Why does it even need all the waffle? "Next Stop Didcot" simple. Works on Swedish trains just fine.
Because a private railway has customers rather than passengers, and your journey on a train, to them, is an onboard experience. If you go into a well known brand shop you will hear the person behind the counter reel off the same waffle each time you go in, I guess somewhere it gets results, probably in industry consumer surveys done by mystery shoppers. Someone is listening to that train manager or announcement and marking the company down for points.
At Reading Transport, so much effort was put into impressing mystery travellers for the sake of industry awards that it could have an effect on actual service. Loading the buses as quickly and efficiently as possible was of no importance. What you said, did and how you were dressed on the other hand was how you were judged on doing the job, not whether the vehicle moved. Drivers would be summoned to the office, not for passenger complaints, just to be told what an anonymous judge thought of them. It would vary wildly in different opinions too, even if you did the same thing each time. Now I imagine that
TOC▸ ’s are under the same scrutiny for the same stuff, probably required for industry awards and possibly operating licenses. The sooner consumer choice is taken out of public transport the better.
Click on the map to explore geographics
