Transforming Passenger Information 2013

I am fortunate to be blogging from the Transforming Passenger Information Customer Experience Summit 2013 next week - my thanks to London Business Conferences and LondonMidland for arranging this opportunity. In preparation for the Conference I would be interested in receiving feedback on the way forward for our three TOCs in this area. Please complete the short survey below or comment.

Chiltern Railways Business Zone / Virgin Trains First Class

When everything comes together, the services offered by our Train Operating Companies are simply 'First Class'. Take yesterday as an example...

For those of us fortunate enough to have afternoon meetings and evening events in London the +Chiltern Railways 10.55 Silver Set from Birmingham Moor Street cannot be bettered for the journey south. For a fare of £27.50 Super Off-peak return, you get comfortable seating, large windows, tables with power points, FREE WiFi, and access to the very good Expresso Bar. Pay another £10 to add the quietness and extra space of the Business Zone, unlimited tea / coffee / water and service at your seat.... Even better, it arrives into London Marylebone in time for lunch (or you can try one of Chiltern's hot meals for £3.50...).

However, the downside of travelling with Chiltern is the slow return trains once evening starts. Knowing I would be finishing around 8pm, I looked on the Virgin Trains site on Sunday afternoon to see what Advance First singles were available. To my delight, a £23.50 fare was being offered on the 20.23 service from London Euston to Birmingham New Street - ideal!

Travelling First Class with Virgin does bring the touches that add to the pleasures of the close of day: the First Class lounge at Euston, the fact that the First Class is at the barrier end of the departure platform, the efficient at-seat service with a range of complimentary drinks and snacks, and, of course, the 84 minute journey time. Even the WiFi is free in First Class....

Fare note: Virgin are offering a £25 Super Off-peak return between Birmingham and London on Saturdays and Sundays from 30 March until 28 April. Travel will be valid on departures from Birmingham or London between 10.30am and 4.30pm and after 6.30pm each day. Looks like a bargain... For extra comfort with refreshments and WiFi included, upgrade to First Class on board for an extra £10 each way.

Yet more on LondonMidland

Congratulations to +London Midland on their success last night at the Rail Business Awards in the marketing category. LM's innovative campaign to reduce fares by an extra 1% for every gold medal won by Team GB during the Olympic Games was the company’s most successful marketing campaign to date and resulted in more than 27,000 new customers joining the operator’s database.

Also, I have been told that the problematic display on the LM Euston ticket machines that I highlighted is down to a glitch in the national ticketing database. Apparently, the LM 'boffins' are trying to work out a fix so that LM fares are displayed rather than the more expensive Any Permitted fares to Birmingham.

LondonMidland ticket machines at Euston part 2

Having been assured by +London Midland that the display on their Euston ticket machine was an error, I returned today and took the following photo:

Apologies for the quality - the key point being that the bottom right destination on the front page is Birmingham and it is showing Standard Off-Peak return £49 even though this is not actually a valid ticket at 0914 at Euston...

Interestingly, middle right you will see a LondonMidland ONLY fare for Milton Keynes so clearly LM have the power to show their own fares!

So, come on LM - if you are going to place a branded ticket machine at Euston, at least show your won fares by default. After all, they are cheaper and are vaild off-peak for longer!!!

LondonMidland ticket machines at Euston

In the week that +Which? claims 'Ticket machines aren’t working' I was dismayed to find proof of this report at London Euston yesterday...

My daughter was returning to Birmingham on the 1650 +London Midland service and, as I had been in Brighton for a meeting that morning, I was able to join her. As I was requiring a LM ticket (who pays Virgin Trains walk-on peak fares???), I opted to use one of the two LM ticket machines standing defiantly amongst the massed rows of Virgin machines in the ticket hall.

Imagine my surprise at finding that the default Birmingham fare displayed on the front screen was the Virgin Trains Any Permitted off-peak return - not least because the fare is not valid on the 1650 service...

I raised this strange situation with the LM Twitter team who first of all claimed that the fare was valid and then seemed (unusually for @londonmidland) to not understand the point  I was making and lose interest in helping me.

SO let us be clear. LM ONLY off-peak fares at £28 return are valid on LM evening peak services from Euston to Birmingham; Virgin Trains Any Permitted off-peak returns at £49 are NOT. What's the point of LM ticket machines if this fare information is not clearly displayed???

As a postscript, regular readers will not be surprised to learn that no ticket check took place at any point on the journey so one could ask: what's the point anyway?

LondonMidland are also publicity-shy...

It is not only +Chiltern Railways who like to hide their light under a bushel. Since the December timetable change, +London Midland have offered a faster off-peak service* from Birmingham New Street to London Euston for those who are prepared to change at Rugby. However, twice recently, I have made this journey connection successfully yet have found my fellow passengers blissfully unaware of the time saving to be made.

This is doubly strange as the great value LM advance tickets can be booked to use this connection so there is no difference in cost (£16 advance first for my trips). So LM be pro-active and save your passengers 20 minutes on their journey times (and give them the chance to get a coffee at Rugby too!).

* the services south are those departing from New Street at 54 mins past the hour from 08.54 through to 18.54 (11 services). Heading north, departure from Euston is at 46 mins past the hour from 08.46 through to 14.46 (7 services)

Hot Meals on the Chiltern Silver Sets

One of life's little mysteries is +Chiltern Railways attitude towards catering on its trains, specifically on the Silver Set Mainline services. At a time when many TOCs are doing their best to dispense with catering on their trains, Chiltern are improving their offering BUT seem very loath to admit to doing so...

Take today's 1055 Silver Set Mainline service from Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone. For £27.50 Super Off-Peak return you get the most comfortable of trains and, for a further £10 supplement, the exclusivity of the Business Zone with its friendly hostess and unlimited tea and coffee. In addition, for those in the know, you can have a hot meal served to your seat on a plate with real cutlery... today's choice was vegetable chow mein, chicken noodles, or chicken tikka masala.

I plumped for the chicken tikka - http://t.co/uFrZvcu3 - which was served after Banbury for the princely sum of £3.50. Very tasty it was too. Would you know of this from the web site / departure board / timetable / posters / on-board announcements? Very unlikely as Chiltern seem to be under the impression that a process of osmosis is the best form of publicity...

So, catch these meals whilst you can - someone, somewhere may decree that no one wants them!