Great Western Coffee Shop

We often complain about the lowering of quality of our services, but I was interested to read how Ouigo is transforming high speed travel in France. Now at first these were in addition to the existing SNCF services, but the most recent increase involved converting existing services to the Ouigo format, leaving some services gaps in the traditional services.

So for Ouigo there is:-
Some three abreast seating, with no armrests
No seat reservations (selecting your seat)
No first class
Pay extra for a power socket or quiet carriage
Pay extra for more than one bag
No catering of any description
30 minute check in time
Many services use out of town stations (think Ealing Broadway to Filton Abbey Wood as a loose analogy for London to Bristol).
No travel permitted if your connecting service is late and you miss your Ouigo (Nongo maybe?), likewise at the other end if applicable.
Bookings not permitted from many countries (eg New Zealand), either direct or through an agent.   

Now admittedly the fares are cheaper, but bear in mind that some of these services are 6 hrs long, so you'd better stock up with fluids and hope that you don't get the middle seat in between two burly manspreaders. Let's hope if doesn't catch on here.   

The window seat would also become the  «double excusez-moi"» seat.

Zut alors! C'est Ryanrail!

Certainement - it's basically keeping trying to keep air, rail and coach competitors out of the French market ahead of deregulation (plus Paris to Brussels with the Izy service) and I'd wager that they will shortly be extending it around Europe. It also has the clever effect of forcing business travellers to buy a more expensive full-price ticket if they want any degree of flexibility.