(24 Aug 2021, 12:05 pm)Adrian wrote I have to say (and in fear of being labelled with the 'usual attitude' again), if this runs next season, I hope there's a more robust operational plan to ensure the availability of a replacement vehicle in a timely manner. Maybe insisting on advance ticket purchases is one way to do that, but also (and I think Andreos1 suggested this before) look at the live sales data on the day and get out of the traps faster if need be.
I think most people would accept there is some delay in getting a dupe in place, but it comes down to what is reasonable. 20-25 minutes maybe, but 2 hours not so much!
I'd agree. It's good to see initiatives like this, especially in the current climate, but if customers have experiences such as today where they have to wait 2 hours in Washington Galleries for the dupe (and you can't really go anywhere in the meantime, as there's no indication of when it'll turn up), you don't imagine they'll be quite as keen to come back. If they are operating a once a day special such as this, I'd suggest that they also need to put in place corresponding systems as you've outlined - you can't run this once a day special like the 21 and just tell folk another one will be there soon.
At the very least, I'd think you would need to have the following in place:
- Vehicle checked and ready to go.
- Route learned driver at work, or some sort of supervisor willing to take it instead.
- Better communication with passengers waiting at Washington - the first Tweet I saw today was at 10:22, an hour after the main coach had left and when the dupe was apparently leaving Riverside. I see now there was a follow up stating 11am arrival at Washington, but I'd query how it took it that long to get there.
- Incentivise advance purchases (as yourself and Andreos1 mentioned)
- More alert to live data on the day (as yourself and Andreos1 mentioned)
I also wonder if there would be a way for either supervisors based at Washington if they exist, or drivers passing through, to report back to GNE Towers how many folk they see waiting for the X11 in the 5-15 minutes before arrival? Just to help get the ball rolling that bit earlier if the ticket data from Newcastle/Gateshead is borderline.