Scotrail

[johnnie x]

This new mob don't seem to be doing much good so far, of all the good contintental rail operators we get the diddy dutch lot.

Announcement today about slashing of Sunday service from this Sunday onwards.

[Charlie Endell]

Is the slashing of Sunday services not due to lack of drivers willing to work Sundays (related to a pay dispute)?

[johnnie x]

yeah I think so but I do get rather annoyed when i see promoted tweets today saying plan your next weekend with Scotrial..................when you can't becuase you dont know what services are running.

[johnnie x]

just noticed its that twat Rob shorthouse in charge of PR and Comms, so that explains their lack of a coherrent strategy.

SFA

Strathclyde Polis

Bitter Together

Scotrail

[Kenneth Farrington]

Must admit, I don't have many grumbles with them thus far.

I know the engineering works are nothing to do with Scotrail, but I wish they'd last a lot longer. I get the Alloa choo to / from Croy & they're running as normal, but the EH1 services are generally empty due to stopping at Linlithgow.

It's genius getting peace on normally packed choos.

[phart]

Must admit, I don't have many grumbles with them thus far.

I know the engineering works are nothing to do with Scotrail, but I wish they'd last a lot longer. I get the Alloa choo to / from Croy & they're running as normal, but the EH1 services are generally empty due to stopping at Linlithgow.

It's genius getting peace on normally packed choos.

Nightmare in Linlithgow, they ran a competition to find the person with the lowest aptitude score for logistics then waited till they hit 80 and put them in charge of organising what bus needs to go where, resulting in 10 minute waits as they try ad get one bus into the bus park and one out, while staring hopelessly at a sheet of paper. While the rest of linlithgow sit waiting to drive past as they're blocking the main road.

Edited July 2, 2015 by phart

[Mox]

Having been away for five years I came back to Glasgow 2 months ago thinking, the rail infrastructure would have improved yet it has not.

This Sunday service thing is ludicrous, it will essentially mean Sunday is a write off for anyone without a motor. And this is the other thing, Glasgow actually rewards car drivers and penalises those who don't drive. If we improved the rail service, more frequent trains different roots, people would abandon their cars for work and as such we would reduce emissions etc which I am sure is an important target for the government to achieve.

Just to give an example of how ####ed up the rail system is here, I had an interview in holytown last week, which according to google maps is 9.2 miles away from where I stay in Dennistoun. It took me three different trains and 1 hour and 20 minutes to get there, that is absolutely wild in my eyes.

[Guest flumax]

How apt this thread. Left work 1500 expecting to catch 1527 Aberdeen dep but cancelled, next at 1726 cancelled, 1822 left late, now 1920 currently sitting at Inverurie with driver just pacing the platform. Thats 4h to do 20 odd miles.

[Larky Masher]

Nightmare in Linlithgow, they ran a competition to find the person with the lowest aptitude score for logistics then waited till they hit 80 and put them in charge of organising what bus needs to go where, resulting in 10 minute waits as they try ad get one bus into the bus park and one out, while staring hopelessly at a sheet of paper. While the rest of linlithgow sit waiting to drive past as they're blocking the main road.

Going to and from Glasgow is great though.

[Larky Masher]

Having been away for five years I came back to Glasgow 2 months ago thinking, the rail infrastructure would have improved yet it has not.

This Sunday service thing is ludicrous, it will essentially mean Sunday is a write off for anyone without a motor. And this is the other thing, Glasgow actually rewards car drivers and penalises those who don't drive. If we improved the rail service, more frequent trains different roots, people would abandon their cars for work and as such we would reduce emissions etc which I am sure is an important target for the government to achieve.

Just to give an example of how ####ed up the rail system is here, I had an interview in holytown last week, which according to google maps is 9.2 miles away from where I stay in Dennistoun. It took me three different trains and 1 hour and 20 minutes to get there, that is absolutely wild in my eyes.

You can't expect railways to be a point to point service.

[sbcmfc]

You can't expect railways to be a point to point service.

Aye, to be fair, Dennistoun to holytown is unlikely to be a particularly popular route.

Having said that, buses, wtf are some of them about? Where even is Summerston or Cambusnethan and who's getting the bus there?

I much prefer trains to buses, at least trains make some sort of attempt to run to a timetable.

However, I recently took my nearly 2 year old son on a train into town 'cos he likes trains and thought it would be fun.

3 trains an hour, 2 of which were replacement bus services, which kind of defeated the purpose, the 3rd came over 20 minutes late, and was full, so we'd to stand in a doorway all the way and it stank of piss.

[phart]

Going to and from Glasgow is great though.

