We'd like all the benefits of capitalism without pesky competition

morstar
morstar Posts: 6,190
edited April 2019 in The cake stop
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48036312

Basically, we want to be able to screw customers for as much income as possible without being subject to any form of competition. We're hiding these real desire behind the customer pleasing notion of being against standing on a train trip.

I have actually enjoyed generally very good service from Virgin trains over a period of years, but clearly they have been trying to leverage the rail franchising process heavily in favour of their bottom line. Looks like they messed up though.

Comments

  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Trains are already inconvenient and expensive enough to have to buy a whole new ticket if you miss your allocated one.
  • john80
    john80 Posts: 2,965
    Shirley Basso wrote:
    Trains are already inconvenient and expensive enough to have to buy a whole new ticket if you miss your allocated one.

    At £80 for a single from Penrith to London booked many days in advance. I think this is pointless even if there is only one of you in the car as lets face it Penrith is over an hour away from my house and I am probably not visiting anything in London and therefore need to then get out of the place to your final destination. Scrap HS2, get a load of automated cars and build another motorway from North of Preston to the South. Job done.

    When Tebbit was misquoted for his on your bike quote I don't think he meant that everyone should live miles from where they work and maybe we should consider spreading work out a bit. Southerners can bask in their overcrowded creation.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    I think you're agreeing with me in a way.

    My poorly made point is in order for trains to be a viable daily alternative to using fossil fuelled personal transport, they need to be cheap and convenient. Not only cheap once in a blue moon and then miles away from anyone's home (unless they chose to live miles away)
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    Basically, the limitations and failures are plenty and well documented.
    Virgin seem to think removing any form of competition and limiting ticket sales on popular services will improve things.
    A somewhat subjective take on improving rail services which makes me glad they are losing the franchise.

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