Rail privatisation

[Barty]

yeah, look how great the railways are now they are privatised.

The privatised rail network has many faults, but customer service is not one of them.
How many help points and customer information screens did you see at all but the busiest stations before privatisation? Platform staff popped out of their little offices to dispatch trains then scurried straight back into them pre-privatisation. Rail staff could turn up drunk for work and tell customers to f off and get away with it - now, if any member of rail staff is caught with 20mg alcohol in your blood (driving limit 80mg) instant dismissal.

I don't like to disagree with Barty. Statistics may prove me otherwise, but customer service on all train services I use have had faults. A notable one was when my wife was questioned last year about her ticket whilst disembarking at Penge East. A letter went to the rail company and an apology (of sorts) was given over the rail staff's behaviour.
Straying into politics, It is my opinion that privatising the railways was one of the most damaging things that was done to our transport system.

Similarly, i don't think privatisation of the Royal Mail is necessarily the answer. A ruddy huge rocket up the @rse of the management may work wonders, with a return to using permanent staff and not casual labour...

No organisation has a perfect record when it comes to customer services. But when you compare the privatised railway companies of now to the monolith that was British Rail, from a customer service view soo sooo much is different. Customer information points. Train guards who actually communicate with passengers. Edible food. CCTV monitoring and functional information screens. Welcome hosts. Telesales and internet booking. Through ticketing onto buses. Season ticket refunds when performance is poor.........

Yes, from an operational point of view, from a point of view of running the railway, the way it was privatised was a nightmare (Disclaimer: Barty's view, not Southern's!), but I don't think you can say the same about customer service if you ever travelled by train in BR days.

[simon]

Barty,

I have no reason to doubt that customer service has improved in since privatisation, if by customer service you mean rail workers communicating with the travelling public and the availability of help points etc. If, however, you think that customer service is about providing the customers with a service they want, when they want it and at a fair price, then I have my doubts that that has actually improved, from a customers’ point of view, since privatisation.

As with postal services, the need for cross subsidy by profitable parts of the business to the unprofitable parts is necessitated by the universal nature of the service. That’s why both are suited to a national monopoly that isn’t answerable to shareholder demands to make a quick profit.

Most of the travelling public just want to get from A to B, quickly and cheaply and don’t really care whether the person who sells them a ticket smiles or wishes them a nice day. The post-privatisation mantra that improved customer service can be a substitute for a poorer customer experience has always been lost on me.

We just want trains to run on time, to where we want to go at a reasonable price.