Furious commuter waits three hours for train from New Street to Bournville

[Moonschool]

Seen this article doing the rounds on social media today.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/furious-commuter-waits-three-hours-12219276

 

[Zoidberg]

Seen this article doing the rounds on social media today.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/furious-commuter-waits-three-hours-12219276

For the benefit of those with difficulty accessing links, here is an extract, oh, I'd have set off walking long before waiting three hours:

Furious commuter waits THREE HOURS for train from New Street to Bournville

London Midland says sorry for 'really bad night' on Cross City Line

London Midland has been blasted by an angry rail passenger who endured a THREE-hour wait for a train from Birmingham New Street to Bournville.

The commuter told BBC WM that the firm, which operates the key Cross City Line, was “spectacular in its ability to deliver anything” that would justify the retention of its franchise.

The journey to Bournville from New Street should take just 11 minutes, according to London Midland’s timetable.

The huge delay was believed to have happened last Thursday, November 17, when London Midland repeatedly apologised on its Twitter timeline for a series of problems which affected services.

Slippery rails caused delays on several routes, while there were also problems with train faults and emergency cords being pulled.

The same night, London Midland’s service was branded an “embarassment” by another fuming passenger on Twitter – while others complained of being stuck on the 4.55pm service to Lichfield for around an hour.

 

[EM2]

It's taken me ten minutes to find a number of bus journeys that would get you from New Street to Bournville in around half-an-hour. Who waits three hours for a train, when the journey is so short?

 

[kevconnor]

Local newspapers, especially those within the Trinity Mirror portfolio, should really come with a hyperbole alert. According to RTT there were 4 cancellations between 4pm to end of service. it's not like if things were really that bad getting a bus was completely out of the questions.

 

[fairlie]

It's taken me ten minutes to find a number of bus journeys that would get you from New Street to Bournville in around half-an-hour. Who waits three hours for a train, when the journey is so short?

You could walk it in less than three hours!

 

[Zoidberg]

You could walk it in less than three hours!

As alluded to in post #2.

 

[DaleCooper]

They should have charged him rent.

 

[AlterEgo]

They should have charged him rent.

They can't, New Street isn't on the Monopoly board.

 

[D6975]

They can't, New Street isn't on the Monopoly board.

What? Brum not got its own version of Monopoly?
We've had our own version down here in Bristol for donkey's years.

 

[t_star2001uk]

If he was that angry he could have got the bus instead. Apparently they run every 10 minutes from New Street to Bourneville.

 

[SteveP29]

He's an idiot that doesn't deserve any publicity.
Stuff like this goes on every day and a majority of people are fully capable of making logical decisions that won't cost time or extra money.

Another example of idiocy to make a point or become a celebrity

 

[duncanp]

Any regular commuter should work out alternative routes (if possible) in case their usual route is disrupted.

Bournville is served by buses no 45 and 47 from the City Centre every few minutes, with a journey time of about 30 minutes, and there is a stop near New Street Station.

A delay of that length would have been covered by Delay Repay, so even if the commuter had had to shell out for bus fares, he would have been compensated.

 

[TheDavibob]

Local newspapers, especially those within the Trinity Mirror portfolio, should really come with a hyperbole alert. According to RTT there were 4 cancellations between 4pm to end of service. it's not like if things were really that bad getting a bus was completely out of the questions.

Surely there are 6 trains an hour New Street - Bournville? How did four cancellations stop him getting the train?

 

[Envy123]

Any regular commuter should work out alternative routes (if possible) in case their usual route is disrupted.

Exactly - I don't see my mother complaining about the severe delays on the Piccadilly Line yesterday to the press. She just took GN from the nearby New Southgate instead.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

It's taken me ten minutes to find a number of bus journeys that would get you from New Street to Bournville in around half-an-hour. Who waits three hours for a train, when the journey is so short?

Did he know at the outset that it was going to be a 3 hour wait though? Or was it a case an expected delay of something like 20 minutes, and then after 20 minutes, it turned out would be another 20 minutes and so on? If the latter, then it is just possible that you could wait the 3 hours, and throughout that period believe that the train will arrive quickly enough to be worth waiting for (although granted, even in that situation, most people would probably figure after the first hour or so that the information wasn't reliable and seeking an alternative would be advisible).

 

[duncanp]

Possibly not, but there comes a certain point when you have to decide whether to carry on waiting for the train or get the bus.

