Re: Garland of Flowers
@Lucrelout - "This is the inevitable result of allowing civil servants and think tank staffers to ride around first class."
That privilege, (generally to civil servants of HEO rank and above) was lost several years ago. When it was in place, I disagreed with the privilege and chose not to book first class travel when using the train for duty travel. However my older colleagues did point out that fact that it was originally given in lieu of a pay rise many year earlier and so they understandably felt they had the right. Of course, the privilege was removed temporarily, never to be-reinstated.
Bear in mind, many civil servants commute by train and we are well aware of what all the carriages and human armpits are like. I can't answer for the think tank staffers and 'Special Advisers' however.
"1) Remove all first class carriages. Capacity would then increase by roughly 80 people per train due to being allowed to stand between the seats"
Agreed, first class offers very little more than standard and wastes carriages for commuters. Also, I struggle to see how having several empty first class carriages is cost effective for the rail companies. The first class ticket would have to be seemingly hundreds of times more expensive to make up for the fewer number of people in the carriage.
"2) Install free wifi on every train. Seriously - its like the dark ages on there."
"3) Ensure a stable signal such that a phone call can be had, where necessary, out of main line stations and into the suburbs without 30 disconnections."
If it's a choice, I'll take #3, as the wifi in the stations is shit, no point having shit wifi on the trains as well. Would rather they allowed the mobile operators to put their infrastructure on the lines, might also reduce rural connectivity problems. As line electrification is an undertaking at the moment, they could do this at the same time.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
