Train and tube strikes

[uneffingbelievable]

I can not work from home and my job is fairly essential.

To get to work next week - I have now along with many of my colleagues had to:

1. Book a hotel on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights
2. Pay for parking at the station for 4 full days
3. Organise extra child care and a taxi to pick DCS up from school ( too far to walk and no bus)
4. Will have to pay to eat out for those days

If the rail unions had not noticed we are ALL facing a cost of living crisis - wasting the best part of £500 to get to work is not endearing me to your cause.

The alternative of drive in and out each day in the traffic and pay for parking in London and then walk miles comes in at around £350 and exceedingly high BP.

Your actions are selfish beyond belief and hurt the innocent hardworking majority.

That is the polite version - selfish beyond belief

I'm self employed. I'm absolutely in support of the strike. I'd gladly give up a day's pay and march if there is a call for that. I've retained my Unison membership.

Do you want a medal?

So they challenge 'staffing cuts' by removing all staffing for multiple days?! Thus making the level of staffing they do have seem even better once they eventually return to work 🤨🧐 Hmmm can anyone find the logic, I've lost my glasses

I travel by train a lot too, for work and for leisure, as I’m a non driver. It’s very rare that I don’t get asked to show my ticket.

As for ‘most of these jobs’, how does an automated service help someone who doesn’t know what connections they need to get, or the best train times, or the best price? How does an automated service clean the toilets and empty the bins on trains and stations?

There are ticket machines at every station but at the stations I use there is always a queue at the desk, because people need assistance. I was at Milton Keynes station the other day and whilst there were some queues for the ticket machines, there was a massive queue at the manned desks.

No. I'm just stating how I see things. Is that OK with you?

There are ticket machines at every station but at the stations I use there is always a queue at the desk, because people need assistance. I was at Milton Keynes station the other day and whilst there were some queues for the ticket machines, there was a massive queue at the manned desks.

Welcome to the real world. My station has a staff of at least five at any given time. None of them sell tickets. none of them can provide any information. Only one if them is polite to the customers. They mostly just sit in the office and gossip. And that's when they are not busy playing with their phones.

Well, I'm stating how I see things. Is that OK with you?

Did I say it wasn't? I don't see things as you see them. These things happen.

I support the strike 100%. Nobody goes on strike without a very good reason.

You’ve either not read my post properly or totally misunderstood it. I’m saying that the manned desks have a queue because people want to talk to a real person who can help them. The manned desks all sell tickets but they also help people with queries. Not everyone wants to buy at ticket from a machine, particularly not if they have a query about their journey.

Barriers at every station? Most of the UK is not London, you know. There are 2,570 stations in GB. Some of them see one passenger a day. Are you seriously suggesting installing barriers in every one of them, with a minimum of two staff on each shift (barrier staff get assaulted enough as it is, lone working is not an option)? A line local to me has ten stations. That would mean twenty staff on duty at any given time, instead of having one conductor covering the lot. And no, you can't just not staff the barriers because people will simply jump them or force their way through. Barriers can't deal with all types of ticket fraud anyway.

A driver saved someone's life a few weeks ago. The bloke was about to jump off of a viaduct and the driver grabbed him and pulled him back. Can a computer do that?

Can a computer respond to an alarm, call an ambulance, and keep the drunks from fighting while paramedics arrive and deal with a ketamine overdose?

Can a computer eject a pervert?

Can a computer provide advice and reassurance to passengers, especially nervous travellers? The ticketing system is far too complex, and often an expert is needed to advise on what would suit individual requirements. Not everyone is conversant with smart phones.

Can a computer ask people to remove their feet from the seats, stop playing loud music, and stop swearing in earshot of other passengers?

Can a computer recognise sheep on the line ahead?

Can a computer stay for an hour after the end of its shift to wait with an old man in the small hours of the morning when the replacement bus departed without him, while phoning Control to arrange a taxi?

Can a computer help an elderly passenger lift their suitcase on and off the train?

