most of this (if not all) will, i appreciate, seem like a whine. well, that or a moan, groan or what have you. ultimately, though, one can easily dismiss pretty much anything said (ever) in such a way. someone will always say "oh there's worse thing" or similar, look you see. but, on i go.
this all relates to what most would describe as the absolute sh!tshow that is the state of trains here in England, or if you will the United Kingdom at large. overpriced and unreliable are the two main words you will hear to describe them from anyone you are brave enough to ask. in respect of the former, well, indeed, it is more expensive, with many instances to prove just how we get fleeced. from memory i can recall one person worked out it was cheaper to fly (as in on a f*****g aeroplane) from Manchester to Spain and then from Spain to London than it was to get a train from Manchester to London (innit). but no, of course such a ludicrous highlighting of the situation changed nothing. my concern here, anyway, is the latter part. the "unreliable" thing.
i think what irked me more than having to shell out for a taxi (well, one of them uber things which, even when i throw in a decent tip, is £10 south of a regular taxi yet 4 times the cost of a train) is the absolutely pathetic nature of the cancellation notice. that's for you to see in the below image, one of them screenshot things what i gone done to work out, and it kind of illustrates what an absolute bag of sh!t bunch of cowards them what are somehow in charge of the trains really are.
yes, i am sure you saw what they did there. i did too, eventually. that's just brilliant, isn't it? an entire service gets cancelled because one (1) person did not turn up for work. obviously they stick that out purely to divert your anger. the idea is that you stand there cursing and swearing the one person who did not turn up to do the job they are paid very well to do. meanwhile the real issue is that, apparently, them what run the trains are so completely and utterly f*****g incompetent at it that it just takes all of one absence to cause the service to be cancelled. normally i am against this kind of thinking but now i have reached the point where i take the view of the sooner we have fully automated trains the better. get rid of the staff that keep demanding more money for less ("fewer") work, let the machines do their thing. anything for a reliable service that lets me see my (known) children once a week, thanks.
car? indeed getting one again would kind of solve the issue of needing to rely on public transport. however it just strikes me as (to be blunt) stupid to throw myself onto the crippling debt pile this country seems to crave for the sake of a weekly journey. it would be quite boring to go through all the astronomical costs of a car, which is quite the statement considering just how dull stuff on here i do is. some do suggest that the perpetual destruction of public transport is all deliberate, for more cars on the road means more revenue. no, then. already i meet the train people more than half way, what with the peculiar hours the service i need runs.
reasonably, one might think, i should have been refunded for a ticket for a service that, ultimately, did not exist. alas (as pictured above) no, not to be. due to the "improved" ticket pricing system refunds for services are no longer given unless you took insurance out. more on that in a bit, since yes going forward (rather than backward) i at least looked at that one.
beggars belief, really. we are in a world of "consumer rights" and what have you, with some fairly staunch levels of protection for us, the members of the public paying for goods and services. yet it would seem the train people (and i suppose this is a bit like them what do the water) can just take money off of us, not do their jobs and not have to give it back. whilst getting tax money.
so, for the next ticket i decided to look at what, exactly, insurance would involve. as you can see above, the cost of insurance for my ticket would be (hang on just using a calculator) an extra 38% to pay (yes i know it is low price ticket). great. and even then it would be a refund "for certain circumstances", and a fee to pay on the refund. not really viable, is it? especially not when they exclude the train you wanted that was cancelled from a refund, saying that you could have used the ticket on a later (and impractical to take) train.
oddly this is not the only time i have encountered just what a con some of this "insurance" business is. for those interested (strange but thank you) here is a link to the perplexing complexities of taking out insurance on concert tickets. for those not inclined to read that but still want to know, basically never ever, under any circumstances, take insurance on concert tickets as you are just giving someone money for no reason whatsoever.
every now and then, of course, the trains do actually run as they should. and i can use it as a reason, or point of departure, to take a selfie with the eldest of my (known) children, showcasing how usure i am of which way to look with a phone thing on selfie mode.
very much so, dear reader, would be my (fairly obvious) answer to if public transport should once again be a public owned concern. it is f*****g stupid that buses and trains run on a minimal service to maximise profits for the owners whilst they still claim government (as in our) money. using a bus to go and see my (known) children would be class, but of course the buses do not run the route i need on sundays or public holidays as it is "not economically viable". that kind of misses the point that public transport isn't meant to be about profit.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment