Change of franchisee - what changes?

[Fawkes Cat]

Over in the Disputes and Prosecutions thread, someone wants advice about what to do after TfW took their details for short faring:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/tfw-short-fare-cardiff-station-3-11-18.173148/

A lot of the advice comes with a rider that goes something like 'TfW have only just taken over from ATW, so we don't know what policy TfW will be following'.

I'm entirely in agreement that if we can't give definite advice, we ought to warn that our advice is only provisional. But it's got me thinking: what does change, whether immediately or over time, when a franchise changes hands? After all, the staff are the same (I think when Northern went to Arriva, even the managing director remained the same), the trains are the same (at least on day one of the new franchise), and new policies - well, do new policies come in on day one, or is that when the powers that be start thinking about the new policies? And can/do attitudes and culture (such as how to respond to people short faring) change, and if so how fast?

 

[sprunt]

Another question this suggests to me - what happens to ongoing revenue protection cases when a franchise changes? Does the new franchisee inherit them (and any penalties subsequently received) or does the old operator retain some involvement? Does the company that was operating the service when a fare was evaded retain any rights down the line?

 

[swt_passenger]

Another question this suggests to me - what happens to ongoing revenue protection cases when a franchise changes? Does the new franchisee inherit them (and any penalties subsequently received) or does the old operator retain some involvement? Does the company that was operating the service when a fare was evaded retain any rights down the line?

“A pretty seamless changeover” has been the answer every time this has been asked before.

Although I don’t suppose anyone whose ongoing issue was lost in the office move would be likely to post in the disputes section...

 

[Surreytraveller]

The staff get new namebadges and a different coloured tie

 

[DJames]

The staff get new namebadges and a different coloured tie

I dunno about that, I still see a lot of staff around in London Midland uniform.

 

[whhistle]

I dunno about that, I still see a lot of staff around in London Midland uniform.

And one guy who has a Virgin waistcoat over the LM shirt!

It's a wonder that we always focus on the material changes like colours, uniforms, paint on the trains but not really discuss things like this.

I suppose it depends on the company too.

If Arriva took over, I wonder if they would change all the East Midlands stations to whatever ticket issuing systems, CIS, banking facilities, stationary suppliers they use already on Northern. Whether things like social media would try and harmonise their approach?

Same with Abelio.
Or will they just continue to use the same suppliers as the old company used.

I would have thought over the period of a few years they would change and get a better deal from one supplier rather than have loads of different ones.

 

[HH]

Or will they just continue to use the same suppliers as the old company used.

I would have thought over the period of a few years they would change and get a better deal from one supplier rather than have loads of different ones.

Some suppliers will be changed either immediately or within 6 months. This is either because the new supplier is delivering something very specific that is part of the franchise commitments, or the owning group has a shared agreement with a particular supplier. Anything else will largely just form part of the normal review process, i.e. the procurement department and any affected operational departments will review all the contractual relationships, starting with the biggest spend and see whether better deals can be done.