If that had been me, I would have probably taken the bus after a delay of about 30 minutes, if there was no sign that anything was going to get better.

I suppose it does depend on the quality of information provided, though.

 

[work-traveller]

Possibly not, but there comes a certain point when you have to decide whether to carry on waiting for the train or get the bus.

If that had been me, I would have probably taken the bus after a delay of about 30 minutes, if there was no sign that anything was going to get better.

I suppose it does depend on the quality of information provided, though.

The commuter should be most furious with himself.

 

[fgwrich]

They can't, New Street isn't on the Monopoly board.

Go to Jail. Do not pass go, and you're not collecting your £200 my friend. And your not allowed to use the Tram either!

 

[jacksonbang]

The commuter should be most furious with himself.

Wow - so the thought process avoids getting a bus/cab/whatever and goes straight to the local newspaper. There is no way I would to bring attention to myself for doing what he did.

 

[al78]

Did he know at the outset that it was going to be a 3 hour wait though? Or was it a case an expected delay of something like 20 minutes, and then after 20 minutes, it turned out would be another 20 minutes and so on? If the latter, then it is just possible that you could wait the 3 hours, and throughout that period believe that the train will arrive quickly enough to be worth waiting for (although granted, even in that situation, most people would probably figure after the first hour or so that the information wasn't reliable and seeking an alternative would be advisible).

I'm glad that someone has pointed out that advised delay times may not be the ultimate delay time, and the creeping delay where the time put back is small enough for it not to be worth sorting out other transport at extra expense is not uncommon. I admit that waiting it out for three hours seems to me to be excessive, I've encountered severe disruption of that nature before when trying to get from Horsham to London and after about half an hour decided to go back home and drive to Three Bridges from where trains were running to London.

 

[EM2]

Did he know at the outset that it was going to be a 3 hour wait though? Or was it a case an expected delay of something like 20 minutes, and then after 20 minutes, it turned out would be another 20 minutes and so on? If the latter, then it is just possible that you could wait the 3 hours, and throughout that period believe that the train will arrive quickly enough to be worth waiting for (although granted, even in that situation, most people would probably figure after the first hour or so that the information wasn't reliable and seeking an alternative would be advisible).

When I've been in this situation, as soon as I first see the length of delay I am formulating alternative plans.
In your example, if the delay is twenty minutes I'd probably wait. If it's then going to be at least another twenty minutes, I'd be cutting my losses at that point, as it's going to be ten minutes (say) to the bus stop, ten minutes wait for a bus, and a half-hour bus journey. So that'll take me fifty minutes, and yes I run the risk of missing the train, but I'd rather be heading towards home (even if more slowly) than be waiting and going nowhere.

 

[johnnychips]

Is the claim correct? I'm surprised that the experts on here who analyse RTT haven't come up with an answer either way.

 

[47802]

Its not really the point though is it, its the inability of the TOC to provide the service they are supposed to provide, ok in this instance there is bus alternative but in other instances that might be more difficult.

I remember once waiting nearly 2 hours to get from New street to Perry Barr of course I could have just caught the bus particularly as I has a bus and train pass at the time, but I wanted to see how long it tuck me and the general incompetence of the operator British Rail, the delays being mostly caused by staff shortages at the time. After that day I never travelled by train again between New Street and Perry Barr got the generally more frequent and reliable bus instead.

 

[Andrewlong]

Unfortunately we live in a world where some people get angry too quickly, they seem incapable of working out an alternative solution and also feel compelled to fire off a tweet expecting others to feel sorry for them.

Then we have some journalists nowadays who have lost the ability to investigate and simply scour twitter for trending items, lump them together into a article and report it as news.

And the most ironic thing is the person complaining about the train service was savvy enough to use social media to winge about their train but wasn't savvy enough to spend 3 hours looking up alternative ways of getting home by using google or a travel app. And all for a 11 minute train journey. It wasn't like his last train from Reading to Penzance was cancelled on a Friday night!

 

[MP33]

Hearing this story and similar ones reminds me of a children's programme on ITV when I was at school. It was a sketch show and a junior Monty Python.

In one sketch a man wearing a too small and rather battered school uniform is sitting on a bench holding a package. He asks when is the next tram. To be told there have been no trams for 20 years. He then says oh no my mums fish and chips have gone cold.