Mystery Shopper
How good an experience is a day out on the train? RAIL’s mystery shopper heads out to see how the system copes
If you believe the spin from the Government, “no one is travelling by rail” after the pandemic.
That, as we all know, is absolute tosh. Yes, there has been a decline in commuting, as more people elect to continue working from home after lockdowns forced them to do so. But on the other hand, leisure travel by rail is recovering well.
This is down to a combination of factors. During the pandemic, many would have vowed to do more out of the house when free to do so, and as soon as normality returned, many exploited a freedom which pre-pandemic had been taken for granted.
People would go to see relatives, go to sporting events, or go and explore our great nation. Likewise, those who now spent all week ‘chained’ to their desks in their homes, surrounded by demanding children, demanding spouses and demanding pets, also probably thought that getting out and about when the opportunity arose would be a good thing.
Time to join them and find out what the experience is really like for ‘Joe Public’. Is rail really a good alternative, or is the timetable-free flexibility of the car still a winner?
RAIL’s occasional Mystery Shopper days will be a mix of weekdays and weekends, as there are definite differences in each for the rail traveller - namely the price, validity, and complexity of tickets. We will look at all manner of aspects that face the average passenger on a typical day:
■ Availability and simplicity of information, both pre-journey and during the day.
■ What are the trains like? Are they clean, comfortable, and can you get a seat? What about the stations? Are they fit for purpose and easy to navigate?
■ And what about the value? And the added value as well - the catering on trains and on platforms or concourses?
■ Is reliability and punctuality OK? And if things go awry, how helpful is the ‘railway’ in getting you back on track?
■ And friendliness and helpfulness of the staff - is that up to a high standard?
Our first trip day is on a grey and dank late-October Saturday in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
It starts at Meadowhall - a transport interchange with buses and trams, offering free parking and just a couple of minutes off the M1. The plan is to buy a South Pennine Day Rover, at £28.40, and take in a circular trip.
It made a lot more sense to go here and save £22, which is the eye-watering rate for 24 hours of parking at Sheffield (even for a weekend), as well as to avoid trying to negotiate the potentially congested roads of Sheffield city centre. Park and ride stations such as Meadowhall are great - if they have a good service, as Meadowhall does.
Before the trip, I had planned a route Meadowhall to Sheffield,