Can a computer disperse feral youths who are intimidating passengers at a station?

Can a computer fault-find, isolating systems where needed so that the train can get back to the depot without being stranded in the middle of nowhere awaiting a fitter?

Can a computer lock a toilet out of use when someone has vomited all over it, and phone ahead for a cleaner?

Can a computer recognise a trafficked person?

Can a computer brighten someone's day with a friendly face?

By the way, never mind a buffet car, some of the trains around here have hot food, freshly prepared by proper chefs. Much more civilised than having a cereal bar for breakfast. That's how long distance trains should be.

What's the point of quoting my post then?

Who knows, maybe you have something else to fall back on if you are so happy to lose earnings. I need to work, I'm clearly not a lucky as you are.

So yes, crack on.

You’ve either not read my post properly or totally misunderstood it. I’m saying that the manned desks have a queue because people want to talk to a real person who can help them. The manned desks all sell tickets but they also help people with queries. Not everyone wants to buy at ticket from a machine, particularly not if they have a query about their journey.

Oh, I understood your point. Except at my station, despite there being at least five staff loitering about there are no manned desks where someone who wants to talk to a real person can queue. I would prefer to buy a ticket from a person, not from the machine, but a machine is the only option. Staff do nothing except gossip and play on their phones. If you need any information you are much better off checking the app on your phone.

People moaning about the strikes need to look into what they are actually striking about!

Don't just believe what you read in the media. These people are not greedy and they are not selfish.

I fully support anyones right to strike no matter the disruption.

But what would happen if the NHS staff did the same thing? Would people not be left to die? How would that work? Could they really do that without any feelings of guilt

Whose trains are you catching though? Different companies have different staffing arrangements. Merseyrail for example (being a metro service) relies on having teams of officers descend upon trains at random, and use the threat of a hefty fine for those who board without a ticket. Operators serving rural areas on the other hand don't have machines on the platforms of their unmanned halts, instead a guard will sell you one.

Network Rail want to cut maintenance. We had enough fatal accidents under Railtrack to know that's a bad idea.

Shapps also wants to shorten the length of time it takes to train staff. Anyone familiar with the Ladbroke Grove accident will know where that leads.

Aren't Junior Doctors being balloted at the moment?

It's going to be a pain for me when they strike but I totally support them! It's not about pay

People moaning about the strikes need to look into what they are actually striking about!

Don't just believe what you read in the media. These people are not greedy and they are not selfish

Money seems top of the agenda, according to one of the Union bosses.

General secretary Mick Lynch said "members want a decent pay rise, job security and no compulsory redundancies".

I would be interested to hear why you wouldn't want a pay rise, job security or not to be made redundant?

Of course I do. The strikes are preventing me from going to work, so where is my job security and pay? I'm self employed. If I don't work, I don't get paid.

Yeah but that’s the problem.
People ( customers) want manned ticket counters - for when the internet fucks up). They want guards to stop drunk lads and loud ladies ruining a journey.
They want staff who can help with stuff.

What we get is closed ticket offices, crowded rowdy carriages and platforms and no staff randomly or outside of peak hours.

Strike but for a better service not inflation. If peoples wages rise then inflation interest rates, borrowing, goes up. Who loses out then

@ChardonnaysBeastlyCat nope not at all.

Just for starters, They want us to cut staff and have less people multitasking, people doing work they are not really trained to do. they also want to cut the level of training, I trained for years to do my job. It's skilled work that if not done properly will have dire effects on the safety and efficiency of the railways.
They want us to use our own vehicles instead of company vehicles, I can drive up to 500 miles a week whilst doing my job. I already spend £150 a week putting fuel in my car to drive to and from my place of work. In real terms that's a huge pay cut.

There is more but I won't bore you with it. I'm sure you can find it if you really look for it.

If peoples wages rise then inflation interest rates, borrowing, goes up. Who loses out then

Certainly not MPs, IPSO are quite happy to suggest pay rises for them every year.