Time to have your say

Slight grumpy post alert.

There's a lot of "consulation" around railways right now. Let's start with the plan to close all the ticket offices in England. 

The argument is that most people buy online or at ticket machines these days and we all need to move with the times and scrap the people sat behind a window. I can see how the maths works, but there are a few issues for me. 

First: I'm good with technology, but the Chiltern Trains ticket machines at my local station are a great example of truly terrible usability. Who decided they needed a shopping cart? When you buy tickets, it's normally for a journey you are about to make. They aren't bloody Amazon where you'll fill a basket with different products. 

Talking of baskets, the governments example if the self-service till in a supermarket. Apparently, these are wildely effective. Unless you have actually used them, in which case you'll have spent ages waiting for someone to come and dig the thing out of a hole when something unexpected happens. Not too bad in a supermarket where a quick flash of a card will usually fix things so the shopper can get back to the task. In a station, the person wandering around (we are promised they will be there, this isn't about reducing staff..) will then have to untangle the passenger (I refuse to call them customer) journey, almost certainly ending up punching the whole lot in from scratch. 

And what happens when the machines break? I've been at the station more than once when all five are out of action. Presumably the ticket barriers will then open so we can buy on the train, or even, not at all? 

If you want to have your say on this, visit the Transport Focus website. 

 

Over on the Isle of  Man, the government is "consulting" on the future of the heritage railways. They want to find out who uses them, and why. 

Suggestions are made that the MER could be cut back to Laxey. And the steam railway shortened in a similar way. Both run at a loss, and plenty of gobby people on the local newspaper websites and Facebook groups are calling for them to be scrapped entirely. 

Part of me should be pleased. No IOM transport would save me the grand that it will cost to visit for a week. An amount that would get me somewhere sunny, with plenty of spending money to boot. The island would be spared those pesky tourists, and all their infuriating money being pumped into the economy. Those hotels could be converted to something else. Not sure what, but that's not my problem. Don't say TT, that's only two weeks, and anyway, lots of Manx want rid of that too. 

Obviously, I think this is A. Bad. Thing. 

Anyway, you can have your say on the Manx Government Website.