UK - commuters want trains to run on time

[John Ashworth]

£500,000 Government report: commuters want trains to run on time

A two-year-long, 178-page report that cost taxpayers £500,000 has arrived at the unsurprising conclusion that commuters want trains to run on time.


By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor
Telegraph
Last Updated: 3:10PM BST 24 May 2009

The biggest-ever study of overcrowding and the punctuality of trains, commissioned by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), has been condemned as "an astonishing exercise in rehashing the blindingly obvious".

The report for the RSSB, which is funded by the Department for Transport to the tune of £12million every year, discovered that passengers are likely to be in a "positive emotional state" if their train is punctual and announcements are audible and comprehensible, and in a "negative" frame of mind if the service is late and no one tells them why.

Commuters are "chilled out and happy" if they get a seat on a train, but their mood turns to "panic" if the train is late and there is no seat, the research found.

The study, undertaken by a team of external consultants and psychologists, analysed travellers all over Britain and used an "undercover passenger" carrying a miniature video camera concealed in a gift-wrapped cardboard tube inside a carrier bag to record travellers' behaviour.

The report – illustrated with 'sad' and 'happy' faces – said: "Passengers' comfort and positioning are affected by fellow passengers' appearance, size and smell."

Rail users were lumped into bizarre categories in the document. "Snipers" hover next to an occupied seat, ready to take it when it becomes vacant, while "Sentinels" lean against a partition, thought to be the most tolerable standing spot.

"Blockers" hold the grab rail, making it impossible for others to pass. "Heroes" fight through the crowd in search of an aisle space or seat.

The RSSB is the industry's safety watchdog and on its website it proclaims that it "builds industry-wide consensus and facilitates the resolution of difficult cross-industry issues".

Tony Ambrose, of the passenger campaign group More Train Less Strain, said: "It beggars belief. It's bad enough having the highest fares and worst overcrowding in Europe without the added unpleasantness of finding out you have been filmed without your permission.

"The report is astonishing. It's a rehash, in consultant-speak, of what is blindingly obvious to every traveller."

The RSSB defended its study, however, insisting it was a "practical appraisal of real-life situations".

A spokesman added: "In total, about one hour of filming was undertaken, based on one person travelling for four to five days."

The report comes just a week after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was attacked for spending £300,000 on a three-year study that proved ducks liked rainy weather.

[Luca Lategan]

There was once upon a time an artist that went to the king and told him that he will, in exchange for food and clothes and so much money, paint him the most beautiful painting ever.

After weeks of the artist living in absolute luxury, he proclaimed that the painting is ready. When the king and his men went to watch it, of course they saw only a white cloth, the king, not wanting to feel like a idiot for giving the man everything exlaims, "Wonderful, this is the most beautiful painting I have ever seen." The king then put it where everyone could see it and the artist never had to do a single painting ever again...

Sounds similar?