So, many people in UK commutes for work, many take the trains. I am one of them.
I do love the service, the apps are great to buy tickets and find train timetables, they run really well, even if delayed tend to be just 30 min or so, it is comfy. Also, it is electric, so better for the environment. I walk from and to the station, so it keeps me fit.
When the strikes started I just ut up with the inconvenience thinking that they were facing some redundancies, so protesting against that or low pay, I support.
But it has turned since las set of strikedays and this week into a strike against the consumer, from my point of view.
When they walked out last time, I got stuck in the city I work for 4 hours. The buses were fully booked and ran with delays. There had cancelled all the trains, not even a single one was on the timetable. I witness a large amount of people stuck for hours on end after a full days work or travelling with huge cass and children. The buses were fully booked till after 12 at night! So what I witnessed was actually only a fraction of it. When I caught the coach next day, the driver was warning passengers that on Wednesday London was so packed that coaches were delayed for 5 hours to get into London.
This time aroud, they published a set of dates, then they changed them, but I have read that in London they have walked out one day early. Changing the dates was to accomodate a busy weekend in London. So there must be another huge amount of people left stranded.
Trains are a vital service to me.
But they are cancelling a huge amount of trains on week long strikes.
Changing dates means they affect people who had planned around the original dates. They cost the commuter more money and stress. People are using buses and coaches yamming roads and polluting. People arrive late to work or back home, missing important things.
Newspaper today mention 600 million of cost to this country, to the tax payer, us who struggle with the cost of living.
I do not see this affecting anyone else bit the user. The train company will only return the money from the train ticket, not cover for the cost of the bus or driving or other alternative.
If they were reducing services, like running one train per hour instead of 30 min, then nobody would be stuck for hours on end, it will be only an inconvenient. The train company will have to return the ticket price if you train is in the delayed lot. But they are cancelling all trains at some points in UK.
Now, they know very well what they are doing. They know what is happening to all those stranded passengers. They know that the buses cannot cope with the amount of people, let alone the traffic due to people driving.
I think they should not be allowed to cancel more than 10% of the services, that they should grant alternative routes within 60 min of the trains they cancel, that strikes should not last more than one day per week and they should publish the revised detailed timetables for each station as soon as the strike date is set, so we can plan our commute.
So, what do you think?
AIBU- You support the strikes as they are currently
AINBU- They need to calm it down and provide a good basic service on strike days