I'm not using the trains, it's where the buses are after you go under the rail bridge, literally took over 5 minutes to get one bus in to the car park and one out. Then as it's just past the lights it bottlenecked up the three-way traffic lights. I think we have the jousting this weekend as well, going out shopping early today then staying in and avoiding the town.

[Larky Masher]

I'm not using the trains, it's where the buses are after you go under the rail bridge, literally took over 5 minutes to get one bus in to the car park and one out. Then as it's just past the lights it bottlenecked up the three-way traffic lights. I think we have the jousting this weekend as well, going out shopping early today then staying in and avoiding the town.

Go to Sainburys and Aldi.

[jockodile]

changing drink driving rules coupled with a lessening of public transport? Some joined up thinking required.

[thewelk]

I remember the hourly service I had to rely on as a teen in darkest loyal Lanarkshire. No Sunday service. And last train at 11pm. Don't know how I did it.

Now I feel genuine disdain for the 'shitty' service if I need to wait 5 minutes for a metro. People complain a lot about the Paris metro because it's a city if moaning c*nts. But objectively speaking it's brilliant. From September it'll cost 70 EUR (50 GBP) a month to go ANYWHERE in the region, including the airports. And your work is legally obliged to cover 50% if that.

And what's the difference between RATP and scotrail? RATP is still state owned. Yeah, state owned transport is a bad idea, right?

Actually if you look closely at London buses they're also run by the RATP. So now Londoners, paying their 700 quid a month, are effectively subsidising Parisians.

[Mox]

I remember the hourly service I had to rely on as a teen in darkest loyal Lanarkshire. No Sunday service. And last train at 11pm. Don't know how I did it.

Now I feel genuine disdain for the 'shitty' service if I need to wait 5 minutes for a metro. People complain a lot about the Paris metro because it's a city if moaning c*nts. But objectively speaking it's brilliant. From September it'll cost 70 EUR (50 GBP) a month to go ANYWHERE in the region, including the airports. And your work is legally obliged to cover 50% if that.

And what's the difference between RATP and scotrail? RATP is still state owned. Yeah, state owned transport is a bad idea, right?

Actually if you look closely at London buses they're also run by the RATP. So now Londoners, paying their 700 quid a month, are effectively subsidising Parisians.

The London transport system is sensational, having spent five years there I am comparing the glasgow transport system to it which is unfair, but we are so far behind when it comes to infrastructure it's unreal.

[teecee-]

Train drivers rejected £46000 a year.

Ebollio refuse to negotiate.

Drivers voluntarily work a Sunday at normal rates of pay-no double time etc.

The Dutch will cause carnage as they bought a dud and will try anything to cut costs.

Large scale pay-offs and redundancies.

[ParisInAKilt]

I wouldn't voluntary work a Sunday for normal rate of pay

[Charlie Endell]

Train drivers rejected £46000 a year.

Ebollio refuse to negotiate.

Drivers voluntarily work a Sunday at normal rates of pay-no double time etc.

The Dutch will cause carnage as they bought a dud and will try anything to cut costs.

Large scale pay-offs and redundancies.

I wonder who supplied you with this info...

[Flora MaDonald]

I wonder who supplied you with this info...

He sorted me oot wi cash in Macedonia...unlike some.

[Kirk]

I tend to just get a taxi to and from Glasgow or take the car if I'm not going drinking. Trains are just a pain in the arse. I'm only 15-20 min drive and £15 Max in a taxi

[thewelk]

Train drivers rejected £46000 a year.

Ebollio refuse to negotiate.

Drivers voluntarily work a Sunday at normal rates of pay-no double time etc.

The Dutch will cause carnage as they bought a dud and will try anything to cut costs.

Large scale pay-offs and redundancies.

46k is outrageous for what they do. What do bus drivers get?

[Charlie Endell]

46k is outrageous for what they do. What do bus drivers get?

From the adverts on the back of their buses I think a First Glasgow driver will earn about £20k a year - probably a bit more with overtime and bonuses. A pittance in view of all the crap they must have to put up with from drunks, junkies and aggressive passengers - not to say the stress of negotiating a double decker through heavy traffic.

[thewelk]

From the adverts on the back of their buses I think a First Glasgow driver will earn about £20k a year - probably a bit more with overtime and bonuses. A pittance in view of all the crap they must have to put up with from drunks, junkies and aggressive passengers - not to say the stress of negotiating a double decker through heavy traffic.

Yeah, I've always thought that bus drivers must have the worst 'shite'/pay ratio. Certainly compared to train drivers who lock themselves away in their cabin with no contact from passengers and don't even need to do their own navigation.

My knowledge of train driving is limited so maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe its stressful having to...stop at stations. Or, um, control speed.

[phart]

pay-scale in my experience is never a function of the actual job (after all look at all the different pay for same jobs) it's a function of how much you can leverage your position into wages.