I have lived in the Brighton area all my life, and have used the trains, since I don't drive for approximately the same amount of time - I remember when it was part of the national rail network, I remember Connex, and I am enduring Govia, now.
May I first point out, in contrast with perhaps popular opinion, that just because something is new, it doesn't mean it is any better - this is certain the case, I would say, of the 'new' trains operated by Govia on the southern routes. Firstly, the new trains have half the leg room; - hey have crammed twice the number of seats into smaller, and fewer carriages; these seats are hard; the electronics fail regularly - the automated displays and 'voices' are more often than not, wrong, if in operation, but more annoying, the doors often lock shut and do not open at station platforms. Other niggles include lack of openable windows
(carriages are 'air conditioned' i.e. heaters on in summer, fans on in winter); lack of usable toilet (they're always, and I mean always out of order); they're generally dirty and unkept; and far noisier (I live near a station) than any other train I've ever known. There is, I must add, a rather comical first-class section on these trains, which is situated in the loudest part of the train, and is not even segregated from standard class seats at all, yet these seats attract prices of 50% more than a standard ticket. The new trains also only allow for one bicycle/wheelchair user/pushchair per train, since they only have one carriage with the wider seating area - the aisles otherwise are so narrow that a sheet of paper would struggle to pass through).
Now let us move towards the service, by starting with the punctuality and reliability. Southern claim, that this year, because their performance has "improved so much", they are no longer following the passengers charter discount scheme, which has been in operation for years, whereby season ticket holders get a 5% discount in punctuality/reliability promises aren't met. The reality is, the service has seen an improvement of less than 0.5% over that when Connex ran the service. Moreover, trains are regularly late, in fact, the train I take every day has NEVER arrived at it's scheduled time of 0805, and in fact arrives every day, without fail at 0811, not a great deal, I confess, but why not just change the timetable?
Not only am I now paying more under Govia's Southern because they have dropped the discount scheme, but they have also raised prices, by over 20% in the last three years (they have operated the service for four years, now). I understand they need extra money to fund the new trains, but such scandalous prices seems to me just a case of outrageous profiteering. In addition, they have introduced a penalty-fare scheme, whereby, if you don't have a ticket, because either the machine at the station is non-existant or out of order, or the ticket office is closed, you are charged £20 on the spot, plus the cost of a single to your destination - gone are the days of buying tickets on the train. In the last three years, my cost of travel, for a 35 minute journey, has roughly increased by 40%, and the time of the journey has also increased to about 45minutes to an hour (including waiting around for late trains).
The lack of staff is another major problem - my local station ticket office has opening hours between 0600-0800 monday to friday, and 0800-1000 on saturday- which to be honest, renders it fairly useless for most, except those that work some distance away. There is a sign on the door which states "if this office is closed please use the 'quickticket machine'", which I am afraid has not worked since they put it there (it's one of the new touch-screen jobs), there is a sign on this which says "please purchase your ticket from the ticket office". What one has to do, is risk being fined a penalty fare, since you can't purchase a ticket, and hope that you can purchase a ticket from the next station, and catch the next train. The staff that they do have, don't get me wrong here, some are nice, helpful and friendly, are often clueless and or very rude. On a daily basis I am charged different amounts for my journey, despite catching teh same train every day; every day, I am told "you should buy a ticket at the station", to which I respond "there are no ticket issuing facilities at my station" (I feel like I should have it tatooed on my forehead!).
Although I must confess, some progress is being made, in some areas, for example, they have now installed a heater in the waiting area of my station (although only open for two hours a day!), and promises are being made for more improvements, I am generally dissatisfied by the service they provide, particularly with such inflated costs. Stations remain filthy, toilets are either locked or are in such a state, that the nearest lamp post is more attractive. Most of all, their colours are a horrible array of greens that is supposed to reflect the traditional railway green, but is dreadfully wrong.
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Really well written, detailed and informative review there indeed............Roy.....
mum52 09.12.2005 16:09
Sounds very much like our own experience on a different line, same old, same old .... It's a pity that our once good transport system seems to be going rapidly down the tubes, and we are being encouraged onto the overcrowded roads. Thanks for writing. :-)
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