If there is no longer any such certainty, this will have a devastating effect on journeys that are time-critical, as well as those where a last minute decision is made to use the train.