Good day my good friend.

As I mentioned on Monday, this one is going to deal with a slightly somber topic. But it was one that I feel very passionately about, and as such felt worth writing about. If you don’t like this kind of thing, normal service will be resumed on Monday. Otherwise, read on.

Mobility Camp is back, and the number one transport unconference is heading to York on Friday 20th September. Book your tickets now! 🎫

I have co-authored a book on Mobility-as-a-Service, which is a comprehensive guide on this important new transport service. It is available from the Institution of Engineering and Technology and now Amazon. 📕

😡 Why transport operators can get it so wrong, unknowingly

Last week, I shared this video of a train ride along the Dawlish Sea Wall in Devon on a bright, clear sunny Sunday. A view which lived up to its reputation as one of the finest railway trips in the UK.

Incidentally, there is equally as beautiful a view just a few short miles up the line near Starcross, with a wonderful view across the Exe Estuary towards Exmouth. You can take a ferry ride from Starcross station to Exmouth if you wish. But anyway.

While these views were stunning, behind the lens is someone who was extremely frustrated. That morning, I got a phone call from my sister Emma that really shook my world.

Dad has had another stroke, and has been airlifted to Derriford Hospital. We don’t think he has long left, so if you can get there to see him, please do.

Within 30 minutes I was out the door, and heading to the station. I had no idea what to think, or what to feel. All I knew was that I needed to get to Plymouth as soon as I could.

Transport operators have, on the face of it, a simple job. Just get people to where they want to go. And when they don’t do that, its a problem for the operators, but its a real problem for those affected by delays. Delays to them are not missed trains. Its missed time with family and friends, or a missed doctors appointment or a telling off at work.

For this reason, operators cannot control people’s reactions to delays, because they do not know why people are travelling. Nor can they control those events that affects someone’s emotional response. But, unwittingly or not, they can make a bad situation worse by their actions, or inactions.

On that Sunday, the actions of transport operators made my day worse. To start with, my first train involved taking Thameslink into London. If I made this train, I could make a train to Plymouth that would get me to Plymouth in just over 6 hours. I arrived at the platform two minutes before the train was due to leave, to the doors closing. No problems, the doors on the trains close automatically. So I pressed the button to open them.

Nothing happened. Press again, nothing happened.

Then, a full minute before it was due to, the train pulled away from the platform. It was leaving without me. Of all the days to pull this trick, it had to be today, when I wanted to see my dad as quickly as possible. I was beside myself with anger. How the HELL could they do this?!?

15 long minutes went by before the next train, but I thought the damage had been done. Trains on a Sunday from Paddington to Plymouth are hourly, and every hour increased the chances of my dad passing before I got there. I crossed London on the Elizabeth Line from Farringdon to Paddington, where I had a stroke of luck. The train to Plymouth I was due to catch was leaving from Platform 1, the closest platform to the Elizabeth Line platforms at Paddington. I have 4 minutes to make the connection.

I made that connection through the pure luck of train scheduling. Had it been at any platform higher than 4 or 5, I would not have made it. But I did. But my luck was short lived.

It turned out, the train to Plymouth an hour beforehand had been cancelled. What’s more, I was on a train that ultimately went to Newquay, on a sunny summer Sunday, on the first weekend of the school summer holidays. You can imagine how busy it was.

All pretences of the seat reservation system working went out of the window. Every seat was taken. Every vestibule had at least 4 people, plus luggage, standing in it. The overcrowding was so bad that the at-seat catering service didn’t even try to get through the train.

I ended up standing from London to Taunton. Fully an hour and a half. Only there did a seat in First Class become available for anyone willing to pay the upgrade. At that point, I would have paid to sit on a spike.

The rest of the trip went off without incident. And I have to say that taking the Beryl hire bike from the station to the hospital and back was a lovely ride. And most importantly, I got to see dad and say goodbye before he passed some days later.

But my reflection on this trip is how the delays of transport operators act as a multiplier on their passengers. A delayed train is frustrating for operators, and they have to be professional to all passengers in such circumstances. But these kinds of things make stressful situations for customers infinitely worse. And customers remember such incidents. In a car or on a bike, it is more forgiving because you are in control to some degree. But when you give the responsibility to an operator for your important journey, you feel it harder when they let you down.

I will continue to use trains, of course. A bad experience like this won’t discourage me from that. But you will have to forgive me if I love the train a little less than I did before. Because this kind of thing hurts.

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