Meet The Manager - Abolished In Person And Not Held On Zoom Instead

[Capvermell]

I have tried using the forum search function but apparently so great is the supine nature of most of the UK's population in accepting the great shutdown forever on account of COVID World Economic Forum type narrative (all closely tied in with the great global warming and please stop traveling any more and just sit at home on your own and don't go anywhere at all to save the planet from carbon emissions Extinction Rebellion type narrative) that apparently no one else other than me is the least bit upset or concerned that The Govia Thameslink group shut down the Meet The Manager sessions of all its train operating companies in March 2020 and has made precisely no attempt whatsoever to restart or reinstate them. This could easily have been done almost immediately in March 2020 using Zoom or Microsoft Teams if it was felt unsafe to resume them in person and online meetings would have also had the great advantage of not imposing a large cost penalty on those of us who are not rush hour commuters and so (a) don't want to have to come to London in the early morning to have the discussions and (b) don't wish to pay the penal fare levels imposed in the rush hour to reach meetings only mainly held at London Bridge and London Victoria during the morning peak hour fares period.

I don't know for sure whether all other train operators have shut down their Meet The Manager sessions and also failed to move them online to Zoom or Microsoft Teams instead like GoVia's train companies but I strongly suspect that this is the case and if any other train companies are still running Meet The Manager sessions in person or online I am sure that those who are aware of this fact will share that information with us in this thread.

However as I understand it the operation of Meet The Manager sessions is a franchises requirement imposed on the operators by the DfT so can I therefore assume that the DfT have therefore permanently removed this requirement from all of the franchised trains operating companies.

In view of the above how is it possible to satisfactorily complain about major arbitrary reductions in service by the train operating companies using the smoke screen of COVID such as the one I am experiencing this week with no train services at all operated between Dorking and Horsham on New Year's Day and no week day evening train services this week from Tuesday 4th January to Friday 7th January much after 6pm in the evening.

I tried finding out from Southerm's contact centre with Teleperformance why the evening trains were not running but as per usual their staff had no clue why and also no interest in why these services had been summarily and arbitrarily removed. Southern claim in a generic email about service cuts they sent out to all their customers that it is far better for them to axe services completely rather than for the odd train here and there not to run but as someone who cannot now go out in the evening due to there being no train services at all I can assure Southern that is definitely not a better solution and it is also not one the Department For Transport should be allowing the Govia Thameslink Railway group (AKA Southern) to get away with..........................

 

[SuperNova]

Given franchising is dead, unless it's written into their NRC, then they don't have to provide an online alternative. However, I know TPE do.

Also, be prepared for emergency timetables again.

 

[Capvermell]

Given franchising is dead, unless it's written into their NRC, then they don't have to provide an online alternative. However, I know TPE do.

Also, be prepared for emergency timetables again.

Why should it have to be written in to their NRC to provide this interaction with end users when surely it simply amounts to basic decent customer service to do so and is also surely much less trouble than having an in person Meet The Manager session?

Also who would have let them off having to run the Meet The Manager sessions in person over the last almost two years and why does GT Railway refuse to provide any information at all about their plans to reintroduces such interaction sessions with the General Public.

Or do I not get it that we are a troublesome nuisance that rail managers like to ignore whenever they can do since they know we have no choice and cannot travel with competitors offering a better rail service with lower prices.............

 

[SuperNova]

Why should it have to be written in to their NRC to provide this interaction with end users when surely it simply amounts to basic decent customer service to do so and is also surely much less trouble than having an in person Meet The Manager session?

Also who would have let them off having to run the Meet The Manager sessions in person over the last almost two years and why does GT Railway refuse to provide any information at all about their plans to reintroduces such interaction sessions with the General Public.

Or do I not get it that we are a troublesome nuisance that rail managers like to ignore whenever they can do since they know we have no choice and cannot travel with competitors offering a better rail service with lower prices.............

Your point was Dft letting MTM sessions slide due to franchise agreements. These no longer exist - so unless they're written into NRC's, they're not a requirement.

I also don't expect MTM sessions right now given the level of Covid disruption, impending emergency timetables and all the work that comes from that, not to mention the hyper micro-management the DfT are pushing onto operators.

Some operators are doing them online (Talk TPE for example) and there are plenty of operators currently doing customer surveys but to use lazy arguments like rail managers like to ignore X or Y is quite honestly lamentable.

 

[DelayRepay]

At the current time, I would imagine these Managers are focused on keeping the service running as best they can. I imagine that organising these sessions generates quite a bit of 'admin' work (scheduling the meetings, publicising them, dealing with matters arising). It's not just a case of the Managers spending an hour on Zoom, it's all the other work that comes with it. I imagine whoever usually does this work, along with the Managers, have more important things to focus on at the moment.

I don't work on the railway, but I work in another sector where we used to do similar customer feedback sessions. All cancelled because the people that would normally organise them, and some of the Managers, are covering front line roles to fill gaps for absent staff.

You also have to manage expectations - if the session went ahead I expect the Managers would spend a lot of time explaining why there is a reduced timetable, why there are cancellations and dealing with complaints about people wearing/not wearing face masks. All things they cannot really do much about.